Vodafone, Orange buy La Liga rights in €100MN deal with Telefónica

DetailsJuan Fernandez Gonzalez | 30 July 2015




Taking advantage of the conditions imposed by Spain's market authority, CMNC, on Telefónica's acquisition of Canal+, Vodafone and Orange are buying the rights to every La Liga match in a deal worth around €100 million.


As a result of two moves which have transformed the Spanish pay-TV market during 2015 -Telefónica's merger with Canal+ and La Liga's decision to sell all rights as a package - the football competition will be offered by more operators than ever, with Telefónica's Movistar TV also broadcasting the games.

Vodafone TV will broadcast ten La Liga matches a week, including every match involving Real Madrid and Barcelona and every Clásico game between the two teams. In addition, the Copa del Rey will be also available on the platform as a result of ONO's acquisition last year.

The pay-TV service features TiVo, fibre-to-the-home, control over the live broadcasts, high definition (HD) and a system to watch three channels simultaneously.

Regarding Orange's move, not many details have emerged, just that there has been a substantial financial effort made to retain subs and draw more viewers to Orange TV in what is a very competitive market.

At the beginning of the month, Telefónica paid around €600 million for the La Liga rights, although they will ultimately be internationally managed by Mediapro. Vodafone and Orange are the two first operators to buy the rights. Only one operator, Euskaltel, has stated it has no interest in them.

On the international scene, Mediapro and ESPN reached an agreement earlier this week to bring La Liga to Spanish-speaking South America through 2020.