TV rights shock: BT Sport 'wins live La Liga rights from Sky Sports'

Updated 01/08/2015 at 11:33 GMT

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are to have a new home this season with reports that BT Sport is to take La Liga TV rights from Sky Sports in a huge coup on the eve of the new season.

Die besten Fußballspieler unserer Zeit: Lionel Messi (li.) und Cristiano Ronaldo (re.)

Image credit: Eurosport

According to the Telegraph, Sky “dramatically pulled out of the bidding process” for the rights to La Liga for the next three years, leaving BT free to add exclusive coverage of Spanish football to its ever-increasing stable of rights, including exclusive Champions League coverage.

The Daily Mail’s media correspondent Charles Sale described the dramatic development as “a further sign that Sky Sports massively overspent in paying £11million a match for their Premier League coverage.”

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According to the well-informed Sale:

It is understood that Sky made a far bigger first-round offer for La Liga, but were upset enough about the tender going to a second round that they withdrew from a contest BT believed they had no chance of winning.

It means Sky have surrendered the rights they have held for nearly two decades, with BT set to bring El Clasico and Spain’s other premier fixtures to UK households.

Sky prevented BT from making any inroads into their prized Premier League rights when securing 126 live games per season from 2016-2019, compared to BT’s 42, but they had to pay £4.176bn of the total £5.14bn in order to do so.

The loss of La Liga is another blow to Sky, which has seen BT Sport steadily accumulate live rights to build up an impressive portfolio.