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Tag: La Liga

  • Facebook to sub-licence La Liga to broadcaster: Report

    Facebook to sub-licence La Liga to broadcaster: Report

    MUMBAI: Social media giant Facebook took several industry pundits by surprise when it acquired the India sub-continent rights for La Liga’s 380 league matches for the new season, which commenced on Friday. It is now being reported that the league’s broadcast in India will not just be limited to the social media platform, but will also be sub-licenced to a TV channel as well.

    According to Mumbai Mirror, Facebook officials from Singapore and US apart from their Indian representatives are in advanced talks with a Mumbai-based sports television station to seal the deal for the same.

    Given that Facebook does not charge consumers for the La Liga content, it remains to be seen how the broadcaster will air these matches.

    Facebook currently streams the live matches for free to its 348 million users in the region, including 270 million in India. The company did not disclose how much it had paid to acquire the rights, which cost Sony Pictures Network $32m (€28m) the last time it was for sale in 2014. The Financial Times, however, quoted a sources suggesting that Facebook had shelled out something between €10 million and €20 million for the rights.

    Facebook, which streams the matches on Facebook Watch, had opened the channels of negotiation with the television company for quite some time.

    La Liga president Javier Tebas said, “We are delighted to team up with Facebook and be able to bring the action closer to all followers of La Liga in the Indian subcontinent.”

    Facebook head of global live sports programming Peter Hutton said, “For Facebook, the deal is an important experiment.” It has been trying to win broadcast rights in India to major sporting events including the Indian Premier League. “We see this as a great opportunity to bring people together around world-class football and also help La Liga reach new audiences.”

    The season kicked off on Friday night with matches between Girona versus Vallodolid and Real Betis versus Levante. Although these are early days in India for the live online broadcast of the games, there is an opinion that Indian fans still prefer the big screen for live action. It could be a reason why Facebook is looking to sub-licence the rights to a broadcaster.

  • Amazon could bid for La Liga media rights

    Amazon could bid for La Liga media rights

    MUMBAI: Global tournament and league rights are no longer only within the reach of big broadcasters. Social networks and e-commerce portals too are now in the running to stake a claim in rights acquisition. One of the big names that come to the mind is Amazon. After acquiring a package of 20 football matches from the English Premier League, industry observers are now predicting that the Jeff Bezos-owned company will turn its attention to the Spanish market and seek to acquire minority lots of La Liga football TV rights over the next three seasons, Advanced Television reports.

    La Liga has four lots of football TV rights for sale after granting majority of the rights to Telefónica. The Spanish telecommunications company has outbid its main rival Mediapro for the bulk of broadcast rights to La Liga, the top-flight of Spanish soccer, in an auction that raised €3.4 billion (US$3.98 billion).

    Telefonica was awarded the two main packages, for nine matches each week in the recent auction. Mediapro got the right to one match each week, along with highlights and broadcasts in public spaces such as bars and restaurants. However, rights to Spain’s Copa del Rey were not included in the package offering.

    In India, Sony Pictures Network (SPN) owned the telecast rights until 20 May 2018.

    La Liga hopes to get €120 million for these rights, which will be added to €980 million paid by Telefónica and €160 million already paid by Mediapro.

    La Liga may still meet its target with the sale of the four packages that were withdrawn (only four out of eight have been awarded) to new companies like Amazon, Facebook or Netflix.

  • Sports organisations dive into creating own digital ventures

    Sports organisations dive into creating own digital ventures

    MUMBAI: When cord-cutting started to become a phenomenon, there was a perception that live sports was one of the reasons why people wouldn’t cut the cord. In last two years, however, sports have proved to be a game changer for over-the-top (OTT) services. As a result, several major sports federations are taking initiatives to launch their own streaming services.

    Broadcasters have become frenzied when it comes to bidding for sporting tournaments with everyone letting their purses loose. Traditional broadcasters have led the way till now but sports federations are trying to make a mark of their own for dedicated and new fans.

    Recent reports suggest that La Liga, Spain’s football governing body has planned to launch an OTT service. It aims to secure €1.3 billion a year for the TV rights, but pay-TV operators are not willing to pay such a sum. Football fans across the globe eagerly wait for La Liga matches but yet broadcasters view the amount as a non-profitable sum.

    The availability of OTT platforms is enabling La Liga organisers to stick to the amount they are demanding. Javier Tebas, president of La Liga recently said at a conference in Barcelona, that if the bids don’t meet their expectation they won’t grant the rights. Moreover, the OTT platform La Liga is already working on will be a free multi sports streaming service adding more value to it.

