Saran Media Group has agreed a late deal for exclusive media rights in Turkey to all Uefa club competitions, renewing its deal for the Uefa Europa League and taking Champions League rights from incumbent broadcaster beIN Media Group.
Saran’s new deal also includes rights to the new third-tier Europa Conference League and the Uefa Super Cup, played between the winners of the Champions League and Europa League.
The deals will run for three seasons, from 2021-22 to 2023-24. It has sublicensed rights to all Uefa club competitions to Acun Medya, which owns commercial broadcaster TV8 and streaming platform Exxen.
Uefa club competition rights in Turkey have been a hard sell for Team Marketing, Uefa’s exclusive commercial rights agent for the Uefa club competitions. A first-round bid deadline fell on March 30 after Team initiated the sales processes on February 24.
Saran was the incumbent rights-holder for the Europa League in Turkey, holding exclusive rights to the property in the previous cycle. Pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports held Champions League rights in the previous cycle, from 2018-19 to 2020-21, but decided against bidding for rights to either the Champions League or Europa League in the current three-season cycle.
While beIN is concerned about high levels of piracy in Turkey, it is also understood the broadcaster is keen to demonstrate its ability to have an effect on rights values in the country when it is absent from a bidding process.
Experts say its absence from the Uefa process is a message is aimed at the Turkish Football Federation, with which beIN has had a rocky relationship over the past two years. BeIN, which owns Digiturk in Turkey, is coming to the end of its current six-season deal for exclusive rights to the Turkish Super Lig, Turkey’s top-tier football league, and is keen to reduce the amount it pays for the rights.
BeIN renegotiated its deal with the league in 2019 to better reflect the Turkish lira’s value against the dollar. A year later, beIN and the TFF were in open dispute over rights fee payments during the 2020-21 season and it is thought the relationship is yet to recover.
BeIN’s deal for Super Lig rights expires at the end of 2021-22. A tender for rights from 2022-23 onwards is expected before the end of this year.
Earlier this week, beIN announced its acquisition of Premier League rights in Turkey from 2022-23 to 2024-25, replacing Saran, which currently shows matches on its S Sport channels.