2019-2022 La Liga UK and Ireland rights discussion.

Harry Palmr

https://files.laliga.es/descargables/derechos-audiovisuales/190710_laliga_comercializacion_uk_irlanda_en.pdf

2. DESCRIPTION OF AUDIOVISUAL RIGHTS OFFERED
2.1. Audiovisual rights offered

LaLiga offers the possibility of submitting offers for the acquisition of the
exploitation rights of all matches of the Spanish Football League Championship, First Division and all "Play-off" matches in the following countries: (i) United Kingdom and (ii) the Republic of Ireland. The interested entities (the "Bidder" or "Bidders") may submit their offers for the different packages described below.

The increasing interest for LaLiga in United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, both countries within the EEA, as well as the preference for watching the games through different platforms or technologies has prompted LaLiga to offer the audiovisual content in several packages, with the aim of widening participation of Bidders in this Request for Offers.

icdg

Looks like they’re hedging their bets over an exclusive pay TV deal, or a share between pay TV and OTT/FTA.

Best news for the viewer? LaLiga is committing that they won’t schedule El Classico in the Sat 3:15pm slot for the duration of the new deal.

Tigerandahalf

Looks like something that would appeal to Premier/Freesports.
It is difficult to know how much interest there is in this for hard subscribers but there is great potential audience on fta for the late Sunday games - not competing against rugby or soccer at home.

mikeym

So if Eleven Sports dont get any rights they might aswell shut down its Ireland/Uk operation.

Mister Gooey

Have to say I didn't miss La Liga matches when Sky lost the TV rights last year. I'm not willing to pay another provider on top of paying for Sky (and Eir/BT Sports). Hope Sky or BT get it as I'll be dropping EIR in August.

callaway92

Mister Gooey wrote: »

Have to say I didn't miss La Liga matches when Sky lost the TV rights last year. I'm not willing to pay another provider on top of paying for Sky (and Eir/BT Sports). Hope Sky or BT get it as I'll be dropping EIR in August.

Yeh - People love to get all high about it but in reality, all they watch are the El Classico matches and maybe flick between the odd Madrid or Barca match against other teams.

It's Revista de la Liga that is missed imo.

icdg

mikeym wrote: »

So if Eleven Sports dont get any rights they might aswell shut down its Ireland/Uk operation.

Yes, but I think they’ll go anyway, there’s no value to non exclusive OTT rights and I think the only reason they’re not gone yet is to not annoy LaLiga, whom they’ve contracts with in some other jurisdictions where they are doing a bit better.

Harry Palmr

A lack of interest could play into the hands of Freesports if Premier are on board. Could end up with a Dutch auction

Mr.Maroon

Less than a month to the beginning of the new season. Are these rights still up for grabs?

icdg

Deadline for submission of bids is tomorrow 1pm.

Mr.Maroon

icdg wrote: »

Deadline for submission of bids is tomorrow 1pm.

Any idea of who's bidding?

mikeym

Surely Sky will put in a bid.

As for Eleven Sports they have to bid or else its game over.

forzacalcio

mikeym wrote: »

Surely Sky will put in a bid.

As for Eleven Sports they have to bid or else its game over.

I assume his is fake news? Premier Sports win rights?

https://footballnewspapers.com/premier-sports-wins-la-liga-rights-news/

Harry Palmr

Only if someone has let the cat out of the bag - the 1st of August is supposed to be when the winning bid is known and it'll be another week or two before it's confirmed.

Dunno how coverage can start this weekend that's for sure!

icdg

It’s a badly edited version of this press release which dates from March when Eleven Sports gave up exclusivity. The reference to the next El Classico being in March is a dead giveaway.

https://www.premiersports.com/football/la-liga-coverage.html

Mr.Nice Guy

Saw this message from a Sky rep saying their impression was ITV and Premier Sports will have the rights:

https://twitter.com/SkyHelpTeam/status/1155134603008643073

icdg

The call centre is always the last to know.

The rights acquired by Premier Sports and ITV were strictly for the remainder of the 2018-19 season and the tenders now being considered are for the upcoming season and through to 2021-22.

Harry Palmr

I'll say this given the circumstances I'd not be shocked if ITV and PS were in bed together on this one, though I'd also be a bit disappointed as it would logically mean all the FTA games were on the channel that most people only see in SD.

Schwanz

Sky or BT with the pay tv rights & ITV with the FTA games imo.

