RTVE wants to win the war of audiences at any price. Although that price is the 55 million of the World Cup

On February 18, the Contest for the Rights of the World Cup in 2026 in the US ended. According to the worldRTVE has made the rights paying 55 million for the matches that will be distributed with Midopro, which can create your own channel to sell the rights to platforms. A very expensive bet for sport, but also a safe value for audiences. And in the new stage of the public entity competing with the private ones, it is a strategic play.

A lot of sport. Traditionally, RTVE has had under its mantle the channels to go to consume sports, especially the1 for more importance competitions. And it is clear that the public chain knows well that it is a reference in that sense, because it has invested 360 million euros in sports rights. Some of them:

• Eurocup 2028
• 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032
• Winter Olympic Games D’A Ampezzo, in Italy, in 2026
• 20 selection matches and 20 games of other selections at the Nations League
• The Champions Finals between 2025 and 2027
• Copa del Rey 2024-2025
• League summaries in 2025
• FIBA competitions between 2025 and 2029
• Cyclist return to Spain.

The search for the audience. RTVE knows that the front row competitions have no rival: Spain’s parties of the Eurocup They reached 56% of Share and certain sports of the Olympic Games in Paris, such as tennis, They were put at 37.5% quota. Figures capable of saving TVE audiences in the months in which they are issued. The purchase to the FIFA of the rights of the next World Cup makes it clear that RTVE wants to continue in this line.

100 million extra. Precisely these last two sporting events, the Eurocup and the Olympic Games, required an extra impulse. The government had to inject 100 million extra euros to the entity to finance the purchase of these rights, as reported by the then Cascajosa Conception in her first appearance before the Mixed Budget Control Commission.

To compete. RTVE has been since the middle of last year, but especially with the arrival of its new president, José Pablo López, competing from you to you with the private ones. Broncano and ‘La Revuelta’ They are the clearest case, Equing with audience to ‘El Hormiguero’ And at the same time, damaged by the successes of Tele5as if it were a private one. And the thing does not end there: among the next plans of the new director of public television, Sergio Calderón (with long experience in mainstream production and Mediaset management), is A magazine for the afternoons where Belén Esteban and María Patiño will be, and the signing of great entertainment names as Buenafuente.

Money is not a problem. RTVE is in a singular situation, since although its budgets are closed (and immovable: The same money has been allocated since 2009), is entering the signing market and betting of private ones. A movement that He has won criticismalthough it is convenient to be clear that TVE does not directly compete with the private ones in a very clear aspect: it does not put advertising (although it does have sporadic sponsorships in the programs, which has given it the occasional legal disgust). Therefore, its budget remains public, its expenses too … but its intentions seem linked to the destination of private ones.

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