French multinational telecommunications company Orange has extended its partnership with Spanish Telecom Corporation Telefonica for the rights of Spain’s La Liga and all the UEFA club competitions. As per reports, the renewal of the sublicensing agreement has been agreed upon at a whopping $356 million.
The aforementioned deal came into place after both parties involved agreed to a second renewal in 3 years. Initially, both Telefonica and Orange had joined hands at the start of the 2019-20 season. For the said season Orange was partnered by Mediaset Espana in this deal with Telefonica. But as per the renewal before the 2020-21 season, Orange was left to be the only alternative operator to distribute Telefónica’s football content, with Mediaset Espana choosing not to renew its deal with the broadcaster.
The present agreement is also similar to the last contract between the two parties but comes as a result that Telecom operator Orange has seen its football viewership grow by approximately 43 per cent over the last year. This deal was made official, following Orange’s quarterly assessment of revenue which saw an almost 3 per cent increase from last year and accumulated a massive $12.5 billion between April and June.
Both parties signed a 3-year sublicensing renewal commencing from the upcoming La Liga and UEFA club competitions season. Orange was quick enough to address this renewal as it didn’t want to let this amazing opportunity generate even more revenue from across 27 countries where it has 268 million users. On the other hand, Orange TV had just over 700,000 subscribers as per data collected following last year’s Quarter 2 financial assessments. These numbers make it one of the largest telecom corporations on the planet.
Another reason why the mentioned renewal so swiftly came into place was that Telefonica receives an order from the Spanish Competition Authority to share its content with other telecom entities, should they ask for it. This content up for sharing includes La Liga, Champions League football, as well as motorsport broadcasts including Formula One and MotoGP.
In addition, La Liga has also signed an 8-year deal for a staggering $1.4 billion with Disney+ for the league’s broadcast in the US, starting from this upcoming season onwards. The season is scheduled to kick off on August 13 and all signs are pointing towards another enthralling season of La Liga football.