Premier League: those 2013-16 media rights deals in full
With announcements in the last few days regarding forthcoming Barclays Premier League media rights in the Balkans and Italy, SVG Europe decided it was an opportune moment to round-up all the deals announced so far pertaining to seasons 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 – constituting a grand total, across all three seasons, of 1140 matches.
In the Balkans, IMG Media has secured the ability to market the Premier League’s media rights for the next three years in Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo. “The Premier League is extremely popular in these countries with several players from the region plying their trade in the English top flight. Having sold the rights in the region for the current three-year cycle, we know the market very well and we are delighted to renew this property again with the Premier League,” said Victor Blundell, senior vice-president MENA for IMG Media.
Elsewhere, IMG also been awarded live AV rights for 2013-16 in Japan, Vietnam and Mongolia, and for aeroplanes and ships, including extensive coverage on Sport 24, the 24-hour live sports channel exclusively produced for the airline and cruise industry.
In Belgium, rights for the next three years have gone to Telenet – a long-term partner of the Premier League, about whom PL chief executive Richard Scudamore remarked that “we know they will continue to broadcast the competition to our fans in Belgium in an exciting and innovative manner.”
In Bulgaria, Nova Broadcast Group, part of Modern Times Group, has secured exclusive AV broadcast rights for 2013-16 seasons.
In Brazil, meanwhile, FOX Sports International and ESPN have been awarded the live AV broadcast rights for all 380 Barclays Premier League matches per season for the next three seasons. Of the partnership, VP of FOX Sports in Brazil, Eduardo Zebini, remarked: “The partnership offers more possibilities for the Brazilian FOX Sports fans to follow this important international competition, allowing the public greater relationship with their idols playing at English clubs.”
Sportsnet and TSN have secured the Canadian rights, while International Media Content (IMC) – the parent company of SportsMax – has won rights for the Caribbean. Super Sports Media Group is the recipient of all rights (through until 2019) in mainland China and Macau, while the next three years’ rights in France have been secured by CANAL+.
Rights in Greece for the next three seasons have been won by OTE, while PCCW has secured rights for the same time-period in Hong Kong. Again for the same duration, MP & Silva has been awarded the rights for three separate broadcast territories in the Asia and Australasia region, namely Indonesia, New Zealand and 15 Pacific islands. The same company has also won the rights for the Middle East and North Africa region, consisting of some 23 individual countries, as well as for the Netherlands and New Zealand.
In Italy, Pitch International has the next three seasons’ rights, while the recipient of rights in Poland is Canal+ Cyfrowy Poland. SuperSport has won the rights for South Africa, Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa, while South and Central America (excluding Brazil) rights have been secured by DirecTV PanAmericana and SKY Mexico.
Cable Thai Holdings has collected three seasons’ rights in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, while Saran Media is fulfilling a similar role for Turkey. Rights for the USA have been won by NBC Sports Group.
Finally, a more intricate situation in the UK sees BSkyB securing live AV rights packages comprising a total of 116 matches, while BT has landed packages representing 38 matches. BSkyB has also landed the long-form linear rights for 226 matches per season (all of those not broadcast live) for the next three seasons, while News International has secured a three-season deal for AV clips of all matches on internet and mobile devices.