Tebas 'strikes down' Mediapro as LaLiga's audiovisual provider

LaLiga EA Sports and LaLiga Hypermotion will have a new audiovisual provider starting next season. This Monday, the competition chaired by Javier Tebas confirmed the change starting from the 2025-26 season, when the audiovisual production of the Spanish First and Second Division will be taken over by HBS (Host Broadcast Services), a Swiss company that has been the 'host broadcaster' of the FIFA World Cups since 2002.

Through a statement, the board 'struck down' Mediapro, which for more than a decade (the relationship began in 2006-07) had been not only LaLiga's audiovisual provider, but also one of its main collaborators. Starting next summer, however, the main Spanish football competitions will have HBS in charge of the production of the First and Second Division matches, as well as the central and MCR services.

For its part, TSA (Telefónica Servicios Audiovisuales) will be in charge of the contribution and distribution of the signal. LaLiga had initiated the bidding process last September and, finally, HBS and Telefónica have been awarded four of the five packages offered by the board (the fifth, related to content generation, has been left vacant) for the next five seasons.

Mediapro announces legal actions against LaLiga

According to LaLiga, the decision to appoint HBS and Telefónica is due to the fact that they "obtained the best results in the technical and economic evaluation, according to the criteria established in the terms and conditions." However, Mediapro, a Catalan company founded in 1994, assured that it will challenge the outcome of the awards "in all possible instances, both national and international."

For the company chaired by Tatxo Benet, Javier Tebas has acted "arbitrarily and without objective basis", with a measure that "endangers the production of the matches at the start of next season." This, according to Mediapro, has to do with the fact that HBS "does not have technical or human equipment, nor a production HUB in Spain, as required in the terms of the tender called by LaLiga."

Mediapro issued two statements on Monday, one harshly criticizing LaLiga, which was removed "due to a communication error" shortly after being published, and another announcing legal actions against the board.