ITV signs free to air La Liga deal

British PSB ITV has signed a deal with La Liga to cover the kick off of the new season.

Announced a little more than 24 hours ahead of the season-opener, the broadcaster will present one game from each of the first three match day on ITV4.

ITV will also air weekly La Liga highlights throughout the season on ITV and ITV4.

It is not known if this will open up the door for the broadcaster to sign a deal for the rest of the season, or whether the league will continue to shop its British broadcast rights around.

Earlier in the summer, La Liga issued an invitation to tender to UK and Ireland broadcasters, however a spokesperson later confirmed that no satisfactory bids were received.

The league signed a deal with OTT platform Eleven Sports for the 2018/19 season, but that was effectively abandoned after the service failed to attract enough subscribers by December. 

The rights were quickly renegotiated, with Premier Sports and ITV handed the rights temporarily to cover the remainder of the season.

La Liga has also renewed its US rights agreement with pay TV broadcaster BeIN Sports.

It had been suggested that La Liga would look for a different broadcaster in the country as the channel is no longer carried by Comcast and AT&T.