TVE secures Spanish national team qualifier rights

Spanish public-service broadcaster TVE has struck a rights deal for all Spain national team qualifiers for the Uefa Euro 2016 and 2018 Fifa World Cup football tournaments.

The deal will run for four years, from 2014-15 to 2017-18, and includes television, online, mobile and radio rights.

The agreement comprises live coverage of a total of 20 qualifiers over the four years plus any resulting play-off games involving Spain as well as highlights of other qualifiers.

The value of the deal with the CAA Eleven agency was not disclosed.

TVE, which will produce coverage of Spain’s home games through the deal, said that it had acquired the rights due to their “high sporting interest and obvious importance to society.”

Last month, TVE insisted it was ‘playing fair’ in its bid to acquire the rights following criticism from Uteca, the organisation of privately-held channels in Spain. Uteca said that TVE’s bid was unfair as the broadcaster had used public money to offer a higher price than private networks were able to submit.