Facebook has signed a £200 million broadcast rights deal with the Premier League as part of ots plans to make a bigger push into sports content.
According to The Times, this deal gives Facebook exclusive rights to live broadcast the league games from 2019 to 2022 in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
The social media giant has managed to clinch the deal beating out competition from television networks BeIn Sports and Fox Sports Asia in this bid. Facebook has hired Eurosport CEO Peter Hutton in line with its move into Sports. Hutton will be tasked to lead the negotiations for global live sports streaming.
However, this is not Facebook’s first leap into sports as it has previously live-streamed matches from Major League Soccer and La Liga. In addition, it has broadcasted UEFA Champions League European matches with Fox Sports and also was part of a sports documentary.
Facebook has declined to comment on Marketing’s queries.
Facebook is not the only tech company that is expanding to other industries. Recently, Amazon Prime had secured a deal with the Premier League as well. In a bid with Sky and BT Sports for the Premier League games, Amazon sealed an exclusive coverage of 20 matches a season in the three-year deal. The live broadcast for subscribers in UK is limited to Boxing Day matches and midweek December matches.
According to Engadget, Richard Scudamore, CEO of the Premier League has been “vocal” about his future plans to partner with YouTube and Netflix.
