The League sells the rights to La Liga BBVA to Telefónica for 600 million euros

La Liga has reached an agreement with Telefónica for the sale of the television rights of La Liga BBVA for the 2015/16 season for 600 million euros. In a statement sent to the media, it confirms that "the agreement closed on Friday, July 10 grants Telefónica the exclusive exploitation rights of Liga BBVA, Liga Adelante, and the entire pay-offer of Copa del Rey matches."

La Liga has thus yielded to the recommendation made by the National Commission of Markets and Competition, which advocated separating the 2015/2016 season from the others in order not to benefit two operators holding rights in that season, Mediapro and Telefónica. However, La Liga has already informed that Mediapro had transferred the rights of 34 clubs. The option defended by LFP was to market three seasons in a single package starting with the 2015 season.

The agreement includes nine matches from the First Division per matchday, ruling out the open-air match, which cannot involve Madrid, Barça, Atlético, or any team participating in European competition. Liga Adelante will be exclusively for Telefónica, as well as the highlights of those matches, something that does not apply to those of the First Division.

Regarding the Copa del Rey, all matches will be exclusively for Telefónica except one per round (home and away), which will be broadcasted openly: it will be the second choice. The Copa final is also not included in the package.

The auction for the rights officially began on July 8. The commission responsible for the sale was composed of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético, Levante, Numancia, and Javier Tebas. Barça and Madrid participated in the centralized sale as they are the clubs with the highest revenues, while the rest of the teams were chosen by voting.

On the other hand, La Liga has announced that the deadline for submitting offers for the rights in the national market for the next three seasons (2016/17, 2017/18, and 2018/19) has been moved to the months of October and November 2015.