The Argentine Football Association (AFA), the entity that regulates football leagues disputed in Argentina, has officially reported this Wednesday, January 27th, that the pay TV operator Telecentro made an offer to acquire the Argentine Professional Football League’s TV rights. However, the regulator rejected the initiative, and explained that Telecentro’s offer had ‘lower economic conditions in relation to the one finally approved, in addition to not having enought guarantees’.

On January 1st, AFA and FSLA Holding LLC, a company of The Walt Disney Company Latin America, announced an agreement that extends until 2030 the rights to broadcast the Professional Football League matches in Argentina. Since 2017, Argentine football matches have been broadcast through the Fox Sports Premium (Disney) and TNT Sports (WarnerMedia) premium channels. Each channel broadcasts the same number of matches on each fixture date of the competition. The agreement ends the legal disputes that took place between AFA and Disney before the beginning of the last football league in Argentina, which took place on October 30th, 2020.

According to various specialized websites, Telecentro’s offer for football TV rights in Argentina was valued at USD 55 million, and was higher than Disney’s (USD 45 million), which was the one that was finally announced at the beginning of this month.

‘It is a great satisfaction for us to announce this relevant agreement, because it strengthens our commitment to make the always current Argentine football grow every day’, said Claudio Fabian Tapia, President at AFA, when announcing the agreement with Disney. ‘Our football players and championships are admired around the world, and we are excited that a company of Disney’s prestige is partnering with us in the challenge of continuing to extend the magnetism that our football has achieved for so many decades’ ,added the executive.