Facebook to air La Liga season in India
MADRID : Lionel Messi, Gareth Bale and a host of La Liga stars will be beamed for free to viewers in the Indian subcontinent as part of a landmark deal with Facebook to broadcast live matches, the Spanish top flight division said.
All 380 matches of the new 2018-2019 La Liga season, which begins Friday, will be available on the social media network in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, La Liga said in a statement.
“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,” said La Liga President Javier Tebas.
“La liga is a reference in world football and it is a great satisfaction for us that now, the number of people who can watch matches live in this geographic area will be greater than ever and they will be able to do so for free through Facebook.”
The deal will last for the next three seasons and will include pre- and post-match analysis programmes. The financial details of the agreement were not disclosed in the statement but Spanish sports daily Marca reported that the deal was worth 90 million euros ($105.5 million).
In June La Liga announced it had renewed its contract for five seasons, between 2019-2024, for the international broadcast rights for the Spanish championship for around 4.48 billion euros -- or about 896 million euros per season, a 30 percent increase over the previous agreement.
Facebook earlier this month agreed a deal with UK broadcaster Eleven Sports to show one La Liga and one Serie A game per week on its platform.
India has a billion-plus mobile phone users, more than any other country, and close to half a billion people with Internet access, most via smartphones, that make streaming video from sites like Facebook possible.