Spanish basketball’s top-flight Liga ACB has opted to end its long-standing domestic broadcast partnership with Movistar, the pay-TV service owned by Telefonica, the Spanish telecoms giant, and will instead move to rival streaming platform DAZN in a new three-year deal.
DAZN will cover every round of the Liga ACB, from 2025-26 to 2027-28, including post-season playoffs and the league-ending finals. Through the partnership, DAZN will also showcase the Copa del Rey knockout competition.
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Furthermore, for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign, there is the prospect of one match per week being shown on free-to-air TV.
The streaming service is reportedly in talks with TVE, the television division of the Spanish public-service broadcaster, and FORTA, the consortium of regional public-service broadcasters, which held the rights prior to Movistar deal, to facilitate that free-to-air broadcast commitment.
The free distribution element must be a focus for the Liga ACB, as the competition is reportedly taking a lower media rights fee than previously paid by Movistar, with DAZN said to be paying between €14 million and €14.5 million per year.
The agreement with DAZN ends the decade-long relationship between Movistar and Liga ACB. The Movistar service has broadcast Liga ACB since 2015, when it took over from TVE.
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By GlobalDataIn October 2015, Telefonica finalised a deal with the Liga ACB to show games from the top division for the next three years. Under the agreement, Telefonica would show four live games every Sunday from the league, comprising three that tip off simultaneously at 1pm and one starting at 7.30pm, via its Movistar pay-TV service and video-on-demand platform.
The deal with the ACB, reportedly worth €19 million in total or €6.33 million per season, also included the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de España de Baloncesto competitions and a sponsorship package.
Telefonica shared the rights to the Liga ACB and the other competitions in the 2015-16 season with TVE, the Spanish public-service broadcaster, which was entering the second year of a two-year deal with the ACB. However, Movistar had exclusivity in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
The deal was seen as a financial boon for the ACB as revenues from the partnerships with TVE and FORTA were minimal. The free-to-air deals with TVE and FORTA were reportedly worth €3 million and €2 million per season, respectively.
In August 2018, Telefonica retained exclusive live rights to broadcast the Liga ACB, plus the Copa del Rey and Supercopa competitions, for a further two years, until the end of the 2019-20 season. The agreement added up to 1,000 games over the course of the contract.
In September 2020, Telefónica extended its comprehensive media rights and sponsorship deal for Spain’s top basketball competitions for a further three years.
The agreement with organiser ACB included full live coverage of the Liga ACB, Copa del Rey, and Supercopa on pay-television operator Movistar in the 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23 seasons.
Telefonica renewed its exclusive broadcasting rights with Liga ACB for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 campaigns. For the final season on Movistar, Telefonica was reportedly paying EUR20 million per season, a significant increase from a decade ago when it first secured the rights.
