Mediaset and Atresmedia are expected to renew their battle for football TV rights before the end of the year by bidding for the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
El Economista reports that although the rights belong to Mediapro, everything points to the company reselling them to the highest bidder in order to recoup some of its investment.
Following on from this, the next big battle will be in the first half of next year for the rights to Euro 2024 in Germany.
Historically speaking, Mediaset, which already holds the rights to Euro 2020, will also be the favourite to secure the rights to both these competitions.
Given that games involving the Spanish national team are always shown FTA, Telefónica, whose interest lies solely in pay-TV, will not take part in any auction.
Nor will such streaming services as Dazn and Opensport, though online giants such as Facebook and YouTube cannot be ruled out.
The public broadcaster TVE is meanwhile unlikely to participate due to budgetary constraints, though it may seek to secure some games in the tournaments.
