From David Del Valle in Madrid
June 29, 2018
Spanish multiplay telco Telefónica has acquired the pay-TV rights to the UEFA Champions League and Europa League for the next three seasons (2018-2021) for €1.08 billion.
The operator will pay Mediapro €360 million per season for all European matches whose rights Telefónica will be able to resell to third parties.
Telefónica and Mediapro have also reached an agreement to share ad revenues through channels to be launched by Movistar to exploit the rights. In addition, Mediapro will manage the channel in bars and the revenues of the free-to-air transmission of some matches from the Europa League. This effectively compensates for Mediapro not being able to profit from the resale of the European rights, for which it paid €1.1 billion.
The move, together with the recent acquisition of La Liga pay-TV rights, sees Telefónica now control all pay-TV football, both domestic and European, in Spain. Nevertheless, rivals Vodafone and Orange will be able to access the rights as Telefónica is obliged by law to share 50 per cent of its premium content.
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