The BeIn Sports channel will cease broadcasting in Spain from August 1, as a result of Telefonica’s acquisition of rights to Uefa’s Champions League and Europa League football.
BeIn Connect’s website is no longer accepting subcriptions to BeIn Sports, offering instead a stripped-down football bundle similar to that unveiled this week by Vodafone Spain, which is in dispute with Telefonica over the cost of screening UEFA content over the coming season.
Telefonica revealed in June that it will pay UEFA EUR360 million per year for the rights to screen Champions League and Europa League games in Spain over the next three seasons and while Orange agreed to pay for access to the content, Vodafone refused.
BeIn Connect’s website however that UEFA games will be available to its clients on an as-yet-unnamed “new channel” for which details will be announced “soon”.
In the competitive Spanish market, Telefonica also acquired the rights to LaLiga for the period 2019-2020, making it the premier provider of football coverage.