Barcelona will shut down the television channel Barca TV at the end of the season, the club said in a statement on Thursday.
Sources told ESPN the cost-cutting act was related to making savings across the board to free up money to invest in the playing squad, although Barca did not give any official reasons for the closure.
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Over 120 employees, including presenters, journalists and camera operators, will lose their jobs when the current contract with Telefonica, the company who oversee the running of the channel, expires at the end of June.
A source says Barca are still deciding how to best economise in-house content production moving forward.
The Catalan club also still own 51% of Barca Studios, which has produced documentaries in the past but is also focused on blockchain, NFT, digital assets and Web3 strategies.
Barca sold 49% of Barca Studios to two investors last summer for a total of €200 million to help fund the signings of Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde.
To be able to turn to the transfer market again this year, Barca once again need to save as much as €200m — either through cutbacks or player transfers — to comply with LaLiga‘s spending limit.
Sources say exhaustive work is being done to find ways to streamline the club’s spending, which led to the decision not to renew the contract with Telefonica to continue with Barca TV.
However, there is also an acknowledgment that the biggest savings will be made by freeing up space on the wage bill and bringing in transfer fees, with the club open to offers for several first team players.
