Telecinco to show Copa del Rey action

Spanish broadcaster Mediaset has acquired live rights for five of the remaining matches in the 2012-13 Copa del Rey domestic knockout football competition.

Mediaset will exploit the rights on its commercial channel Telecinco.

Under the deal with the Mediapro agency, which has the rights to all of the competition’s games excluding the final, Telecinco will broadcast today’s (Thursday) match between Barcelona and Córdoba as well as both legs of one of the quarter-finals and both legs of one of the semi-finals.

According to the Europa Press news agency, Mediaset will pay nearly €2 million ($2.62 million).

The final will be shown on public-service broadcaster TVE, which acquired the rights directly from the Real Federación Española de Fútbol, the Spanish football federation. Only free-to-air broadcasters are allowed to acquire rights for the final.

Last season, Telecinco showed six Copa del Rey games before TVE broadcast the final exclusively.

The report said that digital-terrestrial television channel Antena 3 had also tabled a bid for the rights that were acquired by Mediaset.