Orange España targets Vodafone subs with football offer

Orange España is to directly target rival Vodafone’s base of potentially disgruntled football fans with a low-cost football offer following Vodafone’s decision not to strike a deal with Telefónica for premium Spanish rights.

Orange will offer coverage its Orange TV Fútbol service, including coverage of La Liga Santander and La Liga 1|2|3 – the Spanish second tier – to subscribers of its Orange TV Cine y Series offering who sign up in August for no extra charge. The operator will also offer Telefónica’s El Partizado channel, featuring matches involving the top Spanish teams, for €3 a month to subscribers who sign up in August.

La Liga Santander is provided via Mediapro’s BeIN La Liga channel, while the second division is delivered via the La Liga 1|2|3 channel. Additional free-air-coverage of La Liga Santander and La Liga 1|2|3 is offered via free-to-air channel Gol TV.

Customers also have the option of signing up for the football offering, including El Partizado, without taking any other service, for €7.95 a month.

Orange customers will also be sign up independently for the Liga de Campeones channel, featuring UEFA Champions League and Europa League competitions, for €14.95 a month.

With this range of options, Orange is pitching itself as the only Spanish operator to provide “all football” from Spain, including La Liga 1|2|3 in total, for the coming season, with subscribers to its existing TV service able to access all for only €3 a month – the fee for El Partizado – if they sign up in August, with the ability to add top international football by signing up for La Liga de Campeones.

Speaking after Orange Group’s Q2 results this week group deputy CEO Laurent Paillassot told analysts that Vodafone’s decision to pull out of carrying top-tier football in Spain represented a big opportunity for Orange. Paillassot said that the increase in cost to Orange as a result of Vodafone pulling out would be limited, but that carrying top-tier football would enable it to compete head-on with market leader Telefónica while targeting Vodafone’s customer base.