Spanish operators confirm football for bars and clubs

Vodafone España and Orange España have confirmed that they are entering the market to offer La Liga football to bars and clubs in competition with Telefónica.

Vodafone, which has declined to strike a deal with Telefónica to offer top-tier Spanish football to its residential customers, has nevertheless agreed a sublicensing deal with Mediapro, which holds the so-called Horeca rights to La Liga, Champions League and Europa League football for hotels, bars and restaurants, and will offer Vodafone TV Bares from this season.

The offering includes Spanish first and second tier football, the Champions League and Europa League, and the UEFA Supercup for €250 excluding VAT to new customers and for €510 to betting shops.

Orange TV Bares meanwhile will be available for €259 excluding VAT for those signing up before September 8. In addition to football, Orange’s offering for bars and clubs will include 13 additional channels spanning news, music, cooking and documentaries.

The launch of Horeca offerings by the pair follow Telefónica’s own announcement that it was enterting this market from the new season after striking its own sublicensing deal with Mediapro.