LONDON • Eleven Sports, the self-styled "Netflix of sport", has saved its operations in the fiercely competitive Britain and Ireland markets from closure after reaching deals to offload the rights to Italy's Serie A and continue coverage of Spain's LaLiga.
In December, it emerged that the streaming service, which is thought to have attracted 50,000 subscriptions since its August launch, was unable to attract enough subscribers.
The company, which stopped its pay-TV operations in Singapore and became unavailable on Singtel TV from August last year, attempted to renegotiate rights deals at a much cheaper rate to try and avoid pulling the plug.
It has now concluded talks with IMG, which acts as the agent for Serie A rights, with the Britain and Ireland rights to move to Premier Sports from next month until 2021.
Premier Sports also picked up the rights to the Dutch Eredivisie and Chinese Super League from Eleven.
Eleven has also concluded a new agreement with LaLiga, giving it temporary breathing space to keep broadcasting matches until the end of the season. In the summer, it will have to negotiate another deal.
"The strategic direction we have chosen allows us to focus on LaLiga, which not only drives real value for us in the UK and Ireland but is also a property which we continue to have a valued partnership with in five markets globally," said a spokesman for Eleven Sports, which is controlled by Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani.
The Italian businessman said last December that Eleven could not rely on Internet subscribers alone to make its British venture work and is working out distribution deals for his channel.
Eleven said that as a result of the cutback in sports content, existing and new subscribers will see the price of its monthly pass reduced from £5.99 (S$11) to £4.99 from next month.
Last November, it struck a deal with Scottish broadcaster STV to show two live LaLiga and Serie A games a week through its online streaming service. Last October, it was forced to stop its controversial practice of broadcasting European games on Saturday afternoons after pressure from football stakeholders.
Eleven, which had outbid Sky and BT, Britain's two largest sports broadcasters, for the rights that the two companies had previously owned, said that despite the setbacks it is still looking for new sports rights deals.
Endeavour, the Hollywood talent agency which owns Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the increasingly popular mixed martial arts competition, and IMG hold a minority stake in Eleven Sports UK & Ireland. Eleven, which also operates in markets including Poland and Portugal, is controlled via the holding company Aser, which in turn is controlled by Radrizzani.
Late last year, UFC opted to move back to previous rights holder BT with a new broadcast deal.
THE GUARDIAN
Adam Swandi became the first Singaporean to win a local domestic title in more than two years on Saturday but his thoughts immediately shifted to the next Albirex Niigata (S) training session
S.League: Predictions for the new season | FOX Sports Asia
Football: Yoshida-san, restore the Lions' semangat, boleh? SINGAPORE - Dear Yoshida-san, welcome to Singapore. Having taken up arguably the hottest seat in Singapore sport, I hope you know what you are in for with your first international assignment.
Yoshida-san, restore the Lions' semangat, boleh?, Football
Get more information about BARRY MAGUIRE at straitstimes.com. Ex-Dutch youth international Maguire seeks soaring start with Geylang Maguire hopes to rebuild career with Geylang
Farid Noor Ali Fazal, Executive Director & Marketing Director
Pogba spot kicks help United 'get away with it', Football
Football: Man City surge clear through Sterling as Spurs suffer
Antonio Conte wants more of the same from his Chelsea players when Manchester City visit on Wednesday, despite suffering a shock home defeat to Crystal Palace last time out. Goals from Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke on Saturday reduced Chelsea's lead at the top of the Premier League to seven
News - Giallorossi Yorkshire
Jurgen Klopp labels Liverpool's Barcelona defeat as 'best away Champions League performance' Klopp also praises "unstoppable" Lionel Messi while Andy Robertson and Virgil van Dijk call Messi "the
Why Klopp is to blame for Painful UCL finals defeat - Thewistle
Lyon vs Barcelona: Wasteful Barcelona held to goalless draw at defiant Lyon The La Liga leaders dominated the match at the Groupama stadium but lacked accuracy up front and were grateful to their goalkeeper Marc Andre ter Stegen who made two great saves.
Wasteful Barca held to goalless 0-0 draw at defiant Lyon
It's hard not to feel a little bad for Spurs, though, and wonder how this match would've played out if not for that pivotal early call against them that, as their fans suspected, proved too
"All Cried Out" but NOT Giving Up! 😭 - YouTube
Benno is making a late run for "defender of the year" in my totally personal and made-up end-of-season awards do. A clean sheet against some toothless Terriers always goes down well here. Cesar Azpilicueta, 2 points
Bottom at Christmas but it's not goal-shy strikers fault
Klopp hails 'outstanding' Salah as Liverpool star hits landmark in Bournemouth win. He played an outstanding game," the Reds boss told a post-match news Why Barca won't be sacking Valverde;
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hails 'outstanding' Mohamed
Tottenham Hotspur showed why manager Mauricio Pochettino is a wanted man by thrashing Everton 6-2 at Goodison Park yesterday to close to within six points of Tottenham shine to hit Everton for
Pochettino focused on Spurs success after hitting Everton for
Football: Wasteful Barca held to goalless draw at defiant Lyon
Merlion Cup to return after nine-year hiatus, Football News
0 comments:
Post a Comment