Telefonica announced that it paid EUR 980 million a season for domestic TV rights to air live matches from La Liga over the next three seasons (2019-22). In a statement, the company said it paid over 5 percent less for the rights than in the previous three-year auction, allowing it to control the content broadcast on its Movistar+ pay-TV service and licence its La Liga channels to other operators.
"Telefonica has always defended that the La Liga matches are a very attractive content, but that its acquisition had to be carried out at the appropriate price. The offer made by the company meets these parameters," said the operator.
Vodafone and Orange had expressed serious doubts about the viability of paying for La Liga television rights under the current model and neither operator took part in the auction. However, Telefonica is required to offer rivals 50 percent of the content of the premium channels, including Champions League and La Liga football, as well as Formula 1, Moto GP and other exclusive live sports events.
Separately, La Liga announced that TV rights for bars and international TV channels had been awarded to sports rights broker Mediapro for a total of EUR 3.4 billion.
