Facebook reportedly drop big money to secure exclusive rights in India

Facebook has backed up last weeks rights announcement by potentially securing exclusive La Liga rights in India.

Facebooks new agreement with Spanish soccer’s top flight reportedly covers the four-season cycle from 2018/19 to 2021/22, marking the company’s first rights acquisition in India.

If reports are confirmed, Facebook will replace the Sony Pictures Networks India media group as the home of La Liga in India after the company was not prepared to match the tech giant’s raised offer.

The news comes after last week’s reports that Facebook had paid UK£200 million (US$265 million) to secure rights to English soccer’s Premier League in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos for the three-year period covering 2019 to 2022.

Facebook made its intentions in sport clear last year with a US$600 million bid for Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket, while it also recently hired Eurosport chief executive Peter Hutton to head up its global live sports programming division.