Telefónica

The collective international rights deal for LaLiga, the new brand name of the Spanish Football League, will not include champion Barcelona, Espanyol, Celta Vigo or Real Sociedad, while US technology company Microsoft has denied reports that it has struck a deal with Real Madrid for its international rights.

The Royal Decree that paves the way for the collective selling of Spanish Liga media rights generated fallout – a week of strike threats, insults and posturing by all sides – which diverted attention from what remains a momentous change in Spanish football.

Spain’s competition regulator, the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y La Competencia (CNMC), has given the green light to telecommunications company Telefónica’s takeover of Spanish pay-television operator Canal Plus.

Telefonica is in talks with pay-television broadcaster beIN Media Group for the Spanish telecommunications company to sell a significant stake in Spanish pay-television operator Canal Plus, according to multiple media reports in the country.

Spanish club Barcelona said this week that the planned return to collective selling would help La Liga to eventually match or exceed the media-rights income of Italy’s Serie A, but that it would require the country’s pay-television industry to be much stronger.

Telefónica will bid for the collective rights to the Liga, the top division of Spanish football, when a collective model is introduced, according to the telecommunications company’s chief executive, José María Álvarez Pallete.

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.

Telecommunications company O2 has acquired the broadcast rights for the next three seasons of the Uefa Champions League club football competition in the Czech Republic.

Barcelona will hold a board meeting on January 26 at which talks will be held over telecommunications company Telefónica’s bid to acquire the Spanish Liga football club’s broadcast rights.

Telefónica’s acquisition of all rights to two Primera Liga clubs, and its bid to acquire the rights to Spanish giant Barcelona, are aimed at strengthening the telco’s position ahead of changes in the domestic broadcast market.

Telecommunications company Telefónica has agreed broadcast rights deals with Spanish Liga football clubs Celta Vigo and Real Sociedad for the 2015-16 season.

Fox Sports Latin America and ESPN International were forced to increase their fee for the Uefa Champions League and Europa League pay-television rights in Latin America this month to see off aggressive rival bids from Qatari-owned broadcaster beIN Sports and Spanish telco Telefónica.

Movistar TV, the IPTV platform of Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica, has launched a new channel to exploit its rights to European qualifiers for the Uefa Euro 2016 and 2018 Fifa World Cup football tournaments.

The Mediapro agency has acquired the domestic and international media rights to 39 of the 42 clubs from the Primera Liga and Segunda Liga, the top two divisions of Spanish club football, in one season-deals for the 2015-16 season.

Spanish agency Mediapro is close to acquiring rights for top-tier Liga football clubs Atlético Madrid and Real Sociedad, according to news website El Confidencial.

Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica has agreed to acquire an 11.1 per cent stake in the Mediaset Premium pay-television service of Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset, while it has completed a deal to buy Mediaset Espana’s 22 per cent holding in Spanish pay-television operator Canal Plus.

Deutsche Telekom’s surprise deal for exclusive domestic basketball rights in Germany last week is small in value but potentially rich in significance.

Interview with William Field, founder of Prospero, the media and technology consultancy, on the return of telcos to the sports-rights market.