Mexico's Top Broadcasters Forgo Airing Rio Olympics
07 May 2016 - 7:38AM
Dow Jones News
By Anthony Harrup
MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's biggest television broadcasters, Grupo
Televisa SAB and TV Azteca SAB, will take a pass on airing the
Olympic Games in Brazil after failing to reach an agreement to buy
the rights from América Móvil SAB, company officials said
Friday.
América Móvil, the region's biggest telecommunications company
controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim, won exclusive broadcast
rights for Latin America, except Brazil, from the International
Olympic Committee in 2013. It has resold exhibition rights to
broadcasters across the region but not to the biggest Mexican
television companies.
"We didn't reach an agreement," said América Móvil spokesman
Arturo Elías Ayub, who declined to give details. The games are set
to take place in August in Rio de Janeiro.
A Televisa spokesman confirmed the broadcaster won't air the
Olympic Games but said it would provide news coverage of the event.
Azteca had no immediate comment.
Televisa and Azteca between them control more than 90% of
Mexico's free-to-air broadcast television. The Olympics will be
carried on two government-owned broadcast television channels, as
well as on pay TV systems and online via América Móvil's Claro
Sports website, Mr. Elias Ayub said.
Mexicans show greater interest in the soccer World Cup than in
the Olympics, in which the country isn't a major medal winner. The
lack of live coverage is unlikely to have an impact on the
broadcasters' earnings.
Televisa's coverage of the London Olympics in the third quarter
of 2012 pushed up costs without generating additional revenue
growth, the company said at the time. Azteca had a 14% rise in
programming and production costs that quarter while its domestic
advertising sales rose 6%.
América Móvil and other companies controlled by Mr. Slim resumed
advertising early last year with Televisa and Azteca after a
four-year absence that began with disputes over TV advertising
rates and telephone interconnection rates.
The agreements came after years of acrimony surrounding Mr.
Slim's efforts to break into the Mexican television market and
Televisa's expansion into telecommunications, offering broadband
Internet and phone service on its cable systems.
América Móvil provides cable TV service across Latin America
with 21.9 million subscribers but has been denied authorization in
Mexico given unit Telmex's dominant position in the fixed-line
market. Televisa is Mexico's biggest cable and satellite TV
provider with 11.8 million subscribers.
Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 06, 2016 17:23 ET (21:23 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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