Chivas TV expands reach with Claro Video partnership

Chivas TV, the in-house streaming platform of Liga MX football team Club Deportivo Guadalajara, has moved to broaden its reach in Mexico by striking a commercial partnership with OTT service Claro Video.

Under the agreement, Claro Video will carry Chivas TV offering the club’s home games on a pay-per-view basis. The deal will commence on January 7 with Chivas’ home match against Pumas de la UNAM and is set to run through the 2017 Clausura campaign.

The agreement will open Chivas TV up to Claro Video’s subscriber base of more than 2.3 million and follows a similar partnership with Cinépolis Klic.

The deal follows a difficult launch period for Chivas TV. Mexican regulator the Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor (Profeco) last month hit Chivas TV with a fine of 5.68 million pesos (€258,000/$273,000) for failures relating to the service.

Chivas TV launched in July, exploiting the rights to all of the club’s home games from the 2016 Apertura campaign. The club, commonly known as Chivas, had partnered with pay-television operator Televisa since 1994 but opted to end the relationship in order to develop an in-house platform.

In other news, Chivas chief executive Jose Luis Higuera has said a new pricing strategy will be introduced from the 2017 Clausura. Access to individual live games has been provided on a pay-per-view basis, along with package subscriptions, with prices ranging from MX125 to MX500 depending on the status of the fixture.

Higuera told ESPN: “Prices will go down, more or less the Clasico (against Club América) will cost 300 pesos, the other games will be between 150 and 200 pesos.”