May 2, 2015 · Team HG
With just one day to go until the exciting KNVB Cup final between PEC Zwolle and FC Groningen, the inhabitants of the city of Groningen and the surrounding area are gearing up for one of the greatest football spectacles since 1989, the year the ‘pride of the north’ (FC Groningen) last appeared in the KNVB Cup final.
In addition to the numerous festivities taking place before, during, and after the match of matches, the Groningen hospitality industry was also supposed to be represented with a grand party in the city—or at least, that was the intention. Hospitality business owners who announced the KNVB Cup final on a big screen just once, without having paid the exorbitant licensing fees for TV broadcasts in public spaces, were immediately in trouble last Friday! In a highly intimidating manner, a FOX SPORTS inspector visited hospitality business owners in the city center and the province of Groningen to thoroughly disrupt the football party for many business owners and guests.
The problem lies in the fact that the costs of a license to broadcast sports matches are far too high for entrepreneurs with smaller or medium-sized premises, especially if it is not a genuine sports bar and only events such as the World Cup, European Championship, or occasionally another match are broadcast; after all, one-off licenses or, for example, weekly or monthly licenses do not exist for the hospitality industry.
A quick calculation soon shows that, as a hospitality entrepreneur, in addition to the high BUMA – STEMRA costs for playing background music, DJs, and live band performances, the prices for annual licenses for the rights to broadcast TV images in the business market are skyrocketing.
For example, the mandatory VIDEMA broadcasting license costs a hospitality entrepreneur who wants to broadcast a World Cup or European Championship on a big screen €587 per year for a business of 101 to 200 m² (excluding discount).
A few years ago, football channel FOX SPORTS also introduced a hospitality license, because sports channel FOX wanted to recoup its purchased football rights (for the sum of 1 billion euros). For the hospitality entrepreneur, this means an annual cost of €1,188 for, for example, package M (hospitality license for a business area of 50 to 150 m2).
A hospitality entrepreneur with a business area of 100 m2 who only broadcasts the KNVB Cup final in 2015 pays an absurd amount of €1,775 for both licenses for a single match!
The two major outdoor screen locations, Grote Markt Groningen and Nienoord Leek, were also faced last week with one-off FOX SPORTS license fees of €7,500 and €3,000 respectively per live match broadcast for a large audience.
It has now become clear that various hospitality business owners from the city and province of Groningen are cutting their losses and stopping live football broadcasts entirely, meaning that no more TV revenue will be received by the licensing organizations.
The advice on behalf of horecagroningen.nl is: offer hospitality entrepreneurs a greater variety of package options for broadcasting licenses (for example, daily, weekly, or monthly licenses via an online iDEAL payment option) and ensure that licenses remain affordable for smaller businesses. Additionally, we wish to emphasize that intimidating approaches by representatives of licensing companies have a counterproductive effect on entrepreneurs, and that these companies are only shooting themselves in the foot with this type of approach. Legally, FOX SPORTS cannot issue fines during the KNVB Cup broadcast at your establishment, as only government or semi-government agencies are permitted to do so, and they are not authorized to do so. In the event of an inspection this coming Sunday, the licensing inspector will have to visit the hospitality businesses together with a bailiff to make an official assessment.
Sunday, May 3, 18:00 KNVB Cup Final PEC Zwolle – FC Groningen
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