La Liga fined for denying TV crews stadium access

Spain’s Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC – National Authority for Markets and Competition) has imposed a €250,000 fine on La Liga for preventing Mediaset’s Tele 5 and Cuatro from having access to football stadiums to offer highlights and reviews of the matches.

The watchdog says that La Liga is breaking the article 19.3 of La Ley General de Comunicación Audiovisual hindering citizens’ right to information.

Mediaset had previously filed a complaint and urged the CNMC to step in on the issue. Currently, after the acquisition of the TV rights from beIN Sports, Mediaset can only broadcast a 90 minute highlights package, but Mediaset seeked to add more still images in their programming with the sound recordings from the stadiums.