Italian pay-TV broadcaster Mediaset has secured a licencing deal for non-exclusive coverage of Spanish LaLiga, and Uefa Champions League and Europa League matches for its new Spanish OTT platform, Mitele Plus.
News outlet Advanced Television reported that Mediaset, which launches its Mitele Plus platform on July 22, reached the agreement with rights holder Telefónica to broadcast the latter’s Movistar LaLiga and Movistar Champions League channels after a breakdown in negotiations with fellow OTT platform DAZN.
DAZN reportedly cited an inability to access the content in HD, and the high price the Spanish telco was asking to licence the rights to refinance its expenditure on the property.
Telefónica was quoted as saying that all conditions required by Spain’s competition watchdog Comisión Nacional de los Maercados y la Competencia (CNMC) were met during negotiations with DAZN.
The telco has been under pressure in its domestic market from the CNMC after the watchdog opened an investigation into alleged breach of conditions around providing access to premium content.
It has already admitted to mistakenly providing incorrect pricing information to prospective licensees of its football and motor racing content on its Movistar Partizado channel during the 2016-17 season.
Telefónica holds three of the eight domestic rights lots for the top two tiers of domestic Spanish football, with the remaining lots held by Spanish agency Mediapro.