Movistar/Netflix: Pay-TV without football?
February 5, 2018
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The anticipated agreement between Telefónica and Netflix – to be officially announced by mid-February – is set to see Movistar’s pay-TV offer become more focused on cinema and TV series, to the exclusion of football on account of its high cost.
Telefónica paid football rights owner Mediapro €2.4 million in 2016 for coverage, a high price which the telco is reluctant to pay again at a time when it will need to invest a considerable sum in 5G licences, on top of the sums it is investing in fibre optic deployment throughout Spain.
Also to be taken into account in addition to the high price for domestic football TV rights is added the European Championship, whose TV rights were acquired by Mediapro for €1.1 billion in 017.
Telefónica is also investing sizeable sums in the production of TV series and cinema with a proven success, in particular with its first TV series, high-end TV drama La Peste.