Telefónica dislodges Mediapro as Barcelona rights-holder

Telecommunications company Telefónica has dislodged the Mediapro agency as Barcelona’s official rights-holder for the 2015-16 season, the Spanish Liga club has announced.

Telefónica will also assume distribution rights for Barça TV, the club’s in-house television channel.

The deal is worth about €140m ($159m) – a figure that is comparable with the fee paid by Mediapro for the 2014-15 season, according to local media reports.

It will run for one year ahead of the possible introduction of a collective rights model for the Liga in the 2016-17 campaign.

Barcelona said that the deal had been agreed after “a long period of contact and negotiations with operators from all over the world.”