Spain: Telefonica to offer football at no additional cost in its pay-TV bouquet Movistar+

Telefonica, a Spanish telecommunications operator, is providing part of its sports content at no additional cost (outside of the basic subscription fee) in its new "triple play" offer (internet, TV, mobile) on Movistar+, from August 2016. The pay-TV portion of triple play base offers of Fusion+, Fusion+2, and Fusion+2 Premium, will include sports content - including football - to which Telefonica owns the rights from the 2016-17 season.

Telefonica increased the prices of its base offers from €2 to €5. Previously, subscribers had to pay, an average, an additional charge of €25 extra to access sports content.

Mediapro and Movistar+ have entered into agreements under which Movistar+ distributes the beIN Sports channels (€685.7m for the three and a half years of the contract) and the new beIN LaLiga channel. The pay channel beIN LaLiga will broadcast the majority of the content which was acquired by Mediapro, including 6 of the 10 lots of the domestic TV rights to Spanish football from 2016 to 2019. beIN Sports notably holds all the 2015-2018 broadcasting rights, in Spain, for the…