Mediapro agrees to distribute beIN channels to OTT competitors
Details
Juan Fernandez Gonzalez
| 15 February 2018

In order to put an end to a long-term conflict, Mediapro has agreed to start distributing beIN LaLiga and beIN Sports to over-the-top (OTT) players.

Spain’s Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) has formally accepted Mediapro’s proposal to solve the competition issues that have been under investigation since March 2017.

At the time, following complaints from OTT platform Opensports, owned by Obwan Networks and Services, CNMC started proceedings to see if Mediapro was limiting access to the bidding process for TV football rights.

Now, the Barcelona-based company has agreed to distribute beIN LaLiga (with all the games of the domestic football competition) and beIN Sports (with the Champions League and the Europa League) to every interested OTT service, as it does with pay-TV providers like Movistar+ and Vodafone TV.

Therefore, Mediapro will act as a wholesaler and share, under fair conditions, the OTT football rights. Currently, the company manages the only streaming platform with live football content, beIN Connect.

“With Mediapro’s commitments, the former discrimination has been corrected,” said the CNMC. “OTT operators, like Opensports, will be offered wholesale commercialisation of beIN Sports and beIN LaLiga under non-discriminatory conditions.”

The agreement between Mediapro and the market watchdog is effective immediately. It will affect beIN Sports until the end of the season (when the current UEFA rights agreement expires) and beIN LaLiga until the end of the 2018/2019 season.