Vodafone Spain said that it will not be able to "offer its clients access to top-flight football from the Champions League or Telefónica's Partidazo package" during the '18-19 season, according to TELECOMPAPER. Blaming the constant increase in the cost of football screening rights and the "wholesale model" in Spain, the operator said that it rejected Telefónica's resale model for the UEFA content but that it is "open to further negotiations." Telefónica, which in June acquired rights for Spanish residential broadcasts of the Champions League and Europa League, "offered Vodafone access on a minimum-payment basis." Vodafone refused, but said in a statement presenting its '18-19 TV offering that it was "open to further talks on a per-client payment model." Telefónica agreed to pay Mediapro €360M ($420M) per year for the UEFA rights, "which can be resold to other operators," in a deal that marks the first season without any Champions League matches available on free-to-air Spanish channels. While rival Orange said that it will "reluctantly pay Telefónica's price," charging clients €10 ($11.66) per month for its '18-19 football package, Vodafone said that it was "unable to offer" the same content to its customers at a "reasonable price." Instead, Vodafone will offer existing football clients a "stripped-down service" with eight Spanish first-division matches as well as all second-division and Copa del Rey games at no extra cost and charge €5 ($5.83) to new customers of the football option (TELECOMPAPER, 7/16).
