Disney+ is reportedly close to nabbing Spanish LaLiga matches for UK and Irish viewers, which means even more live football is heading to streaming services.
The Financial Times reports that Disney+ is in advanced talks to show one top Spanish match per week, while Premier Sports keeps hold of the main broadcasting deal for over 300 matches per season.
If you’ve been following Disney+’s recent moves, this won’t come as a massive shock. They’re clearly not content with just Marvel films and Star Wars shows anymore.
- August 7 Update: The Disney+ LaLiga deal has now been confirmed.
Why Everyone’s Going Mad for Sports
Just a few months back, we covered Disney+ securing the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the next five seasons – their first proper attempt at live sports in the UK.
Now they’re eyeing up Spanish football too.
It’s not just Disney either. Everyone’s at it these days. Amazon’s been collecting sports like Pokémon cards over the years – Premier League matches, tennis, NBA, NFL, you name it.
Netflix has tried boxing and WWE wrestling. Even Apple’s jumped in with Major League Soccer.
The reason is pretty straightforward: people don’t cancel subscriptions when there’s live sport involved. You might sign up to Netflix for one show then cancel afterwards, but if your service has the football match you want to watch next weekend, you’re staying put.
Why LaLiga Makes Sense
If the reported deal is finalised, the timing works quite nicely for both sides here. LaLiga is trying to stay relevant now that Messi and Ronaldo have moved on, but they’ve still got some serious pulling power for UK audiences.
The Financial Times estimates the deal would be worth less than £20 million annually to LaLiga – not massive money in football terms, but probably worth it for Disney+ to expand its sports offering.
The clever bit is that LaLiga is targeting weekend slots that don’t clash with Premier League matches. Rather than going head-to-head with Sky and TNT Sports, they’re offering something extra for football fans.
Just Remember The TV Licence (Again)
If you’re already questioning whether Disney+ is worth the money – and with current pricing at £4.99 with ads, £8.99 standard, or £12.99 for the premium tier – Spanish football coverage might actually help justify that monthly payment.
But here comes the bit we keep having to mention: live sports means you need a TV Licence.
We’ve explained this before with Disney+’s Women’s Champions League announcement – UK law says you need a TV Licence to watch anything live, doesn’t matter if it’s on Disney+, Netflix, or traditional telly. That’s £174.50 per year on top of your streaming subscriptions.
The only way around it? Wait until after the match finishes and watch it on catch-up. Though obviously that defeats the entire point of live football.
Football Broadcasting Has Gone Bonkers
This Disney+ deal shows just how mad football broadcasting has become. Sky and TNT Sports split the Premier League, Amazon used to grab some matches here and there, and now potentially Disney+ with Spanish football.
For viewers, it’s getting increasingly expensive to follow all the football you want. For LaLiga, though, getting in front of Disney+’s audience makes perfect sense.
They pulled in €1.8 billion from broadcasting last season, which sounds impressive until you realise the Premier League made €3.8 billion. Getting their matches shown to Disney+ subscribers, especially younger viewers, could help bridge that gap.
Premier Sports staying as the main broadcaster suggests that Disney+ would get the pick of the matches rather than everything – enough content to add value without overwhelming people who just want to watch the occasional big match (and without Disney+ needing to hike prices for more comprehensive coverage).
For football fans juggling multiple subscriptions, Disney+ with Women’s Champions League and LaLiga starts looking like reasonable value compared to spreading your money across different services.
One thing worth keeping an eye on is whether Disney+ can actually handle live football without everything falling apart. They’re usually fine with normal shows and films, but live sport is a different beast entirely.
When you’re charging premium prices and targeting football fans who have plenty of other viewing options, the streaming quality needs to be spot on.
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