Asian Football Confederation terminates deal with Le TV

Le Sports has spent a great deal of money buying TV rights for sports competitions. [Photo: thepaper.cn]

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced on Tuesday that it has terminated its broadcast rights deal with Le TV, and will instead cooperate with China Sports Media from now through the end of 2020, reported thepaper.cn.

According to the official news issued by AFC, CSM secured the rights for all AFC competitions, including the AFC Champions League, FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and AFC Asian Cup. 

AFC also said that it has come to agreement with CSM Chairman Li Yidong to prevent any interruptions to the coverage of this week's AFC Champions League fixtures in China. 

AFC didn't officially give a reason for the termination of the broadcast rights with Le TV. However, according to a report by Reuters, AFC's termination is due to Le TV's inability to pay copyright fees. 

Founded in 1954, AFC is one of the six members of FIFA, and AFC competitions are fiercely sought by many sports industry companies. In October 2015, Le TV spent USD 110 million on the broadcasting rights for AFC competitions in China. The exclusive rights meant that audiences could watch AFC competitions only on Le Sports. 

Le TV's stock price has been hammered after the AFC terminated its broadcast contract with Le Sports on February 28th, 2017. [Photo: NetEase]

With Le TV's broadcast rights now terminated, the AFC schedule has been removed from the media company's website as of Tuesday afternoon. 

Le Sports responded to the termination on Tuesday, apologizing to subscribers who had paid for AFC competitions. Le Sports promised to make it up to those members and provided a hotline: 10109000.