Digifriendly

UK and Ireland rights bids draw a blank - See https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-30/spain-s-la-liga-without-u-k-broadcaster-as-season-start-looms?fbclid=IwAR2fRvhlTwHaWH6wAzjubhUnyiCQdr-w_MSMyRldwLp9V7Vy41xiveygjLA

forzacalcio

Digifriendly wrote: »

UK and Ireland rights bids draw a blank - See https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-30/spain-s-la-liga-without-u-k-broadcaster-as-season-start-looms?fbclid=IwAR2fRvhlTwHaWH6wAzjubhUnyiCQdr-w_MSMyRldwLp9V7Vy41xiveygjLA

Unbelievable. Just going to have to grab a Dazn account

dulpit

Digifriendly wrote: »

UK and Ireland rights bids draw a blank - See https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-30/spain-s-la-liga-without-u-k-broadcaster-as-season-start-looms?fbclid=IwAR2fRvhlTwHaWH6wAzjubhUnyiCQdr-w_MSMyRldwLp9V7Vy41xiveygjLA

Eir sports should be looking at this for Irish market.

FTA could be a good win for La Liga in long run. Free football will attract a market, give it time and you'll end up with fans. Then you can start charging once again...

Would La Liga take small bid over no bid I wonder?

Harry Palmr

“After assessing all bids and required additional documentation from participating bidders, La Liga has declared the tender null and void because no satisfactory bids were received,” Joris Evers, head of communications for the league, said in a written response to a question. “La Liga thanks all participants in the tender for their interest and shall inform soon about next steps.”

Suspect one party will get back in touch and make a take it or leave it offer and the rights holder will grudgingly take it.

Digifriendly

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Suspect one party will get back in touch and make a take it or leave it offer and the rights holder will grudgingly take it.

Hope it goes to Freesports or even Premier Sports who would put some matches on Freesports.

lertsnim

dulpit wrote: »

Eir sports should be looking at this for Irish market.

Viewers aren't interested apart from a few matches per season. It would be a waste of money as it wouldn't attract new subscribers.

icdg

Sounds like there was a (possibly informal, since it wasn’t mentioned in the RFT) reserve price that wasn’t met.

But La Liga have only themselves to blame for this - their dalliance with Eleven Sports has devalued their rights as UK pay-TV survives without them. It should be a lesson learnt by those who advocate the move of sports to single competition OTT services. Eleven Sports charged a very reasonable price (around the same for an entire year as what a Sky/BT Sport subscriber is paying per month) but couldn’t attract subscribers.

Tigerandahalf

A big issue is having everything on one platform. Sky is handy that way. The new deal between Sky/BT/Premier is ideal.

In truth there should be pressure for all content to be made available on any one platform.

Atlantic Dawn

Sky/BT are paying £15million per Premier League game they show with conditions that they much show some absolute brutal fixtures, you would imagine £50 million for La Liga rights would be a bargain.

Apparently Sky had a bid of £18 million rejected last year.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/05/02/sky-sports-loses-la-liga-rights-newcomer-eleven-sports/

Harry Palmr

It appears that Amazon and Premier have submitted offers.

http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/premier-sports-confirms-uk-la-liga-spanish-soccer-rights-bid

Amazon may well offer more money as they have shed loads of cash but for the game PS and FS would surely make more sense. Amazon Prime having six million subscribers is no indicator of a guaranteed big take up whereas Premier Sports has its sport viewership ready and willing with Freesports as it's paid for "barker" channel.

Mr.Maroon

Harry Palmr wrote: »

It appears that Amazon and Premier have submitted offers.

http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/premier-sports-confirms-uk-la-liga-spanish-soccer-rights-bid

Amazon may well offer more money as they have shed loads of cash but for the game PS and FS would surely make more sense. Amazon Prime having six million subscribers is no indicator of a guaranteed big take up whereas Premier Sports has its sport viewership ready and willing with Freesports as it's paid for "barker" channel.

It'll be interesting to see if La Liga have learned their lesson from last years Eleven Sports debacle.

Christy Browne

Surely Eir Sport should be all over this?

mikeym

Christy Browne wrote: »

Surely Eir Sport should be all over this?

I presume the La Liga people want one broadcaster to cover both Ireland & the UK

icdg

Actually, the RFT was quite specific that they wanted separate bids for UK & ROI (though one could bid for both). That RFT is possibly irrelevant now, of course. But, if a broadcaster like ITV or Channel 5 came in only bidding on the UK rights, it would seem an ideal one for eir Sport or VM.

forzacalcio

No tweets from Eleven SPorts today. That to me suggests the person who runs that is either very hungover or they may know about losing the rights. Interesting. They usually tweet 4/5 times daily about La Liga

Douglas Eegit

forzacalcio wrote: »

No tweets from Eleven SPorts today. That to me suggests the person who runs that is either very hungover or they may know about losing the rights. Interesting. They usually tweet 4/5 times daily about La Liga

They are back tweeting it appears.

This will hardly be sorted by Friday evening in time for the first game of the season, will it?

TCP/IP

mikeym wrote: »

I presume the La Liga people want one broadcaster to cover both Ireland & the UK

Please god let it be Sky/BT/Premier then we are sorted VM Sport or Eir just need to die as are just further fragmentation that we don’t need.

Don’t know why but I think Amazon will win the UK/I rights.

