Public broadcaster Nos has not bid for the rights to show Champions League football in the Netherlands, but commercial channels RTL and SBS have done so, the Volkskrant said on Friday. Nos said last year it would not bid for the rights to broadcast the 2015-2018 events, citing a lack of cash. However, Nos director Jan de Jong said on Monday the decision had been a choice. ‘The cuts which the government is making has forced Nos to adopt priorities and make choices,’ he said, adding that the public broadcaster will continue to focus on sports which other commercial channels ignore. ‘Deciding not to bid for the biggest and most important club competition in the world is a direct consequence of that policy,’ he said. Fox, which has a public channel and a subscription only channel in the Netherlands declined to say if it had bid for the broadcasting rights.
Read more at DutchNews.nl: Dutch public broadcaster bows out of race for Champions League rights http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2014/11/dutch-public-broadcaster-bows-out-of-race-for-champions-league-rights.php/
Dutch public broadcaster
Nos
"has not bid for the rights to show Champions League football in the
Netherlands, but commercial channels RTL and SBS have done so," according to DUTCH NEWS. Nos said last year that "it would not bid for the rights to broadcast" the '15-'18 events, citing a lack of cash. However, Nos Dir Jan de
Jong said on Monday that "the decision had been a choice." He said, "The cuts which the government is making has forced Nos to adopt
priorities and make choices. Deciding not to bid for the biggest and most important club
competition in the world is a direct consequence of that policy." Fox, which has a public channel and a subscription-only channel in
the Netherlands, "declined to say if it had bid for the broadcasting
rights" (
DUTCH NEWS, 11/24).