Spanish Football Federation chief touts new OTT platform

Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales has said the organisation is working with the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) to launch a new OTT platform.

Rubiales said the platform would be open to other Spanish sports federations and could commence operations in less than a year.

“We are going to look for the formula so that all the federations that want to produce their own events, no matter how small, have the possibility of being part of it, in a proportion of investment and profit,” Rubiales said, according to Spanish news agency EFE.

Such a platform would be in direct competition to that launched by LaLiga, the governing body of the top two divisions of Spanish football. LaLiga launched its multi-sport OTT platform LaLigaSportsTV, last month offering free coverage of Spanish sporting competitions ranging from badminton to weightlifting.

Rubiales claims LaLigaSportsTV represents an abuse of power by LaLiga, adding that it is in a “position of dominance that is given by a royal decree.”

Rubiales continued: “LaLiga does not receive more money as a result of magnificent management, but as a result of a regulatory change that has given it an exclusive position. It also wants to do business through other sports and that is a tremendous invasion.

“The competitions for cycling, canoeing, et cetera, have their federations, and they can leave it in the hands of another, that is in our humble opinion, an abuse outside their competence, or do it in their own way.”