Spain: Telefónica secures La Liga until 2027
January 19, 2024
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Telefónica, the Spanish telco, has acquired five live football pay-TV matches per week, from 2025 to 2027, for a fee of €1.29 billion.
Telefónica will pay €250 million for half of the 2024-2025 season and €520 million per season in 2026 and 2027 to broadcast the matches in Spain, and will have the first pick of games in 18 weeks, and the second pick in 17 weeks. DAZN will air the remaining 45 per cent of matches.
La Liga had called a public tender to award these rights from January 2025 and the two following years, as obliged by the CNMC. The regulator argued that in the previous public tender Telefónica had to meet legal limits for its acquisition of Digital Plus and was not allowed to buy TV rights for more than three years. Once those limits were scrapped, Telefónica was free to acquire the rights for a longer period – which is why a new public tender was called, with the operator gaining the rights.
“With this [deal], Telefónica consolidates its football offer, so that customers of Movistar Plus+ will continue to enjoy 100 per cent of the League matches as well as UEFA Competitions until 2027,” Telefónica said in a statement.