Telefónica Lands Champions League Rights for Spain

Telefónica has made another significant addition to its Spanish sports portfolio, inking a deal with Mediapro for the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League for three seasons from 2018 to 2021.

The agreement comes on the heels of the telco giant scoring the domestic rights to La Liga football from 2019 to 2022. The company now holds 100 percent of the pay-TV football rights in the Spanish domestic market.

Telefónica shelled out €360 million for each season of the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League. As of this season, all Champions League games will air solely on pay TV. Mediapro held onto the rights to air one free match per day from the Europa League. The agreement signed with Mediapro includes the sharing of advertising revenues from the new channels that will be launched in the coming weeks. These channels will be Movistar branded.

The president of Telefónica España, Emilio Gayo, commented, “The award of the main lots of the rights of LaLiga last Monday cements Telefonica’s commitment to television with one of our customers’ most-watched contents, now completed with the Champions and the Europa League.”