La Liga chief hits out at Real Madrid over TV rights opposition

La Liga chief Javier Tebas has hit out at Real Madrid over their opposition to shared broadcasting rights in Spanish football.

Tebas, president of the Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP), claims Real were the only club opposed to centralised broadcasting rights.

Barcelona and Real Madrid have long been able to negotiate separate broadcasting deals to the rest of La Liga.

However, that will change from the 2016-17 season, with the rights to be sold as one package in a bid to imitate the success of the Premier League, which inked a new domestic deal worth £5.136 billion back in February.

But Tebas told AS: “I talk again of a war in Spanish football because of all 42 clubs involved in the centralised distribution of broadcasting rights just one – Real Madrid – do not agree.

“Why? Well you’d have to ask Real Madrid. If we knew the reasons why it signed a contract with [Spanish broadband and cable provider] Telefonica in May – an agreement which would qualify as strange to say the least – that would help us understand.

“Madrid are a great club that believes itself to be a champion of transparency; but the truth is that they have other interests than the rest of La Liga. I think Madrid wants to keeps control of its broadcasting rights.

“It’s a mix of being money-hungry and power-hungry. It is not clear what they are up to. Their agreements with Telefonica and Microsoft are strange to me and I’ve told Madrid that.

“I believe their agreement with Telefonica is because Barcelona signed one similar with the same company several months earlier and – of course – we know that Madrid must have whatever Barcelona have. I suspect this whole mess stems from that.”