Spain

The collective international rights deal for LaLiga, the new brand name of the Spanish Football League, will not include champion Barcelona, Espanyol, Celta Vigo or Real Sociedad, while US technology company Microsoft has denied reports that it has struck a deal with Real Madrid for its international rights.

LaLiga, the new brand name of the Spanish Football League (LFP), has said that international deals for the Spanish top tier will be struck regardless of whether it has complete control of clubs’ media rights for the 2015-16 season.

The Mediapro agency has agreed a deal with the LFP, the body that operates the Spanish football league, to allow a centralised rights-sales process to be introduced from the start of the 2015-16 season.

Spanish pay-television operator Canal Plus has acquired rights to the 2015 edition of pre-season club football competition the International Champions Cup.

Pay-television broadcaster BeIN Media Group plans to bid aggressively to acquire rights for games featuring Spanish Liga football clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona, according to Spanish newspaper Marca.

Spanish Liga football club Real Madrid has submitted a proposal to make its official television channel, Real Madrid TV, available on digital-terrestrial television in the country, according to the PRNoticias.com website.

Spanish agency Mediapro has acquired rights for Spanish Segunda División football club Real Mallorca.

The late afternoon Saturday kick-off slot in the Liga, the top division of football in Spain, will be pushed back “to accommodate the UK audience” next season, according to Spanish Football League (LFP) president Javier Tebas.

Joseph Rivers, research analyst for SportBusiness Intelligence examines free-to-air television audiences in the big five European markets for the 2014-15 Uefa Europa League

The Mediapro agency is to withdraw its Gol T football pay-television channel from Spanish digital-terrestrial television on July 1.

Spanish pay-television operator Canal Plus has acquired exclusive rights to the next two editions of the Copa America national team football tournament.

Real Madrid has joined forces with commercial partner, US software giant Microsoft, to launch a new app through which access to the Spanish Liga football club’s in-house television channel, Real Madrid TV, is set to be provided to its global fanbase.

The Royal Decree that paves the way for the collective selling of Spanish Liga media rights generated fallout – a week of strike threats, insults and posturing by all sides – which diverted attention from what remains a momentous change in Spanish football.

The Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE) has confirmed its plans for a work stoppage from May 16 after alleging that it has been ignored in the new Royal Decree legislation, which was designed to pave the way for the introduction of collective selling of media rights across the sport’s top two domestic divisions.

The Spanish Football League (LFP) has launched legal action to block a decision by the country’s football federation, the RFEF, to suspend domestic competition from May 16 in protest over the terms of media-rights legislation that was approved last week by the national government.