Premier Sports secures long-term LaLiga rights deal

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Premier Sports and LaLiga have announced an agreement that will see every game from Spanish top-flight LaLiga Santander broadcast in the UK via multiple platforms through the conclusion of the 2021/22 season.

LaLiga will become the first European football league to have a 24/7 dedicated channel in the UK, which will carry live coverage of all matches from Spanish football’s top flight, except for those which kick-off during the 3pm UK broadcast blackout period, with these matches broadcast on delay.

LaLigaTV will be made available by Premier Sports as part of its channel bundle on Sky TV and the Premier Player OTT streaming service for £11.99 per month or £99 per year, with pricing and a launch date on Virgin TV to be confirmed at a later date.

Fans will also have the option to add LaLigaTV as a standalone service via Premier Sports, priced at £5.99 per month or £49 per year, once the channel is officially launched on Sky TV and the Premier Player during the coming weeks.

Additionally from matchday four, Premier Sports’ free-to-air sister-channel FreeSports will broadcast selected live matches as well as the official LaLiga highlights show, a weekly program covering the highlights of every match following each round of fixtures, including each week’s best goal, best save and best player.

LaLigaTV is a 24/7 English-language channel that carries every live game from LaLiga Santander alongside hours of top-class weekly programming including LaLiga World, VIVA LaLiga and The LaLiga Show.

Familiar faces to UK and Ireland audiences feature regularly, including Guillem Balagué, Graham Hunter, Terry Gibson, Sid Lowe, Gaizka Mendieta, Simon Hanley, Semra Hunter, Quinton Fortune and Steve Archibald, among many others.

Commenting on LaLiga’s UK TV deal with Premier Sports, Javier Tebas, LaLiga President said:

“LaLiga is enjoyed across the globe, with an especially passionate fanbase in the UK and Ireland.

“Through our long-term partnership with Premier Sports, we’re happy to give fans of Spanish football a chance to enjoy LaLiga’s world-class content in a variety of formats, including via OTT and Premier Sports’ linear TV offering, as well as our own dedicated English-language channel, LaLigaTV.

“We trust that football fans across both these territories will enjoy unprecedented access to the best league in the world.”

LaLiga was left without a UK home after the league 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 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, while three La Liga fixtures at the start of the 2019/20 season were broadcast free-to-air on ITV4, with a weekly highlights show also shown on ITV and ITV4.

Richard Sweeney, CEO of Premier Sports commented,

“We are thrilled to be announcing this truly unique and game-changing agreement with LaLiga that signals the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Spanish football in the UK. We are extremely proud to be partnering with LaLiga to begin broadcasting the world’s greatest league to UK and Ireland viewers on Premier Sports and via the soon to be launched LaLigaTV channel.”

In addition to residential TV customers, Premier Sports commercial venue customers will be able to show LaLiga via their Sky TV box or through Premier Sports’ soon-to-be-launched enterprise streaming solution provided by Screach, meaning bars across the UK can bring viewers all the big matches from around Europe every weekend.

Scroll down for full details of the live LaLiga matches to be broadcast on Premier Sports and FreeSports across matchdays four and five, while further details of Premier Sports’ Spanish football coverage can be found via the broadcaster’s official website – premiersports.com.

FRIDAY 13th SEPTEMBER

Mallorca v Athletic Bilbao
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 4

20:00

SATURDAY 14th SEPTEMBER

Real Madrid v Levante
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 4

12:00

Real Sociedad v Atletico Madrid
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 4

17:30

Barcelona v Valencia
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 4

20:00

SUNDAY 15th SEPTEMBER

Eibar v Espanyol
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 4

11:00

Alaves v Sevilla
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 4

13:00

Celta Vigo v Granada
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 4

15:00

Real Valladolid v Osasuna
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 4

17:30

Real Betis v Getafe
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 4

20:00

FRIDAY 20th SEPTEMBER

Osasuna v Real Betis
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 5

20:00

SATURDAY 21st SEPTEMBER

Villarreal v Real Valladolid
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 5

12:00

Atletico Madrid v Celta Vigo
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 5

17:30

Granada v Barcelona
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 5

20:00

SUNDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER

Getafe v Mallorca
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 5

11:00

Espanyol v Real Sociedad
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 5

13:00

Valencia v Leganes
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 5

15:00

Athletic Bilbao v Alaves
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 5

17:30

Sevilla v Real Madrid
LaLiga Santander: Matchday 5

20:00

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