Bank: No football exclusivity could lose Telefónica €2.2bn
October 1, 2021
From David Del Valle in Madrid
La Liga’s plan to open up its football pay-TV rights to third parties may see Telefónica lose up to €2.2 billion, according to a Barclays Bank’s report.
Telefónica could face this loss, representing up to 45 per cent of its EBITDA in Spain, if it loses its exclusive pay-TV rights to La Liga, following La Liga’s decision to be willing to sell part of the rights to streaming platforms, such as DAZN and Amazon Prime Video.
The bank’s report, cited by El Confidencial, points out that there could be three different outcomes, all negative for Telefónica: first, the most unlikely, is that exclusive football rights are acquired by other companies; second, with a streamer buying part of the rights reducing the number of Telefónica’s subscribers by half; third, with subscribers paying less for the packages.
The worst-case scenario is that, with 3.3 million football customers, another company taking football rights exclusively, would see Telefónica losing 45 per cent of its EBITDA in Spain and €2.2 billion revenue. Were it to lose half of its customers, Telefónica would lose €1.186 million in EBITDA and €2.4 billion in revenues.