Sports data and live streaming company Sportradar has announced a deal with the National Premier Leagues (NPL), Australia’s second-tier football league, that will see the launch of the NPL.TV streaming platform.
NPL.TV will initially broadcast matches from the New South Wales (Football NSW), and Queensland (Football Queensland) competitions, with other member divisions able to join over the course of the 2020 season. There are eight divisions and 90 clubs across the NPL.
The OTT platform will broadcast more than 1000 matches from the 2020 season, including both men’s and women’s competitions. The NPL has previously only been broadcast via social media platforms.
NPL.TV will be free for all Australian-based customers unless they want to upgrade to a premium version of the platform in a full high-definition format. International subscribers will have to pay a subscription cost as an “international paywall for non-Australian users” has been put in place.
Sportradar said: “The business model is unique in that it allows Football NSW, Football Queensland and Sportradar to explore both advertising integration and paid user subscriptions on a revenue-share basis.”
David Edwards, director of sports media and partnerships, Oceania at Sportradar, said: “Today’s partnership agreement is the first-of-its-kind in the region and we’re proud to have jointly developed the OTT platform with Football NSW & Football Queensland.”
Coverage will begin on March 20, with NPL.TV initially available through all web browsers, with iOS and Android apps “available soon”.