Optus Sport has held off reported competition from Paramount+ and Network Ten to secure Premier League rights for an additional six years.
Optus has held the rights since taking them off Fox Sports in 2016 and has delivered strong content and growth over the period, with the company announcing on Friday it has passed one million subscribers to the streaming service.
Optus, which shows European and South American World Cup qualifiers and will have rights to the women’s World Cup in 2023, also said it had extended its rights to the peak British women’s league for an additional two years.
Optus was thought to be under threat from a rival streaming service especially Paramount+, which has paid $300 million to show the A-Leagues, Socceroos and Matildas over the next five years.[paramount
Optus’ VP of TV, Content and Product Development Clive Dickens said: “In the six years since securing the exclusive Premier League rights, Optus Sport has become the undisputed home of premium European football and has introduced new Australian audiences to the game whilst setting the benchmark on live sports streaming.”
Optus Sport said it had more than doubled its subscribers since 2018 with engagement is up over 49% year-on-year and nine of their top 10 most watched matches occurred during 2021.
The EURO 2020 England vs Italy final broke the Australian record for a live sports streaming event, with almost one million households watching the match live, Optus said.
While no figure for the deal was announced, it came on the same day that American broadcaster NBC renewed its television deal with the Premier League in a new six-year agreement worth around $2.7 billion ($A3.7 billion).
That figure is almost double what the company, the home of Premier League coverage in the United States since 2013, paid for their current contract back in 2016.
The new deal goes some way to offsetting the STG2 billion ($A3.7 billion) Premier League clubs have lost since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the next three years the Premier League will filter STG1.6 billion ($A3 billion) down the football pyramid, having earlier on Thursday announced a further STG25m ($A46m) of COVID impact funding to clubs in Leagues One and Two and the National League.
The Premier League has already completed its international broadcast sales processes in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, but there are deals in the rest of the Americas and Asia Pacific still to be concluded and further increases in revenue will also see solidarity payments to EFL clubs go up.
“Interest in the Premier League is going from strength to strength and it is great to see the growing global demand to watch our matches and engage with the league,” said Premier League chief executive Richard Masters.
“Our international and domestic broadcast revenues over the next cycle will give stability and certainty to the game as a whole, which is particularly important as football recovers from COVID-19 losses.
“We are proud to provide more investment into our football pyramid than any other football league in the world.”
chris
Guest
Yes I was hoping that Serie A ended up on P+ as well. The coverage on Bein sports doesn't seem to be as comprehensive as previous so maybe they are divesting themselves of it.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Here’s today’s package at $74/month with a one year lock in contract: https://www.foxtel.com.au/shop.html Netflix is free for a period, then you have to pay for it $85/month) I can get Netflix, Paramount+, and Optus for between $20-$35/month. With no lock in contract. So the current streaming costs don’t even come close to Foxtels current costs, let alone what they used to charge. Go back to the original comment that started this thread - do you agree with that?
Janakan
Guest
Optus is quality. Would be great to have the EPL under paramount and 10 but Optus I agree has been outstanding
Mark
Guest
I cut Fox off around a couple of years ago. Up to then, I had been a subscriber (with the box, not streaming), since 2014. I always had sport, since it was the sole reason I subscribed. In that time, I never, ever, paid anything remotely close to $125 per month. To be clear, I also didn’t receive any bundling or other discounts, I paid the face value If you were paying that much, you had channel packs you didn’t need to get sport, and that’s your problem.
Waz
Roar Rookie
No it’s not. I still have the contract. When you “last had it” it might have been $65 but shortly before that you had to sign a 24 month contract (you don’t with streaming) and it was $3k locked in over 24 months. BUT. Even at your $65/month you can get Optus, Stan, Paramount, and still have $30/month spare.
Mark
Guest
That is absolute nonsense. When I last had it I was paying $65 per month for a basic plus sport package in HD.
NUFCMVFC
Roar Guru
Glad to hear. They've done a fantastic job and I do enjoy all the extra content during the week. Perhaps Paramount+ would have showed these as well but I enjoy having the actual channel to watch on the Fetch Box and able to record it rather than stream Special mention goes to 10/Paramount+ which looks like it has made a strong start
NoMates
Roar Rookie
This is why the ALM/W will fail, no one in there right mide wants to sit though a game with SFC playing Roar.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
comes free with a fetch box to even if you don't take extra packages. If you have a grown up family it can work quite well. I have two sons (no this is not a riddle) one pays for Netflix, one pays for Amazon Prime, we pay for Stan and we have a fetch box and you are permitted to share so it works nicely for us and I got rid of my $100 a month Foxtel subscription. I have paid for paramount too and it has some interesting bits and pieces on there. Will be interested to see how A League churns out.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Given the volume of content on Paramount I think a lot of fans will be going Optus + Paramount anyway, certainly ditching Fox Movies. The biggest loss is the possibility of FTA and back to back ALM/EPL games on a Saturday night.
Waz
Roar Rookie
They do - but if you wanted football before it was $100+, now it’s half that. A fraction of you only take one service (and Optus - I think - is free if you take a mobile or broadband plan).
AC
Guest
Sorry how can you say ! Its a big blow to Paramount. As for Foxtel - what no growth sports are you talking about?
Blood Dragon
Roar Rookie
Serie A and La Liga signed Multi year extensions with Bein Sports at the beginning of the season
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Waz That might be true, but at the same time, we can’t pretend that in a perfect world, we wouldn’t prefer the Premier League rights to have ended up with Paramount. It basically halves the number of people likely to get Paramount, and I’d say that’s a conservative estimate.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
This is true. I actually still have access to Optus Sport, even though I've never paid for it (and I'm not even the one in the family with an optus phone). Paramount costs next to nothing per month, tiny bit more than a cup of coffee.
Jordan Sports Fan
Roar Rookie
Change your phone over to home Wifi. To cast the phone and chromecast they need to be on the same network.
Jordan Sports Fan
Roar Rookie
Correct. Stan Sport, P+, Kayo and Optus Sport costs me $56/mth. Pretty good really esp when you consider Stan and P+ have TV and movies. The shame is P+ not getting the combo for an AL/EPL joint matchday Saturday though..
Grem
Roar Rookie
Parrly but mainly, it's based on getting more eyes on the A League. When the two were combined on Foxtel it worked well for the A League and I was hoping that would happen again. For the few Premier League games I'd watch I wouldn't buy a streaming service for it, but I'd like to have some access to it.
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Both Optus & Paramount cost when added together are small especially if you have an Optus phone... My business phones and business net is via Optus so I get Optus Sport for free. But the combined cost is about $ 22.00 I think per month... Many EPL watchers on Optus I think as Paramount is so cheap will also but the A-L...
AGO74
Guest
roll out Tony Palumobo for Serie A lol