Spanish La Liga football club Espanyol is close to signing a new television rights contract to begin next season with pay-television broadcaster Prisa TV.
The new three-year proposal until the end of the 2014-15 season was worth about €25 million ($31.5 million) per season, up by 32 per cent on its current rights deal with the Mediapro agency, worth €19 million per season, according to Spanish website Sport.
The Catalan club said it was able to cancel its contract with Mediapro, which was set to expire at the end of next season, due to the competition law in Spain that was introduced in 2010. The law prevents rights-holders owning a team’s broadcasting rights for more than three years.
In Spain, football clubs negotiate their own broadcasting rights contracts. Prisa already holds the rights to four other La Liga clubs for the 2012-13 season, including: Real Zaragoza, Athletic Bilbao, Real Betis and Osasuna. Mediapro holds the rights to all the other clubs.