“No satisfactory bids” for La Liga rights in UK
August 1, 2019
La Liga has failed to find a UK broadcast home for the 2019/20 season with less than three weeks until the new campaign kicks off. The top-flight Spanish football league has withdrawn a tender for broadcast rights in the UK and Ireland after receiving “no satisfactory bids”.
The league’s organising body gave broadcasters a deadline of July 25th to submit offers for one or a combination of six packages for the next three seasons, as part of a tender process announced on July 11th.
The rights have now been taken off the table, meaning that the league has been unable to find a media partner to host coverage of the 2019/20 campaign – which starts on August 16th – in the UK and Irish markets.
Joris Evers, La Liga’s head of communications, said: “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.”
Sky Sports used to hold La Liga right in UK and Ireland before Eleven Sports secured a three-year deal in 2018. The OTT service had to renegotiate its agreement with the Spanish league after failing to get enough subscribers last year. ITV subsequently gained limited rights to broadcast games on FTA television via ITV4, with pay-TV channel Premier Sports also showing four games a week.