Spanish radio stations have finally reached an agreement to transmit live football games next season.
Reports in Spain say the Telecommunications Commission has approved an interim measure that will see the broadcasters pay a fee of €98 per game to gain access to stadiums.
The new arrangement will see all Primera and Segunda games as well as Copa del Rey matches, with the exception of the final, covered live.
The Spanish League (LFP) had previously demanded that radio stations should pay them a fee while the broadcasters themselves refused to do so, citing Article 20 of the Spanish Constitution which governs the right to information.
The dispute became so serious that radio stations scheduled to cover last season’s opening fixtures intend to turn up at stadiums with a lawyer in tow in case access was denied, leading to the so-called ´guerra de los radios` or the radio war.
The fees asked by the League varied according to the radio station´s audience figures. Cadena Ser, for example, Spain´s biggest radio network in terms of audience share, was asked to pay €2m-a-year for the basic package while channels with less listeners would pay up to €500,000.
For local stations it ranged from between €10,000 and €25,000, and if the LFP had been successful in its fight then the increased income could have totalled upwards of €15m.
However, the radio stations were adamant they would not pay and insisted the fee violated the right to information of the more than four million listeners who follow their sports broadcasts every weekend, which have been transmitted uninterrupted for more than 50 years.
