Spanish public service broadcaster RTVE has finally secured rights to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games after agreeing a deal with the primary rightsholder in the country.
The deal was announced late last week by RTVE’s interim president Concepción Cascajosa during a hearing of Spain’s Joint Parliamentary Control Commission after an agreement was struck with Enjoy Television, the Madrid-based rights company, following lengthy negotiations.
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It means the broadcaster will offer extensive live daily coverage of the Paralympics which will feature more than 100 Spanish athletes. Spain won 36 medals at the Tokyo 2020 games.
Linear television coverage will be provided by Teledeporte, RTVE’s free-to-air digital terrestrial channel, while the games will also be aired through the RTVE Play streaming service.
RTVE has shown every edition of the Paralympics since Sydney 2000 and came under public pressure to secure a deal for this year’s event.
Last Monday, the Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities (CERMI) demanded that RTVE immediately conclude the acquisition of the broadcasting rights for the Paralympic Games.
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By GlobalDataThe broadcaster previously acquired the Paralympics rights through its membership of the European Broadcasting Union but the rights to Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024 across 51 European territories were acquired by the Infront agency.
Cascajosa said: “I want to highlight the importance of Paralympic sport. RTVE will offer very, very special programming dedicated to Paralympic sport and the work and contribution of people with disabilities to society.”
The interim president credited RTVE’s head of sport Rosana Romero for playing a key role in the negotiations that led to “significant savings” for the company compared to the initial demands by Enjoy Television.
Spain’s High Council for Sports and Spanish Paralympic Committee also became involved in negotiations due to the urgency of the matter.
RTVE already holds rights to the Olympic Games through a sublicensing deal with Warner Bros. Discovery.
The public broadcaster is also showing the ongoing UEFA Euro 2024 national teams soccer tournament in Spain.
However, it was reported last week that RTVE has decided to end negotiations with domestic soccer's top-tier LaLiga over a potential return of games to free-to-air TV next season.
This year’s Paralympics will run from August 28 to September 8.
