Turkey’s D-Smart snaps up La Liga rights

Turkish pay platform D-Smart has acquired the rights to Spain’s La Liga until the end of the 2021-22 season.

LaLiga has been without a broadcaster in Turkey since the beginning of this season after ending its deal with beIN-owned pay-TV broadcaster Digiturk, reportedly because of currency fluctuations of the Turkish lira.

Under the new deal, a minimum of six matches per game week will be shown on its Sports channels SporSmart and SporSmart 2, while D-Smart will also distribute La Liga Santander matches on its digital application D-SmartGo.

In addition, one free-to-air match per game week will be offered via D-Smart’s official YouTube channel.

Owned by the Demirören Group, the D-Smart platform provides TV and internet services to more than 2 million households in Turkey.

D-Smart will begin transmissions this week.

D-Smart chief content and marketing officer Basar Basarir said: “We are very proud to partner with La Liga to bring Spanish football back to Turkey.”