Mediapro, the new actor in sports television in Argentina

Argentine sport has a new actor. It will not be any star on the field of play, but who will transmit the vicissitudes of what happens in each of them. After the approval of the National Commission for the Defense of Competition, Disney sold the Fox Sports brand to Mediapro.

The Spanish audiovisual group will be able to broadcast the CONMEBOL Libertadores, the UEFA Champions League, the NFL, the MLB, the Formula 1, the UFC, the WWE, the Premier Boxing Champions, the ACB Basketball League, the World Rugby Sevens and the ATP World Tour 250 – ATP Cordoba. Products broadcast by Fox Sports, a chain that stopped having interference in Argentina due to the purchase by The Walt Disney Company of 21th Century Fox in 2019 for its sports content and providing greater support to its flagship sports channel, ESPN.

For this landing of Mediapro in Argentina, the Spanish audiovisual group would invest around US$30 million per year, aiming to create exclusive platforms to broadcast the content it has acquired. But although the transaction falls within the requests of the CNDC, it will carry out a detailed monitoring of the fulfillment of the assumed commitments.

As for the rights acquired by Disney, which may expire during the next five years, you will have the opportunity to bid for the renewals of the competitions in question. The issue is that you will be required to sublicense them in Argentina and you will not be able to broadcast it on ESPN for that period. As for Mediapro, it will not be obliged to sublicense them and will be able to bid for those rights.