Douglas Eegit

TCP/IP wrote: »

Please god let it be Sky/BT/Premier then we are sorted VM Sport or Eir just need to die as are just further fragmentation that we don’t need.

Don’t know why but I think Amazon will win the UK/I rights.

Have a look at the TV Guide for Eir and their live broadcast, it's a sorry state.

I believe Amazon will have to be alongside a Satellite broadcaster. A lot has been learned from Eleven and it's evident we are not there yet to go all Stream based, especially commercial premises and this is why Premier have got the Amazon matches for the EPL(so i've heard but makes sense).

TCP/IP

Douglas Eegit wrote: »

Have a look at the TV Guide for Eir and their live broadcast, it's a sorry state.

I believe Amazon will have to be alongside a Satellite broadcaster. A lot has been learned from Eleven and it's evident we are not there yet to go all Stream based, especially commercial premises and this is why Premier have got the Amazon matches for the EPL(so i've heard but makes sense).

Totally agree an OTT provider and Sky is the way to go. I think a Netflix or Amazon is in a much better position to provide the service than what Eleven Sports where. Sure Netflix and Primevideo are practically on every device going and have the infrastructure and pockets to back it up.

dulpit

Douglas Eegit wrote: »

Have a look at the TV Guide for Eir and their live broadcast, it's a sorry state.

I believe Amazon will have to be alongside a Satellite broadcaster. A lot has been learned from Eleven and it's evident we are not there yet to go all Stream based, especially commercial premises and this is why Premier have got the Amazon matches for the EPL(so i've heard but makes sense).

I reckon streaming would work with an existing provider that lots of people already use (Prime or Netflix). Having to sub to a new provided for one thing though is a bad time.

lertsnim

Amazon Prime has 8 million subscribers in the UK. They'll be fine.

forzacalcio

Premier Sports have tweeted that they will know before Friday if they have rights or not. Looks like there is a deadline

thegreengoblin

Interesting piece on what is a truly bonkers situation from one of Sky's Spanish football commentators

https://football-espana.net/80067/la-liga-tv-rights-leaves-uk-fans-dark

La Liga TV rights leaves UK fans in the dark

Unsold La Liga TV rights in the UK on eve of new season threatens to leave Spain further behind Premier League, argues commentator Jon Driscoll.

MOD SNIP. It isn’t allowed to post entire articles here - firstly because it’s breach of copyright, secondly because it kills readability on the thread. A link and a summary please

thegreengoblin

thegreengoblin wrote: »

Interesting piece on what is a truly bonkers situation from one of Sky's Spanish football commentators

https://football-espana.net/80067/la-liga-tv-rights-leaves-uk-fans-dark

La Liga TV rights leaves UK fans in the dark

Unsold La Liga TV rights in the UK on eve of new season threatens to leave Spain further behind Premier League, argues commentator Jon Driscoll.

MOD SNIP. It isn’t allowed to post entire articles here - firstly because it’s breach of copyright, secondly because it kills readability on the thread. A link and a summary please

No worries, I had seen plenty of articles posted that way before on various threads so thought it was ok.

Tigerandahalf

thegreengoblin wrote: »

No worries, I had seen plenty of articles posted that way before on various threads so thought it was ok.

That site is useless. It never links to the actual article, just a news feed.

turniton

Hi guys, today i got an email reply from Premier sport that says:

Thanks for contacting Premier Player.

Unfortunately Premier Sports has not been able to secure the rights for LaLiga season 2019/20. Whether you are in UK or Ireland, LaLiga will sadly not be on our channels.
We do have an annual offer. You may wish to check more details on the following link:

I was really looking forward to Serie A and La Liga week ends (my wife not so much).

fman

There's still no word that anyone has done a deal so that mail would seem to suggest Premier have given up on it ( or been told someone else has agreed a deal).
There were also concerns that Premier just wouldn't have enough room in their schedules to properly cover Serie A and La Liga along with other commitments.

Harry Palmr

Friday is the Dee Day so I'll wait until then.

wadacrack

Would love to see it back on Sky Sports

forzacalcio

Eleven no longer taking subs. Premier saying they didn't get them. This surely means someone has them.

My money is now on Amazon or BT at a push. Pray to God Eir are nowhere near it

Harry Palmr

Eugh! ITV4 or bust for me then. No way am I interested enough to pay for it.

Father Hernandez

turniton wrote: »

Hi guys, today i got an email reply from Premier sport that says:

Thanks for contacting Premier Player.

Unfortunately Premier Sports has not been able to secure the rights for LaLiga season 2019/20. Whether you are in UK or Ireland, LaLiga will sadly not be on our channels.
We do have an annual offer. You may wish to check more details on the following link:

I was really looking forward to Serie A and La Liga week ends (my wife not so much).

Have they said anything online about not having the rights? Last time I asked they said they were awaiting a decision.