RTVE has acquired the broadcasting rights of the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in the United States, for 55 million euros, a figure that, according to sources in the sector, practically doubles the market price. The Corporation will also share the issuance of the matches with Mediaprowhich will have the possibility to create your own channel to sell the rights to platforms of streaming and paid television.
The contest to award the rights ended on February 18, and RTVE managed to impose itself thanks to its economic offer, the highest among the bidders, surpassing private operators with an “abysmal” difference with respect to the other offers, according to the sources consulted by The economist. This acquisition adds to an aggressive strategy to buy sports rights that has led RTVE to compromise more than 360 million euros in contracts that extend until 2032.
RTVE has managed to strengthen its position as the main channel of sports broadcast in open in Spain. The commitment to sport has made up the audiences of the 1, which “pays overpricing” and that, according to their competitors, are “well above the market” but that are carried out with budgets that come from public funds. The last RTVE year cost around 1.3 billion euros. Of course, with this “unlimited purchasing credit” has become a leader on several occasions, as happened with the Eurocup and the Olympic Games in Paris. However, this business model has a high cost, since, unlike private televisions, RTVE does not generate barely direct advertising income with these broadcasts, and barely adds residual figures with sponsorships.
According to sources from the public corporation itself cited by the world, “the costs of acquiring these rights are enormous” and, in addition, the participation of RTVE in these tenders “prevents private televisions can compete on equal terms”, since they cannot match the economic offers of public television and maintain coherent business models when RTVE handles public money.
Government’s financial support
To deal with these high costs, RTVE has an important financial support from the government. In 2023, the Corporation received extraordinary financing of 100 million euros to cover the expenses of the German Eurocup and the Olympic Games in Paris. These public money injections allow RTVE to continue their strategy for acquiring sports rights, but generate debate on the economic sustainability of the model and the convenience of allocating these funds to the issuance of events without direct financial return and which, on the other hand, would also reach mass audiences.
A millionaire spending on sports rights
The 2026 World Cup is only part of the ambitious investment of RTVE in sports rights, a strategy that parapets under the public service excuse but actually disguises with these very expensive injections of audiences, the failures of other programs that do not achieve competitive screen quotas.
Among the most prominent contracts are:
- Eurocup 2028 (United Kingdom and Ireland) – 50 million euros
- Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, Brisbane 2032, and the winter Olympic Games of 2026 and 2030 – 112 million euros
- Spanish Soccer Team (2026-2028)-60 million euros (includes 20 selection games and 20 of other selections at Nuns League)
- Tour de France (2026-2030)-20.6 million euros
- Finals of the Champions League (2025-2027)-7.5 million euros
- Copa del Rey (2024-2025)-14.8 million euros
- Summaries of the League (2025) – 2.5 million euros
- FIBA competitions (2025-2029)-4.6 million euros
- Other sports rights (the return, UCI cycling, female soccer selections, handball, athletics, etc.) – 25 million euros
To these expenses are added the costs of production, displacements and coverage, which further increases the total investment in sport.
A sustainable model or a risky bet?
Although RTVE’s strategy has proven to be effective in terms of occasional audience, which does not fidelize the tournament once finished, The lack of advertising income raises doubts about its long -term viability. The strong investment in sports rights has made the corporation the main reference of sport in televised but has also generated criticism about the use of public funds to compete with private operators.
With the 2026 World Cup on the horizon and a calendar full of top -level sporting events, RTVE must justify whether this model is sustainable or if, on the contrary, it implies an excessive burden for public coffers at the service of José Pablo López so that the president of RTVE can presume good data when they are actually thanks to this subsidized doping.
#RTVE #buys #broadcasting #rights #World #Cup #double #market #price
