LaLiga sets out benefits of territorial level audiovisual licensing at the European Parliament

The breakfast organised by the Sports Rights Organisations Coalition (SROC), of which LaLiga is a member, was attended by the European MPs Jose Blanco and Axel Voss. During the meeting, Javier Tebas insisted that rights holders already grant audiovisual licences which cover various territories in Europe.

"This territorial licensing model allows consumers to receive sporting content adapted to their cultural preferences from the local distributor. If this is brought to an end, the local distributors would be unable to maintain their local services and it would end up being the domestic market operator that would grant the licence over the entire territory of the European Union," explained Javier Tebas.

The head of the organisation which represents Spanish clubs pointed out that the European model would be seriously detrimental to consumers, because they would no longer receive content in their own language and they would have to pay more due to price differences based on the different values of audiovisual rights between the domestic market and the rest of the EU markets.

"The priority for those of us who are sports rights holders is the fans. Before carrying out any reform to the current model, the impact on the sporting industry and the affected parties must be studied," stressed Tebas.

Finally, Tebas assured that LaLiga agrees with the Legislative Proposal by the European Commission on the portability of legally acquired content: "It must be implemented correctly so that it does not turn into cross-border access; rather content aimed at consumers who are temporarily outside their normal country of residence."