    Another world class tournament, which has a fan worldwide, has a full-fledged plan to launch its OTT F1 TV.  While La Liga’s plan to make its OTT service free, F1 TV is going to be a subscription-based commercial free service. Aimed at core fans of Formula One, its plans to ace digital transformation is definitely a huge one.

    Like many OTT players worldwide, who don’t want non-paying viewers to jump out, the Formula One committee will offer a less expensive, non-live subscription tier, F1 TV Access. It will provide live race timing data and radio commentary, as well as extended highlights of each session from the race weekend. Knowing the fact that streaming live sports with lowest latency might be a challenge, it has relied on Tata Communications for CDN and connectivity services.

    The inclination to reach the global audience through a digital platform touched the Winter Olympics too. One of the main aims of the digital coverage is to engage fans more with the ongoing tournament to keep the excitement high. 2018 was the first year to witness digital coverage of this ancient sporting event. Olympic Channel aired Olympic Games coverage live for the first time on its global digital platform at olympicchannel.com and mobile apps for Android and iOS.

    Such attempts allow sports organisations the opportunity to reach fans on own terms and develop a direct relation with them. Along with coping with change in viewers’ habit, it may help them to evade the complex bidding process.  

    Though the trend seems new, WWE is one of the earliest examples to dive into OTT streaming service in 2013. WWE saw multiple benefits from offering its OTT subscription service to viewers including addition of more than a million active subscribers within a short term according to reports.  Other than that, what they got is data. A spokesperson from the company itself said, they could track when viewers are watching, what device they are using, how long they are watching, etc.

    By using your own OTT app federations can directly know their audience by gathering data. Using this information of viewer’s habit and demographics, the organisations can revamp the branding of the leagues in future. Especially, in such a context when on-demand sports content is a must in the future.

  • New local rivalry comes to La Liga as Girona debut at Camp Nou

    New local rivalry comes to La Liga as Girona debut at Camp Nou

    MUMBAI: History will be made Sunday afternoon as Girona visit neighbours Barcelona for the first playing of a new Catalan derby – while the LaLiga weekend also sees potentially exciting clashes in the battle for European qualification places and against relegation.

    Girona are having an excellent first ever season in LaLiga, and sit eighth in the table after three wins and two draws in their last six games. However table-toppers Barca will still be favourites and could set a new club record of 32 unbeaten LaLiga games if they avoid defeat at their Camp Nou.

    Second placed Atletico Madrid visit Sevilla Sunday evening with Diego Simeone’s side looking for revenge for their recent Copa del Rey exit at the Sanchez Pizjuan. Atletico have lost just once all LaLiga season, but then Sevilla have only one defeat at their home stadium, so a tight encounter looks likely.

    Real Madrid host Alaves on Saturday afternoon with Zinedine Zidane’s galactico-filled attack having scored 23 times in their last five LaLiga outings. Alaves have just one LaLiga win ever at the Bernabeu [back in 2000], but victories in their last three games mean the Basques will travel with confidence.

    The weekend kicks off Friday night with Deportivo La Coruna hoping for a first three points under new boss Clarence Seedorf when they host Espanyol, who need a boost themselves to avoid slipping towards the relegation struggle.

    There will also be nerves at San Mames on Sunday afternoon when 14th placed Athletic Bilbao host bottom club Malaga – neither have been scoring much lately, but the reverse fixture last September was an incident-packed 3-3 draw.

    Other fixtures to look out for include in-form Getafe visiting Villarreal Sunday lunchtime with both teams chasing a Europa League spot, and Valencia looking to maintain their Champions League position when they host Real Sociedad later that afternoon.

    The gameweek continues until Monday evening when freeflowing Real Betis, with 10 goals scored and three wins in their last four away fixtures, visit a Levante side who have slipped in recent weeks but did earn a battling 2-2 draw at home to Real Madrid in their last home fixture.

  • ISL piggybacks on EPL’s popularity to gain viewership

    ISL piggybacks on EPL’s popularity to gain viewership

    MUMBAI: Football is attempting to kick up a storm in India. Though it has to withstand the might of cricket in the country, the staunch supporters aren’t backing off.

    India’s successful hosting of the FIFA U-17 world cup has already delivered a massive attendance in the history of the tournament. As per Star Sports India Football Forum (IFF) 2017 data the event was witnessed by 1,347,143 spectators at the six host venues across the country, with average attendance at 25,906. But more than anything else, the WC U-17 has been about the youth getting connected on the ground and in the digital arena. 

    Sony Pictures Network India EVP & business head, Prasana Krishnan said, “The role of broadcasters in India moved away from being a broadcaster to an incubator. We need to expand the market, a country of 1.3 billion people can’t be serviced by a single sport and few select content that is available.”

