The news media industry has concluded successful negotiations with the Premier League and Football League regarding journalist access, news-gathering and content generation at their matches for the next three seasons.
The News Media Coalition led negotiations on behalf of the industry including UK national newspaper publishers and national and international news and photo agencies who are major suppliers to publishers and other editorial entities worldwide.
The resulting agreement means that NMC members have improved terms when it comes to the way photographers and reporters cover Premier League and Football League matches and the conditions under which news material can be published and distributed.
NMC executive director Andrew Moger (pictured above) said: “The NMC represents some of the biggest news brands around, and we recognised the need for our agreement to reflect the fast-moving digital media environment.
“While we recognise that clubs and their partners have commercial and media partnerships which cannot be eroded, our negotiations and agreement with the leagues have struck the right balance between the legitimate business of editorial-based press and publishing on the one hand and the leagues’ and clubs’ own services on the other.”
The NMC represents the UK-based publishers of most national newspaper print publications, and digital platforms as well as major news and photographic agencies such as the Press Association, Thomson Reuters, Associated Press, Getty Images, Agence France-Presse, Deutsche Presse-Agentur and the European Pressphoto Agency.
Completed before the start of the season this weekend, the agreement signed by the NMC, the News Media Association on behalf of its national members, and the leagues states: “These accreditation terms are the product of negotiations between the Premier League and The Football League and the News Media Coalition, an international trade association that works on behalf of publishers and news agencies to seek best practice editorial, press and publishing arrangements relating to major sporting events.”
The new deal means that for NMC members – NMA national newspapers and agencies – more photos can be published during matches, required delays on digital content are significantly reduced, and in a number of respects, members can work to a set of rules which for them are more relevant to digital realities and consumer expectations.
Also as part of the deal, the news media companies, the NMC and leagues have agreed to work together to consider issues which arise during the period of the agreement.
An agreed joint statement released today reads: “Both parties are pleased to have agreed new access and accreditation arrangements for the next three seasons. These take into account the evolving media landscape as well as the requirements of the leagues and their member clubs. This has been achieved on a constructive basis and we look forward to working together in the coming years.”
