The Spanish Football League (LFP) agreed to a deal in which Telefónica will pay €600M ($665M) for the domestic pay-TV rights for the '15-16 season, according to Alfredo Matilla of AS. The LFP said in a statement, "The agreement gives Telefónica the rights to La Liga, Liga Adelante [second division] and all the pay-TV coverage of the Copa del Rey." LFP President Javier Tebas added, "Next year we can reach €750 million ($833M) or €800 million ($888M)." The LFP has "thus ceded to the recommendation" of Spain's National Commission of Markets & Competition (CNMC), which wanted the sale of the rights for '15-16 separated from the rights for the following two seasons to "avoid benefiting the two rights holders from this season." Telefónica will have exclusive rights to nine La Liga games each matchday, leaving one game to free-TV. The free-TV game "cannot involve Real, Barcelona, Atlético, Valencia or any teams in European competitions." Telefónica will also have exclusive rights to the second division games, as well as recaps -- "which it will not have for La Liga: those will be aired on other platforms." The new agreement between the LFP and Telefónica (€600M) is for less than the last contract, according to Canal+ (€625M), but worth more than €550M, the amount the LFP said the previous deal was worth. It "will mean a strong increase for the clubs to add this revenue" to what they obtain from the int'l rights sale being carried out (AS, 7/10). In London, Buck & Moore reported it is the first time Spain's football league has "sold the broadcasting rights for its top two divisions collectively, rather than each team being free to market its own rights." Tebas said that the sale of TV rights for La Liga outside Spain is "expected to yield" another €600M. It is expected that the int'l rights will be "marketed by Mediapro." Telefónica has been "keen to boost Spain's under-developed pay-TV sector and regards football as crucial to attracting new subscribers." Less than a third of Spanish households have a pay-TV subscription, "significantly below" rates in the U.K. and France. Telefónica hopes that the ability to "offer all matches on one platform will boost its paid-for Movistar+ service, although competition rules mean it will also have to offer match rights to other providers." Tebas has argued that collective deals -- which are "standard in most top European leagues -- will boost Spanish clubs' overall revenues." The rights deal is also aimed at stabilizing, "and possibly easing, the financial divide" between the country's top two clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona, and the rest of the league (FT, 7/10). In L.A., John Hopewell reported Telefónica "snagging domestic rights" to Spanish football is a "necessary coup." With Germany and Brazil, Spain is one of a "newly focused" Telefónica's "key three core markets and content one of its key identified growth drivers." On Wednesday, it launched Movistar+, an "ambitious" pay-TV offering for Spain that represents the "first significant sign of crossover synergies." Using TV subscription as a "driver of quad play client take-up and offering a low basic rate" of $22.20 and up for Movistar+ but "aiming in return for the mass market," Telefónica's hope is to "revolutionize" pay-TV subscriptions in Spain (VARIETY, 7/10).
