Dutch telco Ziggo has renewed its exclusive broadcast rights to Spain’s LaLiga for three more seasons.
The new deal, which will run from 2021-22 to 2023-24, has been announced by VodafoneZiggo, the joint venture between telecoms giants Vodafone and Liberty Global and owner of the basic-tier Ziggo Sport channel.
The new agreement includes live and highlights rights and allows Ziggo to broadcast matches on Ziggo Sport and also via the pay-television Ziggo Sport Totaal service.
Ziggo’s existing contract was due to expire at the end of the 2020-21 season.
LaLiga, the governing body of Spanish football’s top two divisions, launched an invitation to tender for its media rights in the Netherlands in the middle of June.
The ITT was for five seasons, from 2021-22 to 2025-26, covering exclusive platform-neutral rights to the top-tier LaLiga Santander and non-exclusive rights to the second-tier LaLiga Smartbank.
The rights in Albania, Cyprus, Estonia, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Russia and Switzerland (including Liechtenstein non-exclusively) were also part of an 11-country tender process, with a first-round bid deadline of midday (CET) on July 9. LaLiga is working with the Mediapro agency during the tender process.
All matches from the top-tier and second-tier were included in the inventory as well as all play-off matches for promotion to the top tier. Successful bidders are required to broadcast a minimum of three full-length matches per first division match week (of which two must be live), weekly broadcasts of LaLiga’s highlights and magazine shows. All LaLiga Santander matches are required to be transmitted live digitally, via a designated website or OTT platform.
LaLiga also requires that a minimum of one LaLiga Smartbank match be broadcast per match week as well as its equivalent highlights show. For the play-off matches, a minimum of three out of six matches must be shown in full length.
The governing body was given authorisation to sell future broadcast rights in Europe for more than three seasons in amends made to the Royal Decree that governs the sale of centralised rights.