Catalan money for Real TV rights

Contrary to the various reports that have been surfacing in the past few weeks, Real Madrid have not renewed the contract for televising their matches with Sogecable, but have in fact signed a deal worth 1,100 million euros over 7 years (around 157 million euros per year) with Catalan production company Mediapro, starting from 2007. This almost triples the amount (55 million euros) they have been receiving every year for the past few years and is, according to the club, "the most important contract for audiovisual rights that any sporting Club around the world has signed to date".

It sounds like Ramón Calderón was not, for once, jumping the gun last week, when he said that this would be bigger than the deal Barcelona had signed last June (also with Mediapro). This will likely be a killer blow to Sogecable, as these two clubs have by far the biggest TV audiences both at home and abroad.