They might be the defending champions but Spanish football fans look like they’re facing a frustrating few weeks ahead after national television broadcasters appear unable to settle on a deal to show more than half of the games at Euro 2016.
Spanish free-to-air TV station Telecinco has bought the rights to 23 live matches, including all the Spanish matches, both semi-finals and the final, but a deal has not yet been struck to allow Spanish fans to see the remaining 28 live matches.
As things are, Spaniards won’t have live access to any of the matches from Ireland’s Group E nor will Real Madrid fans be able to view Wales and Gareth Bale’s debut in the competition against Slovakia on Saturday. On top of that, next week’s England v Wales game will go un-televised as will all the Group D matches that do not feature Spain.
With the kick-off to the competition mere hours away it’s looking less and less likely that a deal will be struck and it is understood that UEFA was unimpressed by offers from beIN Sports and Movistar+.
Along with Spanish football fans, UEFA sponsors are understood to be unhappy with the lack of movement in negotiations as they look set to lose out on advertising visibility in the key Spanish market.
This isn't the first time that Spanish TV deals have come in for criticism either. La Liga has come under scrutiny for allocating a far higher share of the €1.2 billion audio-visual rights money to Barcelona and Real Madrid, with other teams in the league receiving just a fraction by comparison.
