Telefónica and Mediapro facing potential regulatory challenge

Spain’s competition regulator is calling on Telefónica and Mediapro to amend their recently signed deal to provide Telefónica’s Movistar TV service with exclusive access to Spanish La Liga football, according to local reports.

Last week Telefónica agreed to pay €2.4 billion to Mediapro to secure exclusive access to La Liga matches for three seasons, as well as access to European Champions League matches.

According to local reports, the regulator, the CNMC, believes the deal could breach commitments made by Telefónica at the time of its acquisition of pay TV unit Canal+ España whereby it was prevented from acquiring exclusive content from third party operators. The regulator has therefore invited both companies to review their deal to ensure that the same opportunities are given to competing providers.

Vodafone and Orange have been highly critical of the deal and have called on the regulator to force the telco to distribute exclusive content via their platforms. The pair last week called on the telco to be forced to share its content.