Manchester United's Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo leaves after the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Newcastle at Old Trafford in Manchester, north west England, on September 11, 2021. - Manchester United won the game 4-1. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
It’s taken some time to reach a conclusion, but the English Premier League have finally won a ruling in the High Court to force a Chinese broadcaster into paying £157m for TV rights to the English top-flight.
PPLive are owned by Suning Holdings, the same company which own Inter Milan, and their PPLive Sports International arm agreed to a deal which meant that live Premier League matches and highlights would be broadcast in China from the start of the 2019/20 campaign, and for three seasons.
The agreement was for £523m but the company didn’t honour its obligations and failed to make an agreed payment in March 2020.
MORE: Liverpool won’t be prosecuted
Given that the Premier League believed that the company had therefore reneged on the terms of the contract, they terminated the deal in September 2020.
At that point, two instalments still remained unpaid, though it took until November 2021 for the High Court’s Justice Peter Fraser to rule in favour of the Premier League, and without the need for the case to proceed to a trial.
On Tuesday, Justice Fraser handed down a summary judgement. What that means in layman’s terms is that no trial will be necessary.
More Stories / Latest News
Justice Fraser had concluded that Suning Holdings had “no real prospect” of defending the claim.
Whilst it’s believed the Premier League welcomed the ruling, they will still need to work hard to secure the funds that they are owed from a company who appear to have completely disregarded them from the outset.
