Telepool Schrödinger: legal analysis

Unified telepool of the Ukrainian Premier League - has it been created? fanday dealt with the legal nuances of broadcasting UPL matches in the 2022/2023 season.

Recently, a lot of opposite news has appeared around the unified TV pool of the UPL:

• The UPL and most clubs say that a unified telepool has been created and will start operating this season 2022/2023;
• at the same time, Dynamo declares that it has not transferred media rights to matches with its participation to anyone, and accordingly will use the rights to broadcast its matches at its own discretion;
• Zorya first announces that it will broadcast home matches on Setant, the winner of a single telepool, but on the same day removes this news from the site;
• The head of FC Rukh believes that the Lviv club has the right to broadcast its games on the club's YouTube channel.

What does Ukrainian legislation say about TV rights for the Ukrainian Football Championship?

The current Law of Ukraine "On Physical Culture and Sports" provides that the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine organizes and conducts Ukrainian championships in sports recognized in Ukraine (Article 6).

The same law states that sports federations with the status of a national sports federation (in the case of football, this is the UAF), in accordance with an agreement with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, organize and hold official international and all-Ukrainian sports competitions (Article 20).

Based on the above, it is the Ukrainian Football Association that is the organizer of the Ukrainian football championship.

And what about broadcasts? We return again to the Law of Ukraine "On Physical Culture and Sports"

The right to cover sports events by broadcasting images and / or sound by any means (audio broadcasting, television broadcasting and even photos from the event) belongs to the organizer of a sporting event in accordance with the law (Article 20).

What do we have? On the basis of an agreement between the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Football Association, the Ukrainian Football Championship is organized by the UAF. And it is this organization that has the rights to broadcast all matches.

Why then does the UPL hold a tender for TV rights, and not the UAF?

To answer this question, we need to delve into the Charter of the Public Union "Ukrainian Football Association".

Article 47 of the charter provides that only the UAF owns and uses all the rights associated with the national competitions that it organizes and conducts in accordance with the powers delegated to it by the state.

The same article provides that the UAF may use these rights independently or jointly with other legal entities. The association also has the right to transfer a certain amount of rights to the leagues themselves or to the clubs on the basis of an appropriate agreement.

Most likely, Dynamo Kyiv president Igor Surkis clings to this point, who says that the TV rights belong to the club and he did not transfer them to anyone.

At some point, it really was. In 2011, at that time, the FFU Executive Committee transferred the rights to the clubs for eight years, this was then announced by FFU President Grigory Surkis. Then everyone voted "for", but two clubs were not at the meeting - "Karpaty" and "Dawn".

The parties did not extend this agreement; accordingly, from 2019, all rights returned to the UAF.

UPL Executive Director Yevhen Dykyy said that before the start of the 2022/2023 season, the UPL signed an agreement with the UAF, according to which the rights to broadcast matches are transferred to the UPL. The lines and details of this agreement are not disclosed.

To summarize: The Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine has transferred all rights to host and organize the broadcast of matches to the Ukrainian Football Association, which in turn gave them to the Ukrainian Premier League.

Does Telepool legally still exist?

When answering this question, we will be guided by the regulations and public statements of the UPL management.

Sports competitions must be held in accordance with the regulations on such a competition (Article 45 of the Law of Ukraine "On Physical Culture and Sports"). In the case of the UPL, the regulations are approved by the General Meeting of the UPL participants and the executive committee of the UAF. Action lines - until the UAF approves the new regulation.

Clubs that have complied with the terms of the UPL Charter, have accepted the obligation to comply with the statutory and regulatory norms and decisions of FIFA, UEFA, UAF, UPL, have received the UAF Certificate for the right to participate in competitions (Article 5 of the Regulations 2021/2022) are allowed to compete.

For non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of the provisions of the statutory and regulatory norms, the terms of agreements (contracts) in the field of football, football subjects are subject to disciplinary sanctions in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine, the UAF Disciplinary Rules, the UPL Regulations and other legal documents (Article 34 of the Regulations 2021/2022 ).

UPL clubs are obliged to unconditionally adhere to the statutes and regulations of FIFA, UEFA, UAF and UPL (Article 70).

Based on the above, clubs must comply with the statutory documents of the UAF and UPL, and if not, they will be punished for this.

From the statements of the executive director of the UPL Evgeniy Diky, it follows that the main governing body of the UPL is the General Meeting of UPL clubs, which decided by a majority to create a single media pool (12 for and four against).

Now this decision is mandatory for all UPL participants, respectively for Dynamo, Dnipro-1, Zorya and FC Rukh. Thus, a legally unified telepool has been created and should work from the 2022/2023 season.

What awaits the violators of the telepool?

Now there are four potential violators of the single telepool in the UPL - Dynamo, Zorya, Dnepr-1 and FC Rukh. It was these clubs who voted against its adoption. Each club has its own reasons for this and let's go through what is known now:

Dynamo - the club is fighting for a free picture for its fans and wants to broadcast matches on national channels and with a delay on its YouTube channel.

"Dnepr-1" - the exact reason for the refusal is unknown, but there is information that the matter is in the contract with the "1 + 1" media group.

"Dawn" - the exact reasons are also unknown. The "Men" on their website first posted the news that the match of the first round with "Vorskla" would show "Setant", and a little later they erased this news, but Google remembers everything.

FC Rukh, a Lviv club, like Dynamo, wants nationwide channels and its own YouTube.

In addition to public condemnation, the violator will face financial sanctions from the UPL and even deduction of points. To date, there is no publicly available document that would clearly spell out all possible sanctions.

But at the disposal of the editors there is information about the severity of punishments for violating the rules of a single telepool, and we will share it below.

If the club does not fulfill or improperly fulfills the obligations indicated in the letter of guarantee on the obligation to comply with the decisions of the UPL (the marketing partner of the UPL) regarding the implementation of commercial, media and other rights to the matches of the UPL club competitions:

• for the first time, he pays a fine in the amount of 250 thousand hryvnias;
• for the first repeated violation - UAH 500,000 and minus three points in the standings in the current or next season conditionally;
• in case of the second and subsequent repeated violations - minus three points in the current or next season.

In total, as such, there is no direct disqualification for the club, but if in each round the violator receives minus three points, the club will fly out to the first league on its own.

What's next for club YouTube channels?

If any of the opponents of the telepool - Dynamo, Zorya, Dnepr-1 or FC Rukh broadcast matches on their YouTube channels, then most likely they may lose them because of this . Since two complaints from the copyright holder within six months automatically block the channel.

What's next for TV channels?

Here the situation is legally more complicated, but also solvable. The UPL or Setanta can file a lawsuit in court to bring the violator to legal liability. Including compensation for lost profits.

Results

The Ukrainian Premier League is now the owner of the TV rights for the matches of the Ukrainian championship. Any amateur activity from Dnipro-1, Dynamo, Zorya or FC Rukh in this direction will be legally punished and stopped.

Andrey Shevchenko