Digiturk grabs footy rights for 500 mln bucks a year*

Those of you interested in the off field goings on of Turkish football may have seen that Digiturk have won the right to broadcast the Super Lig, the SporToto Lig and the 2nd division for the next five years in a deal worth an amazing 500 million dollars a year. *

According to Daily Sabah, the deal makes the Turkish TV rights to be the sixth largest in Europe.

At the moment Digiturk is paying 321 million dollars a year* to broadcast all top flight matches whilst a few other stations pay (not much) to show lower league stuff.

According to the head of the Clubs' Association Foundation Monopoly Thingy, Goksel Gumusdag, the deal will result in the clubs getting a 50 percent increase in revenue (I don't understand the mathematics either).

It is a long contract and hopefully will mean that Digiturk will actually invest in some decent technology not just for the Istanbul teams' broadcasts but also for the rest of us. Almost every week when we are sitting at the pub watching a match it is truely amazing how much the broadcast quality increases as soon as the game changes from a Turkish match to a European match.    

I don't have a football package with Digiturk as I prefer to watch all the games I want to down at the pub. If you have a subscription... expect a big increase in your bills.

* Please note that I found it confusing what the actual numbers were as various media report different figures for this year and other years... Anyway, what's a few million between friends?