A Chinese broadcaster has retaliated against England’s Premier League, escalating a legal feud over the collapse of their $700m contract during the coronavirus pandemic, reported the Financial Times.
The Premier League sued a streaming service owned by Chinese retail conglomerate Suning for $215 million last year for failing to make payments for the rights to screen live matches and highlights. PPLive Sports International is now countersuing, claiming at least $116.8 million from the Premier League.
The dispute relates to payments for the live transmission of matches in the Premier League — the world’s richest domestic football competition — after the pandemic forced scheduling changes on broadcasters. “The Premier League seems to have adopted a double standard and treated a domestic UK broadcaster differently from a Chinese broadcaster,” PPLive Sports said in a statement to the Financial Times. “We have made our best efforts to reach a compromise, but we have been left with no choice but to take legal action.”