Spanish telco Telefónica has threatened to forgo renewing its contract with the Mediapro agency to broadcast the Uefa Champions League club football competition, with chief operating officer Ángel Vilá criticising the “exuberance and excess” in the sports rights market.
Telefónica currently broadcasts the Champions League in Spain through a carriage deal for its Movistar service. However, Vilá said there is a “clear and genuine” possibility that the operator will not renew the contract it currently has with Mediapro.
“We are going to be extremely rational, are going to have financial discipline and we will analyse the cost-benefit and act accordingly,” Vilá said, according to the BeSoccer.com website.
Vilà has not ruled out opting for “part of the rights” adding that Telefónica could seek to partner with an internet company such as Amazon to forge a deal.
In July, a joint venture between Mediapro and pay-television broadcaster beIN Sports was confirmed as the exclusive rights-holder in Spain for the Champions League and Europa League. The rights will run for three seasons, from 2018-19 to 2020-21.
BeIN and Mediapro are the current holders of pay-television Champions League rights across the 2015-16 to 2017-18 seasons, with commercial broadcaster Atresmedia and Catalan public-service broadcaster TV3 holding free-to-air rights.
The new deal marks the first time that Champions League rights have been awarded solely to a pay-television platform. Telefónica was reportedly edged out in the rights auction.