    Football is also expanding in India through the Indian Super League (ISL), which is believed to have given the sport the impetus it desperately needed. 

    English Premier League (EPL) is the most watched football league in the world in the current scenario. According to ESP Properties senior business director Subhamoy Das,  there is a wide open area for ISL here. Says he, “45 per cent of the EPL audience tuned into ISL 2017-18, the remaining 55 per cent of the EPL viewers is the opportunity for ISL to win over.”

    Broadcast Audience Research Council business head- television Rohit Sarma feels that there is a huge vacuum to fill for Indian broadcasters for sports viewership. He said, “While globally sports contributes 9 per cent of total TV viewership, in India the contribution is currently 3 per cent. This shows that there is immense headroom for growth in this genre on TV. In India, ISL contributes to 60 per cent of the total viewership in football.”

    The digital numbers in terms of viewership in India for football are growing at 3x rate growing from 9 billion minutes in 2014 to 23 billion minutes in 2017 on digital platforms. “In Indian sports context, out of the overall population of 1.324 billion, sports consumption on TV is 741 million and in-stadium attendance is around 4 million,” Das added.

    According to Local Organising Committee tournament director Javier Ceppi, the three building blocks for developing a sport are participation, incentivisation and commercialisation.

    In India, the participation of kids for football is drastically less than that of the UK. According to All India Football Federation, 3.4 million kids play organised football in the UK as compared to a meagre 4000 in India. We have a coach per two lakh people in India and one coach per 55 thousand in the UK.

    The audience of EPL and ISL are very different. EPL is watched by 4-30 years old and ISL attracts 22-50 years old. ISL season 2 and 3 was also watched by 45 per cent females.

    The data provided by ESP Properties pointed out that as per Facebook audience insights, states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP, Punjab, Rajasthan and few more can potentially drive up cumulative interest levels towards ISL by 19 per cent.

    Commercialisation in India works well, with around 40 brands regularly investing in sports which includes DHL, Amul, Bisleri, Apollo Tyres and many more.

    La Liga country manager India Jose Antonio Cachaza is working to make the tournament popular in the country. He said, “We are here to bring a La Liga team to India. Indian football fans now don’t just support FC Barcelona or Real Madrid, but also other clubs of La Liga. Our motive is to get it to the number one league in Asia, by investing a lot in grassroots tournament, NGO programmes and academic activities to improve the quality. The main income in La Liga is from the TV rights.”

    Also read:

    Hero ISL S4 opening game saw 59% viewership growth

    DHL renews partnership with Hero ISL

    Mumbai City FC’s sponsorship amount up by 50 %

  • El Clasico among most viewed global annual sporting events, says Sony’s Rajesh Kaul

    El Clasico among most viewed global annual sporting events, says Sony’s Rajesh Kaul

    MUMBAI: Spain’s leading football league La Liga’s official broadcasters in India — Sony Pictures Networks India president, distribution and sports Rajesh Kaul has said that El Clasico was among the most viewed annual sporting events in the world and they enabled football fans who could not watch the match live at Barcelona’s Camp Nou, an opportunity to experience one of the most heavily anticipated games of the season with football legends, Luis Garcia and Frederic Kanoute.

    La Liga, which launched its India office in New Delhi recently, screened in Delhi and Mumbai European-style live match between FC Barcelona & Real Madrid CF, popularly called the ‘E l Clasico.

    Meanwhile, a number of Europe’s major leagues, including the Spainish La Liga, the Bundesliga in Germany, Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue 1, include a mid-season break. England manager Gareth Southgate has meanwhile questioned whether the introduction of a winter break in the premier league would improve fortunes in major tournaments. Southgate, who was handed a four-year contract last week having impressed the FA during four matches as interim manager, said any negative effects of England’s fixture-packed winter schedule were an “assumption”.

    The lack of a winter break during the season has often been considered one of several factors contributing to England’s international failures in recent years, with some premier league managers claiming the gruelling festive period pushes players to their limits. Traditionally, English football had a busy Christmas period when teams frequently play several matches in a short period, with just a few days rest between games.

    Mumbai and Delhi hosted European style fan park screenings. Garcia and Kanoute attended the events and engaged with the fans.

    The match concluded in a draw with some high action in the last minute of the game. Both cities witnessed unprecedented support from the fans, as they took over the stadia to support their respective clubs.

    Both clubs had a large fan following in India, and for the first time, their fans had a chance to experience the El Clasico in a fan park atmosphere with a football carnival focussed around the match. The evening included giant screens, competitions and fan engagement activities, food & beverage stalls both in Mumbai (Khar Gymkhana) and in Delhi (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium).

