LaLiga, the new brand name for the Spanish Football League, is set to launch a new tender process in October or November for the domestic media rights to club football from the 2016-17 season, as further details emerged over the terms of its deal with telecommunications company Telefónica for the forthcoming campaign.
Telefónica on Friday signed an agreement with LaLiga for the domestic pay-television rights to club football in the 2015-16 season. The €600m ($671m) agreement grants Telefónica the exclusive exploitation rights to the top two divisions of Spanish football, La Liga and Segunda Division, along with all pay-television rights for Copa del Rey matches.
Under the agreement, Telefónica has secured the exclusive rights to nine games per round from La Liga. Spanish newspaper AS said eight of these games will be provided through a Liga-themed channel, with one categorised as ‘super-premium’ and likely to be offered through the Movistar Plus channel. One match per round will be provided on a free-to-air basis, but will not feature Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Valencia or teams involved in European club competitions.
Telefónica will hold exclusive rights to games and highlights from the Segunda Division, but will have to sublicense 50 per cent of the content to meet competition regulations.
Telefónica has secured exclusive rights to the Copa del Rey, with two games per round provided free-to-air. However, the Copa final is not part of the package. In January, commercial broadcaster Mediaset agreed a three-year deal with the Spanish Football Federation for national team and club competition rights, including the Copa del Rey final.
The 2015-16 deal will also introduce a new Friday to Monday schedule for LaLiga games. One game will kick off at 8.30pm on both Fridays and Mondays. Kick-off times have been set for 4pm, 6.15pm and 8.30pm for Saturday games, with LaLiga retaining its midday slot for Sunday encounters, along with the same kick-off times as Saturday.
In relation to the three seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19, LaLiga said the invitation to tender for such commercialisation is suspended, and has been “temporarily transferred” to the months of October and November.
LaLiga added: “In due time, the publication dates of the ‘Bases for the tender of bids for commercialisation of the exploitation rights to audio-visual content of the First and Second Divisions of LaLiga National Championship’ for the national market for the seasons 2016-17 and the two following seasons will be announced. All in compliance with that set forth in the Real Decreto Ley 5/2015, 30th April, of urgent measures with reference to the marketing of the exploitation rights of audio-visual content in the professional football competitions.”