Football fans in the UK won't be able to watch La Liga on television from the beginning of September with no one willing to pay what the Spanish league want for tv rights.
The likes of Lionel Messi, Eden Hazard and Joao Felix will be off UK televisions, other than for Champions League nights, after September 1st.
ITV have a deal with La Liga to show one game per week for the opening three match weeks, with the channel showing Athletic Bilbao vs Barcelona last Friday, but nothing extends past that.
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On Wednesday Sky confirmed on Twitter that they have 'no plans' to buy the rights to La Liga this season, having lost them ahead of last season.
Last year Eleven Sports bought the rights for three years for La Liga, ending Sky's run of showing the Spanish league for 20 years, but they had to cancel the contract before the end of the season.
Eleven were available through a streaming service but were hoping to get a television channel on Sky or BT. When they failed it didn't seem financially viable to keep the rights.
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At the end of the season the channel shared the rights with ITV and Premier Sports but none of the trio have been able to secure the rights for the long term.
Premier Sports do have an offer on the table for the rights but La Liga have deemed it unsatisfactory and have decided they'd rather not sell the rights than do so for less than they want.
That means that UK viewers won't be able to watch what could be the most intriguing title race in Spain for some years.
Barca's loss to Bilbao on the opening shows they are fallible, especially when Lionel Messi is missing, while Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid have spent big this summer to improve their teams.
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Will La Liga end up on UK television this season?
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News, Eden Hazard, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Lionel Messi, João Félix, Spain, Real Madrid, La Liga
