elevision coverage of England's World Cup qualifier
in Podgorica could be affected by a dispute between the agency that sold the
rights to the match to ITV and the Montenegro Football
Association. Unless the wrangle is resolved by kick-off, it could lead to ITV's
team and their cameras being locked out of the stadium.
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| Adrian Chiles is due to front ITV's coverage of Montenegro v England but a dispute has raised doubts about the arrangements. Photograph: Ken McKay/Rex Features |
The match, due to be broadcast by ITV in a primetime slot next Tuesday,
is expected to go a long way to deciding whether Roy Hodgson's injury-hit team
qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
But, as things stand, ITV is believed to be caught in the middle of a
bitter dispute between the Montenegro FA and Kentaro, the global rights and
events agency that counts the football agent Jerome Anderson and former France
international Emmanuel Petit among its advisers.
As with all overseas matches, the rights to the game are not the
property of the English FA but are in the gift of the host to sell. Rights to
home fixtures against England are highly prized because they command some of
the biggest fees from broadcasters.
ITV is believed to have paid an upfront fee, estimated by industry
insiders at between £500,000 and £750,000, to Kentaro.
Typically, a broadcaster would pay 25% of its rights fee upfront for a
one-off deal such as this and hand over the balance after the match had been
played.
But it is understood that the Montenegro FA ended its relationship with
Kentaro and instead subcontracted the rights to a rival agency, SportFive.
ITV, which has the rights to all England home games until 2014, is
faced with trying to recover its money from Kentaro and having to negotiate a
new deal with SportFive, which could offer the match to rival broadcasters.
Kentaro still counts the Montenegrins among its clients on its website,
claiming it is "proud" to support the Montenegro FA "and their
famous president Dejan Savicevic".
The agency is best known for event management, including arranging
Brazil friendlies, but last summer its contract to sell the rights to matches
on the South American country's extensive "world tour" were handed to
a rival agency, Pitch International.
Coincidentally the last time there was concern that an overseas England
qualifier would not be shown on television it also involved Kentaro. In 2009
England's match in Ukraine was shown live as a pay-per-view match on the
internet by Kentaro after Setanta went bust and other broadcasters balked at
the fee being demanded for what was by then a dead rubber.
Amid intense media interest England fans were asked to pay between
£4.99 and £11.99 each to watch live over the internet. The match was also
screened in selected Odeon cinemas.
FA insiders confirmed that discussions were continuing behind the
scenes and one said: "This game not being broadcast is a huge issue for
our fans but we're assured it will be sorted." A spokeswoman for SportFive
declined to comment and a spokesman for Kentaro failed to respond to questions.
On Wednesday night ITV's website was still advertising its coverage of
the match, which is due to be fronted by Adrian Chiles alongside Roy Keane,
Gareth Southgate and Lee Dixon. On Friday it will air England's away game with
San Marino.
Industry insiders said that, although they expected the issue to be
resolved before next Tuesday because it would not suit any of the parties for
the match to remain off air entirely, any brinkmanship over the fee could leave
ITV cutting it fine.
An ITV spokesman refused to comment on the contractual situation with
Kentaro but said: "We are working with SportFive towards securing the
rights and we're looking forward to screening the match."
England are two points behind Montenegro, the Group H leaders, with
both teams having played four matches. The teams are due to meet again at
Wembley in October.
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