ITV has announced that it will continue to broadcast live LaLiga matches for the opening three matchdays of the 2019/20 season.
The season-opener between Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona will be shown free-to-air on ITV4, as well as online via the ITV Hub, with coverage starting at 7.45pm, ahead of an 8pm kick-off.
This will be followed on 25 August with Barcelona’s home clash at Camp Nou against Real Betis, while Villarreal play host to Real Madrid on 1 September, with both games also live on ITV4 and ITV Hub.
As well as one live game from each of the first three rounds of the new LaLiga season, ITV and ITV4 will also broadcast a weekly highlights programme, featuring all the goals and major incidents from the top tier of Spanish professional football.
The short-term deal with ITV continues the partnership that began towards the end of last season. It only covers the start of the 2019/20 season and the Spanish league is continuing negotiations over a longer term UK TV deal with other broadcasters.
In July, LaLiga withdrew its UK TV rights tender for the next three seasons, which included options for free-to-air, pay-TV and over-the-top streaming, after receiving “no satisfactory bids”.
The standoff over UK TV rights to the Spanish league arose after online-only broadcaster Eleven Sports, which claimed LaLiga rights from Sky Sports in the summer of 2018, were forced to cut short its original exclusive three-year deal with the league shortly before the end of its first full season on-air in the UK, after Eleven failed to attract enough subscribers to its online offering.
LaLiga then agreed an interim deal that saw Eleven Sports share its rights to live matches with Premier Sports and ITV for the remainder of the 2018/19 season.
It is understood that all three networks were involved in negotiations for rights to the 2019/20 season, with ITV the only broadcaster to come away with an agreement on the eve of the new season starting.
For more information about ITV’s La Liga coverage, visit itv.com/laliga.
FRIDAY 16th AUGUST
Athletic Bilbao v Barcelona
|
20:00 |
|
–
SUNDAY 25th AUGUST
Barcelona v Real Betis
|
20:00 |
|
–
SUNDAY 1st SEPTEMBER
Villarreal v Real Madrid
|
20:00 |
|
–
