Spanish federation signs deal to provide "Freemium" OTT platform for the next six seasons
La Liga is launching a free football live streaming platform in China called La Liga Plus. The new service will carry all 380 La Liga matches per season, as well as over 450 Segunda fixtures, for the upcoming six seasons.
While La Liga Plus will be available for free to Chinese audiences without subscription, the most high profile matches from the Spanish top flight will remain behind a pay-per-view wall.
The launch of the new OTT platform will be supported by Chinese digital company Streamline.
Fans in China will gain free access to all matches from the Spanish second tier, including the playoffs, as well as most matches from La Liga, apart from those selected games placed behind the paywall.
This move comes as La Liga continues to push its new DTC strategy around the globe. The league is keen to innovate in the football live streaming space and this latest agreement is a sign of things to come for the league. With the help of Streamline, La Liga hopes to provide an experience dedicated specifically to local audiences.
It is the latest foray into live streaming on the Asian market for La Liga, after its launch of the La Liga pass in Indonesia and Thailand last year, which also allowed local fans to get coverage of top flight games for free. The La Liga pass is available without subscription and airs three fixtures per gameweek live and at no cost to the user.
Earlier this summer, La Liga ended its relationship with previous broadcast partner Super Sports Media, reportedly due to missed payments. The cancellation of this agreement saw the league lose one of it's most lucrative international broadcast contracts. The deal had been set to run until 2028/29 but has been terminated early.
Sergi Torrents, Managing Director of LaLiga in China, said of the deal:
“LaLiga Plus is the core of our strategy in China for the next years. This is a first step of a complete ecosystem we are building to provide new and unique experiences and new products to fans. Together with Streamline, we are investing in technology, fan experience and increasing value for our brand and business.”
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