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The Copa Libertadores 2023 will be seen on open TV | Paramount advertisement

The Copa Libertadores will be broadcast again on Argentine open TV starting next year. Paramount (former Viacom CBS) was awarded the television rights to the most important football tournament on the continent for open TV, which means that in the country phone (channel belonging to the company) will broadcast matches of the Conmebol Libertadores. As he was able to find out Page 12the idea of ​​the company is that the most important matches are broadcast on the Telefe screen, while the bulk of the matches of the licensed package go through the free platform Pluto TV, paramount streaming service. The agreement stipulates the award of the rights for open TV of the contest for the next four editionsfrom 2023 to 2026 inclusive.

The acquisition of the rights to broadcast on open TV by Paramount marks a resounding change in the football television market in the country. A segment in which for years -with the exception of the period in which the program Football for everyone” and the presentations of the national team- the broadcast of the matches of the main soccer competitions became exclusive content on pay TV, whether in basic cable subscription (Espn, Fox, TyC Sports) or in the packs Pay Per View (TNT Sports, Fox Sports Premium). In fact, the last time Telefe broadcast a Copa Libertadores match was in the edition 2011when on his screen he issued the semifinal key that faced Velez and Penarol.

“At Paramount we seek to understand the audiences and their passions, and there is no one with more passion than the fans of Conmebol Libertadores and Conmebol Sudamericana,” he said. JC Acosta, President of International Studios & Networks of Southern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. “This agreement with CONMEBOL positions us in a unique place, transforming us into a solid player in the sports industry through the Paramount ecosystem that includes itsfree and paid streaming services”, added the executive. As the award of the rights for open TV of the contest is for the entire region, on the other side of the mountain range it will be the open channel ChileVision (also from Paramount) whoever transmits them.

The award of the television rights for the Copa Libertadores on open TV disrupts the uses and customs of the televised soccer business. It is not a simple whim of Paramount, but a new strategy that the company will lead in the region, based on an audiovisual ecosystem that is in full transformation. Indeed, the association with CONMEBOL Libertadores and CONMEBOL Sudamericana marks the first live sports offer of the open TV services it offers in Brazil and South America, and is aligned with the strategies it already applies in Central America, Mexico, United States and Australia.

Although the company did not give more details than the formal ones, the truth is that some reasons and searches that Paramount pursues with its recent entry into the regional sports market can be inferred. It should be remembered that in Latin America the company recently announced agreements to broadcast exclusively on Paramount+ the English Premier League in Mexico and Central America, and the Chilean team in the trans-Andean country. In turn, Paramount+ in Brazil will broadcast both CONMEBOL Libertadores and CONMEBOL Sudamericana, where subscribers will have access to the adjudicated matches. In those cases it is about rights for “paid platforms”.

But what are the reasons that led the company to now acquire the rights to Libertadores for “open TV”? Two interests arise here that complement each other. On the one hand, hethe need to acquire live content for its air channels, at a time when open TV is beginning to become an almost 100% live screen. The fiction market, due to costs, scope and viewers’ choice, was mainly reduced to streaming platforms. The exclusivity of sporting events is constituted, in this audiovisual context, in attractive content. And also expensive, so only regional corporations can access it.

Of course there is another reason to understand this movement, which follows from the previous one. In a similar way to what happened in the nineties, when cablevision grew and became widespread throughout the Argentine territory through codified Argentine football, Paramount trusts that sport exclusively can be an interesting asset to promote the expansion in the region of Pluto TV, the platform that, because it is free, is part of the possible windows for broadcasting matches. It will be necessary to know more details about the quantity and quality -in sporting interest and call-ups- of open TV matches contemplated by the agreement between Paramount and Conmebol.

The award of the television rights of the Libertadores for open TV will not prevent, in any case, that Espn be another of the screens that will broadcast matches of the Libertadores. Is that the channel belonging to The Walt Disney Company relicensed the continental tournament for “paid platforms” for the 2023-2026 period. That agreement will allow continue broadcasting matches of the Libertadores both for the Pay TV signals of Espn and on the platform Star+from where more and more sporting events are broadcast live and exclusively.

In turn, the television rights of the South American Cup were awarded only for “paid platforms”remaining in the hands of DirecTV for the entire region. In this way, only subscribers to the satellite TV system or subscribers to DirecTVGo will be able to enjoy the other continental competition. News of a market that, in parallel with Disney’s obligation to divest in sports rights in the country, is going through an unusual movement.

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