    La Liga president Javier Tebas said that theit aim was to take La Liga across the world, and further establish the league as one that was inclusive and is global. Both Barcelona and Real Madrid were hugely popular in India and they feel that they owe the passionate fans of the league, a chance to experience such an event.

    Garcia, who played for Atletico de Madrid and FC Barcelona in La Liga, said it was a fantastic atmosphere at the screening and it was wonderful to see such enthusiasm from the crowd.

    Kanoute, who attended the Mumbai screening, said he was glad to see such tremendous support for Spanish football in India, it was an evenly fought contest and was a treat for all.

  • El Clasico among most viewed global annual sporting events, says Sony’s Rajesh Kaul

    El Clasico among most viewed global annual sporting events, says Sony’s Rajesh Kaul

    MUMBAI: Spain’s leading football league La Liga’s official broadcasters in India — Sony Pictures Networks India president, distribution and sports Rajesh Kaul has said that El Clasico was among the most viewed annual sporting events in the world and they enabled football fans who could not watch the match live at Barcelona’s Camp Nou, an opportunity to experience one of the most heavily anticipated games of the season with football legends, Luis Garcia and Frederic Kanoute.

    La Liga, which launched its India office in New Delhi recently, screened in Delhi and Mumbai European-style live match between FC Barcelona & Real Madrid CF, popularly called the ‘E l Clasico.

    Meanwhile, a number of Europe’s major leagues, including the Spainish La Liga, the Bundesliga in Germany, Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue 1, include a mid-season break. England manager Gareth Southgate has meanwhile questioned whether the introduction of a winter break in the premier league would improve fortunes in major tournaments. Southgate, who was handed a four-year contract last week having impressed the FA during four matches as interim manager, said any negative effects of England’s fixture-packed winter schedule were an “assumption”.

    The lack of a winter break during the season has often been considered one of several factors contributing to England’s international failures in recent years, with some premier league managers claiming the gruelling festive period pushes players to their limits. Traditionally, English football had a busy Christmas period when teams frequently play several matches in a short period, with just a few days rest between games.

    Mumbai and Delhi hosted European style fan park screenings. Garcia and Kanoute attended the events and engaged with the fans.

    The match concluded in a draw with some high action in the last minute of the game. Both cities witnessed unprecedented support from the fans, as they took over the stadia to support their respective clubs.

    Both clubs had a large fan following in India, and for the first time, their fans had a chance to experience the El Clasico in a fan park atmosphere with a football carnival focussed around the match. The evening included giant screens, competitions and fan engagement activities, food & beverage stalls both in Mumbai (Khar Gymkhana) and in Delhi (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium).

    La Liga president Javier Tebas said that theit aim was to take La Liga across the world, and further establish the league as one that was inclusive and is global. Both Barcelona and Real Madrid were hugely popular in India and they feel that they owe the passionate fans of the league, a chance to experience such an event.

    Garcia, who played for Atletico de Madrid and FC Barcelona in La Liga, said it was a fantastic atmosphere at the screening and it was wonderful to see such enthusiasm from the crowd.

    Kanoute, who attended the Mumbai screening, said he was glad to see such tremendous support for Spanish football in India, it was an evenly fought contest and was a treat for all.

  • Former La Liga stars to attend live ‘EL Clasico’ telecast in India

    Former La Liga stars to attend live ‘EL Clasico’ telecast in India

    MUMBAI: La Liga plans to host live screening of the Spanish football league match on 3 December in Mumbai and Delhi. The showpiece match “El Clasico” will be played between traditional rivals Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

    Former La Liga star Luis Garcia will attend the screening in New Delhi while Frederic Kanoute will be present at the Mumbai screening.

    La Liga recently established its India office in New Delhi and will organise the event with the aim of popularising the league in India. Live screening of sporting events on a huge screen is popular in Europe, IANS reported.

    On the telecast evening, there will be big screens, food and beverage stalls as well as fan engagement activities at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi and Khar Gymkhana in Mumbai.

    La Liga president Javier Tebas stated in a release that their aim was to take La Liga across the world, and further establish the league as one that was global and inclusive. They feel that the most important way to grow was to be closer to their fans, and provide them with newer, more exciting experience.

    Both Barcelona and Real Madrid were hugely popular in India, and they feel that they owe the passionate fans of the league, a chance to experience such an event. That was a big step, and what they believed would be a great start to their journey in India, Tebas added.

