Ronaldo Causes Anguish for U.K.'s Newest Sports Broadcaster
- Eleven Sports opts to respect broadcast blackout on Saturday
- Club owners introduced TV ban to encourage stadium attendance
Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus scores during a friendly match in Villar Perosa on Aug. 12.
Photographer: Marco Luzzani/Getty Images
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An upstart sports channel is lobbying English soccer authorities to overturn a ban on Saturday afternoon live match broadcasts, arguing it no longer works in a world of on-demand video and smartphone streaming.
Executives at Eleven Sports debated for weeks whether to defy the ban and show the world’s top soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo making his debut in the Italian league this weekend, but they pulled back at the last minute, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Eleven Sports holds the rights to show Italian top-flight soccer in the U.K.