Spain: MiTele pulls out of football rights war
June 25, 2020
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Movistar and Orange will be the only operators in Spain to offer La Liga, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, with Mediaset’s streaming platform MiTele Plus withdrawing from the bidding process for lack of profitability.
MiTele had strongly bet on football to win subscribers but with all the competitions cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, the results for the streaming service have been very poor with just 136,000 subscribers, representing €7 million, far from the €20 million expected to pay to Movistar, the holder of the TV rights. Other operators such as DAZN had already given up the bid much earlier.
Movistar and Orange are now the only candidates to offer the complete football package. Orange will pay €300 million to Movistar to air the matches from September 2020. “In line with its value strategy, with the best content and premium services, Orange becomes the only alternative operator to broadcast the main sports competitions from September,” it said.
With its move, the future for MiTele Plus is anything but rosy.