£43m six-year agreement with Match TV has been axed ahead of the new season
After a meeting involving all 20 Premier League clubs took place at its Annual General Meeting (AGM), the organisation has reached a decision on its broadcast deal with Russian network Match TV, and that decision is to terminate the contract.
The six-year TV rights deal with the Gazprom-owned company was set to come into effect at the beginning of the upcoming season but has now been terminated by the Premier League and its clubs.
After the league suspended its previous deal with Rambler in March, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there was heavy speculation that the same fate would fall on this one with Match TV, and that has proven to be the case.
This means that Premier League football will not be broadcast in the country next season or seemingly until the conflict finds a resolution. It is currently unclear whether or not Match TV will be welcomed back to the table in the event of peace but for right now there is officially no deal between the EPL and any Russian broadcaster.
This long-awaited decision comes on the back of mounting pressure from all sides of the sporting landscape. Manchester City and Ukraine star Oleksandr Zinchenko recently urged sporting bodies to "stop the sale of rights to broadcasts of international sporting competitions to Russian media" on his Instagram account. Several other high profile figures in sport have called for similar action.
The Premier League is the latest in a series of sporting bodies to reject business with Russian in light of current events.
Richard Masters, the Premier League chief executive described the situation with Russian broadcasting contracts as "under review" back in February, before suspending the deal with Rambler. He and his team have now terminated a second contract with Russian media organisations within the past few months.
With the invasion of Ukraine showing no sign of stopping, the overarching belief is that football from the Premier League and other high profile European leagues is unlikely to return to Russian screens for some time.
The decision has been anticipated for a number of weeks but was finally made a few days ago, with every Premier League club said to be in favour of the move.
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