    Garcia, who played for FC Barcelona and Atletico de Madrid in La Liga said it would be a great experience for him to watch El Clasico with the fans in India. He said he had seen the passion for football among the fans, and he felt that those were great initiatives to further grow La Liga in India.

    Former Sevilla striker Frederic Kanoute added that it would be his first visit to India, and he had heard a lot of great things about the popularity of La Liga in India. He said he was looking forward to meeting the fans and enjoying one of the biggest matches in world football.

  • Former La Liga stars to attend live ‘EL Clasico’ telecast in India

    Former La Liga stars to attend live ‘EL Clasico’ telecast in India

    MUMBAI: La Liga plans to host live screening of the Spanish football league match on 3 December in Mumbai and Delhi. The showpiece match “El Clasico” will be played between traditional rivals Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

    Former La Liga star Luis Garcia will attend the screening in New Delhi while Frederic Kanoute will be present at the Mumbai screening.

    La Liga recently established its India office in New Delhi and will organise the event with the aim of popularising the league in India. Live screening of sporting events on a huge screen is popular in Europe, IANS reported.

    On the telecast evening, there will be big screens, food and beverage stalls as well as fan engagement activities at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi and Khar Gymkhana in Mumbai.

    La Liga president Javier Tebas stated in a release that their aim was to take La Liga across the world, and further establish the league as one that was global and inclusive. They feel that the most important way to grow was to be closer to their fans, and provide them with newer, more exciting experience.

    Both Barcelona and Real Madrid were hugely popular in India, and they feel that they owe the passionate fans of the league, a chance to experience such an event. That was a big step, and what they believed would be a great start to their journey in India, Tebas added.

    Garcia, who played for FC Barcelona and Atletico de Madrid in La Liga said it would be a great experience for him to watch El Clasico with the fans in India. He said he had seen the passion for football among the fans, and he felt that those were great initiatives to further grow La Liga in India.

    Former Sevilla striker Frederic Kanoute added that it would be his first visit to India, and he had heard a lot of great things about the popularity of La Liga in India. He said he was looking forward to meeting the fans and enjoying one of the biggest matches in world football.

  • Club Football to kickstart again: When & where can India tune in?

    Club Football to kickstart again: When & where can India tune in?

    MUMBAI: Manchester City – the undisputed team so far in this season of English Premier League has shown class and composure while defending champions Chelsea’s jittery start seems to last too long. Arsenal failed to sign a single outfield player in the transfer window and Manchester United are yet to go all guns blazing.

     

    After the international break, the club competition across the globe is all set to kickstart again. The top of the table affair in Bundesliga is also equally poised with both Borrosia Dortmund and Bayern Munchen tied up at nine points. It will be a battle between defence and attack when Atletico Madrid hosts Barcelona in La Liga. Fans will be eagerly waiting for to how the teams are shaped up after transfer dealings.

     

    In India, Star Sports holds the broadcasting rights of EPL and Bundesliga, while one can tune in to Sony Six and Sony Kix for La Liga and Italian SerieA actions.

     

    Indiantelevision.com compiles a list of important not-to-be-missed matches:

     

    Indiantelevision.com compiles a list of important not-to-be-missed matches:

     

    Saturday, 12 September

     

    Everton vs. Chelsea, 05:05 pm, Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD 4

     

    FC Bayern Munich vs. FC Augsburg, 6:46 pm, Star Sports 2

     

    Hannover 96 vs. Borussia Dortmund, 6:46 pm, Star Sports 2 HD

     

    Arsenal vs. Stoke City, 7:20 pm, Star Sports 1 and Star Sports HD 1

     

    Crystal Palace vs. Manchester City, 7:20 pm Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD 4

     

    Eintracht Frankfurt vs. 1. FC Koln, 9:46 pm, Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD 2

     

    Manchester United vs. Liverpool, 9:45 pm, Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD 4

     

    Frosinone Vs Roma, 9:30 pm, Sony Six

     

    Sporting Gijon VS Valencia 9.45, Sony Six HD

     

    Espanyol VS Real Madrid 7.30, Sony KIx

     

    Sunday, 13 September

     

    Atletico Madrid VS Barcelona 12 AM, Sony Kix

     

    Hannover 96 vs. Borussia Dortmund,12:00 AM, Star Sports 1 and Star Sports HD 1

     

    Sunderland vs. Tottenham Hotspur, 5:50 pm Star Sports 4 Star Sports HD 4

     

    1899 Hoffenheim vs. SV Werder Bremen 6:46 pm, Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD2

    Leicester City vs. Aston Villa, 8:20 pm, Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD 4

     

    Match Of The Week, Athletico Madrid vs. Barcelona