Spanish TV to stop broadcasting bullfighting channel

After almost 13 years of broadcasting, the Movistar TV channel ‘Toros’ will cease transmitting bullfights as of March 23.

From this date, the platform will stop broadcasting Spanish bullfights for all its customers, even those who have paid extra for a subscription to the channel. However, Movistar has explained that viewers will continue to have access to exclusive material such as documentaries and interviews related to the controversial sport.

Animal activists have been campaigning for decades to have traditional bull events banned across Spain and over the years, the sport has undergone some radical changes in an attempt to reduce the cruelty factor.

However, Movistar hasn’t scrapped the channel for ethical reasons. Rather, the telecommunications company has called it a day after losing the exclusive rights to some of the biggest bullfights in the country.

OneToro, another broadcaster, has completely upset the apple cart and is reportedly in talks with some of the most important bullrings in the bullfighting scene to offer their subscribers the biggest events that make up the Spanish season.

As a result, Movistar’s Toros channel, which once dominated the market, “has lost the exclusive rights to the bullrings in Madrid, Valencia and also in Seville, three of the five fairs that make up the Bullfighting Grand Slam: San Isidro and Autumn (Madrid), April Fair (Seville), Las Fallas (Valencia), San Fermín Fair in Pamplona and Semana Grande in Bilbao,” a company statement explained.

Since its launch in 2010, Movistar has not only broadcast all of the biggest Spanish events live and exclusively but has also shown bullfights in the United States, in addition to news, talk shows, interviews and reports that ran 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Muricia Today