Argentina: 2017-2022 TV rights to the first division to Turner and Fox groups (€190m / year)

The two US media groups Turner and Fox have acquired, via the AFA, the TV rights of the first division of Argentine football from the 2017-18 season, on 14/03/2017.

Both groups will jointly pay 3.2bn Argentine pesos per year (€190m) and must pay a guarantee payment of 1.2bn pesos (€73m) to formalise the agreement, according multiple South American sources. The agreement covers five seasons (2017-18 to 2021-22), with an option for five more seasons.

The AFA had postponed the awarding of the TV rights to Argentine football for the 2017-18 and subsequent seasons, originally scheduled for 24/02/2017 (according to an announcement made on 10/02/2017). In addition to Turner and Fox groups, the media groups Mediapro and ESPN had also filed the bids for the tender published on 20/02/2017.

The Argentine government had previously paid for the TV rights to the AFA since 2009, under the state system "Futbol para Todos" ("Football for All", see below), so that the games would be broadcast free-to-air, but since summer 2016, the government repeatedly indicated the intention to withdraw from this…