The set of 'The Martian Chronicles' reveals a problem at Barça.

BarcelonaThe same set where Xavier Sardà created the ecosystem of Martian Chronicles, featuring such eccentric personalities as Yola Berrocal, Santiago Segura, Leonardo Dantés, and Rocío Madrid, which captivated millions of viewers on television, is what Barça uses, for example, for club media to interview president Joan Laporta. The large space is located in Sant Just Desvern and has belonged to Barça for some time now. The problem is that the failed Barça One project has left it unusable in recent months and, in the meantime, to make some economic profit, the club rents it out to third parties.

Barça One, at least as it was known until now, has only lasted a year and three months. The platform streaming (OTT) Barça launched in April 2024 with a grandiloquent presentation at the Torre de les Glòries after Laporta had closed Barça TV in June 2023. However, in July 2025, it stopped broadcasting content. Eight employees have also been laid off (four from news services and four from production and management) and publications on social media have stopped. On the other hand, this summer Toni Cruz, the visible face of Barça Studios – the club's audiovisual division – since 2023 and the main driving force behind Barça One, died. Paloma Mikadze has taken over as director of audiovisual content from the Barça Identity area. Mikadze is the daughter of Laporta's chief of staff, Manana Giorgadze.

ARA has been able to confirm that several meetings have been held in recent weeks to discuss how to move forward and how to approach the project from now on. In fact, Laporta informed the members at this Sunday's meeting that the project is not over, but is simply being reconfigured. "We are in the process of updating the platform, and that's why we are broadcasting all of our programs on YouTube. The platform we had wasn't in a position to handle a large number of users," the Barça president admitted to the member representatives.

The tour conflict

The peak of Barça's problems with its own platforms came this summer during the men's first team's Asian tour. In the first preseason match, against Japanese club Vissel Kobe, Barça members were unable to watch the first half for free through the club's official channels (as they had been promised) due to technical issues, and Barça was forced to broadcast the second half on its official YouTube channel. The remaining two friendlies in South Korea were also broadcast. Barça One, meanwhile, was officially "under maintenance."

Weeks later, as this newspaper has been able to confirm, the club gave the order to halt the work that some external production companies were doing to create documentary series for Barça One. That's why Laporta's statements on this matter to the assembly were surprising. "Some documentaries were more profitable with external production than internal production, which is why we're cutting our teeth. Now we want to change the strategy. We'll also produce our own productions, but as long as profitability is guaranteed," reported the Barça president. However, sources from external production companies, consulted by ARA, say that, for now, Barça has not contacted him about resuming work.

"It makes much more sense to outsource than to produce internally; because that way you can assemble a team from a production company specializing in each project you want to do. If you do everything with a complete team of your own, it's difficult to excel in all formats," argues a person familiar with the Barça audiovisual sector. "The logical thing would be for them to have a management and executive production team; some structural programs for internal production, and for the big productions to be commissioned outside," he adds.

The second attempt

Barça One wasn't just a replacement for Barça TV. In fact, for three years, Barça TV coexisted with Barça's first OTT, called Barça TV+, which began broadcasting under Josep Maria Bartomeu's leadership. Several people who worked on the project for this first Barça OTT were shocked when Laporta created a new one unnecessarily. "They had a team and a technological product, and a competition was held to choose the provider and platform. In just two years, they dismantled everything. They changed the name and took another platform. All of this adds no value because changing a technological platform and a brand that you had developed is totally absurd and wastes a lot of time," complains one of Barça TV+.