Spain: Orange wants 150,000 Vodafone football subs
July 27, 2018
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Orange Spain has revealed it aims to capture 150,000 pay-TV football subscribers from Vodafone.
Since Vodafone will no longer have La Liga and Champions League football to offer after refusing to pay the asking price, Orange Spain and Telefónica will battle for the 400,000 football subscribers in the country that Vodafone held.
Orange hopes to get at least 150,000 of those subscribers from Vodafone, said Laurent Paillasot, CEO of Orange Spain. He acknowledged that Orange has paid a 20 per cent premium for the rights (€80 million) but it is worthwhile if it means getting additional numbers from Vodafone.
Samuel Muñoz, General Director of Marketing at Orange, added: “Football is the king content and for us it has been a definitive boost to our growth”. According to him, this premium content has enabled Orange Spain to increase its subscribers fivefold in less than three years, with an average annual growth of 62 per cent.
Orange Spain currently has 639,000 pay-TV subscribers, up 18 per cent YoY.