The Premier League (England’s professional football league) has reached an agreement to sell broadcasting rights in China for three years for 613 million euros (2.2 billion Brazilian reais), according to sources familiar with the contract cited by Bloomberg. The document was signed with the online broadcaster PPTV, affiliated with Suning Holdings, which bought nearly 70% of Inter Milan last June.
The deal is worth 12 times what the Premier League currently receives for broadcast rights in China. The new contract will enter into force in the 2019-2020 season, according to the same sources. The Prime Minister refused to comment on the agreement. Neither PPTV nor Suning Holdings responded to requests for information about the contract, which would be the Premier League’s biggest overseas television deal ever. This news confirms the rise in sports spending in China, encouraged by President Xi Jinping’s desire to develop the sports economy around football.
According to the BBCThe value of the agreement will reach $700 million (2.34 billion riyals), and retransmissions will be via flow. La Liga’s global broadcast rights reach €600 million (SAR 2.1 billion) annually.
Manchester City, West Bromwich and Aston Villa are among the English clubs that received investments from China last year. The number of viewers watching the English Premier League is also growing rapidly in the Asian giant.
The most significant Premier League broadcast rights deal outside the UK has been signed with North American Television Network nbcWhich paid $1 billion (3.4 billion riyals) for six seasons.
The Premier League’s main source of revenue remains the United Kingdom. British channels Sky and BT agreed last year to pay a record sum of 5.14 billion pounds sterling for three seasons, starting from 2016-2017.
Premier began selling broadcast rights in China before the current contract with Super Sport Media Group expired. This agreement provides for the payment of about 17 million euros annually (about 61 million Brazilian reais) in an operation that will try, more than revenues, to gain an audience in the Asian country. The six-year agreement signed in 2012 was closed after negotiations with the pay-TV operator, which would have been valid for three years, failed.
