But don’t worry, this is after the World Cup in Russia next summer.
Some rather interesting news has swept the headlines of Croatian media this afternoon as it was announced that Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) has lost the right to broadcast the matches of the Croatia national football team after the World Cup in Russia next summer. HRT confirmed this news in a press release transmitted in full below.
The reason, according to HRT, is the increasing commercialization of sports and the growing trend that cable television can offer more for television rights, especially for football, reports 24 Sata on November 28, 2017.
“In 2017, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) announced a competition for the sale of rights to the European Football Championship in 2020, qualifications for the European Football Championship, and the newly-formed Nations League. Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) participated in the competition with an amount 20% higher than the last European Football Championship, but UEFA has selected another bidder which is owned by a cable television network and sold them the rights to broadcast to all countries of the former Yugoslavia.
Croatian Radiotelevision is not the only public media service that has not been given the right to broadcast the European Football Championship in 2020. The reason for this is the growing commercialization of sports, and in recent years, the increasingly present trend that cable television is giving more and more for television rights, especially for football, making them harder to carry for public broadcasting services and the members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).”
Russia’s World Cup matches are the last the country will be able to watch across the nation on a free-to-air program in every Croatian household.
Translated from 24 Sata
