Rupert Murdoch’s int'l media business, FOX, has "bought the broadcasting rights" to the Dutch Eredivisie Premier football league, according to the DUTCH DAILY NEWS. The clubs from the top Dutch league have sold the broadcasting rights for the next 12 years to U.S. TV network Fox from Murdoch. Murdoch’s U.S. Fox will "shell out" more than €1B ($1.2B) for the rights of the Dutch Eredivisie football league starting in '13-14 (DUTCH DAILY NEWS, 8/8). In L.A., Scott Roxborough reported that the agreement was "the largest of its kind in the history" of Dutch football. It will see News Corp. pay $74M for the first year, rising to $124M for the final season. Because pay-TV penetration is low in the Netherlands, Fox is "likely to sell on the soccer rights instead of holding them exclusively for themselves in the territory." The Dutch deal follows a $3.5B, three-year deal for rights to the EPL signed by News Corp.'s British pay-TV group BSkyB and a $3.3B deal by the company's German pay-TV operation Sky Deutschland for the rights to the next four seasons of Germany's Bundesliga (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 8/8).
