King & Wood Mallesons (“KWM”) has advised PPLive Corporation (“PPTV”) on the successful purchase of exclusive broadcasting rights for five consecutive seasons from 2015 to 2020 of Spanish Primera Liga (“La Liga”) across all media in mainland China, Macao and Taiwan. Bought for a record EUR 250 million, this is the highest value ever paid in China for broadcasting rights to an international football league.

The broadcasting of major international sports events has become the backbone in the rise of the sports industry in China. As the top professional association football division in Spain, La Liga is one of the most popular football leagues across Europe and the world’s media platforms. This strategic acquisition will allow PPTV to further expand its premier international sports broadcasting platform in the domestic Chinese market.

A cross-border KWM team from both China and Europe acted as legal counsel for PPTV, as well as its dominant stockholder Suning Commerge Group Co. Ltd, on this acquisition. The deal was led by partners Cecilia Lou (Shanghai) and Roberto Pomares (Madrid), with support from associates Victoria Ruenes (Madrid), Wei Zixi and Guo Yue (both in Shanghai).

PPTV is a leading online video broadcaster in China. In recent years, PPTV has an overall layout of the aspects including content investment, intelligence hardware and video content. Having Sports as one of its core sections, PPTV reinforces the advantage of live broadcasting to provide a better product for sports lovers. Suning Commerce Group Co., Ltd. is a prominent retail operator in China and is PPTV’s dominant stockholder.