GolTV And Premier League: Gol TV Declares Interest In US TV Rights

After announcing that GolTV has renewed its TV rights to the Bundesliga for the next three seasons, a GolTV executive has revealed that the US TV broadcaster is also interested in the TV and/or Internet rights to the Premier League which are up for renewal in the next 30 days for the 2010-2013 seasons.

In an article in MultiChannel News, GolTV COO Rodrigo Lomberto stated “We’re evaluating the situation to see if there is a way we can participate,” he said, adding that “we have the funds” to be in that game.

GolTV’s interest in the Premier League TV rights is quite surprising. In the past, the network has shown Liverpool TV and Arsenal TV, but the last Premier League TV rights deal cost $59 million in the United States. The price tag may be out of their reach, but it’s possible that they could share part of the rights deal alongside one or more of the other bidders: Fox Soccer Channel, Setanta Sports and ESPN.

In other GolTV news, the network is planning on having HD broadcasts available as early as next year. “We’re having discussions with our distributors. A lot of the matches from Europe are now being shot in HD. I think you’ll see some of our programming in HD during the second or third quarter of 2010.”