LaLiga will continue to be broadcast on Indian television as Sony Picture Network and Facebook have agreed on a media rights sub-licensing deal.
As reported by insidesport.co first, Facebook had acquired the LaLiga rights for the Indian sub-continent for the 2018/19-2020/21 three-year cycle. This has caused a dent in the strong international football content pool of Sony Sports Cluster.
The LaLiga loss seemed to be a gain for Serie A. Having lost the precious Spanish First Division League media rights, Sony has been promoting Serie A in an unprecedented manner. Cristiano Ronaldo signing by Juventus has given a much-needed impetus to Serie A, which otherwise was on the lowest pedestal in the football content for the broadcaster.
Facebook, which has taken the sports video content players by storm with its failed ₹3,900 crore bid for the Indian Premier League digital rights, has been working on strengthening its sports content.
However, to ensure the widest coverage for LaLiga in India the Mark Zuckerberg-owned social media giant Facebook had been looking for a tie-up with an Indian sports broadcaster for the LaLiga broadcast.
The football fans and fraternity had also expressed its disappointment over LaLiga absence from the conventional screen as television remains the first choice for video content consumption in the country. The availability and access to the digital content on OTT platform is still not seamless in India. Driven by these factors, Facebook had considered a LaLiga rights sub-licensing deal.
The deal is reported by indiantelevision.com, quoting sources close to the development.
Insidesport.co could confirm that the social media platform has been looking for a television platform in India to share the LaLiga content. The Facebook team though had been looking for a deal where it could have some exclusivity or preferential rights for the premium content/matches.
Facebook has also announced earlier that it will stream LaLiga in India free.
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