MEDIAPRO and Canadian Soccer Business (CSB) are headed to court with both sides alleging the other is unable to fulfil their part of their commercial broadcast rights agreement.
The dispute leaves OneSoccer, MEDIAPRO Canada’s streaming service devoted to Canadian soccer, without its core programming, including Canadian Premier League (CPL) and Canada Soccer Men’s and Women’s National game broadcasts, which featured live studio pre-, half-time and post-game shows, anchored by talent including Andi Petrillo, Kristian Jack, Oliver Platt, Adam Jenkins, and Jordan Wilson, among others.
Barcelona-headquartered MEDIAPRO, which has been a CSB partner since 2019, said in a statement provided to Broadcast Dialogue that it’s invested more than $60 million “to create an ecosystem for the Canadian game and its fans, including through new production facilities, popular online communities, and the establishment of OneSoccer…”
“Despite the huge passion Canadians have for soccer, it has become clear that CSB has been and will be unable to fulfill its side of our commercial agreement,” the statement continued. “We have made best efforts to work with the CSB on a constructive path forward, but have come to a position where we have no choice but to terminate our agreement.”
OneSoccer was available to TELUS Optik TV subscribers, but the streamer had failed to reach carriage agreements with other cable providers, including Rogers and Bell, whose respective Sportsnet and TSN brands are now tentatively in line to bid for the rights.
In a statement of its own released Thursday, CSB alleges that MEDIAPRO “failed to meet significant cultural obligations, including defaulting on the majority of its rights fees for 2023 and failure to secure broader audiences for Canada’s National Teams, the Canadian Championship and the Canadian Premier League.”
“Our decision to pursue legal action was not one we took lightly, but we felt it was necessary to protect the tremendous investments we have made to build the game in Canada,” said the statement. “By taking back full control of our rights we will immediately have the opportunity to do so with new partners who have the ability to reach larger audiences.”
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