ESPN Brasil extends Premier League deal

Pay-television sports broadcaster ESPN Brasil has struck a three-season extension to its rights deal with the Premier League, the top division of English club football.

The new deal covers the 2019-20 to 2021-22 seasons of the Premier League and includes rights for all media, including broadcast and pay television, streaming via the WatchESPN service and video-on-demand.

ESPN has broadcast the Premier League in Brazil for the past 15 seasons and its exclusive broadcast of the Premier League last season showed a 23 per cent ratings growth in comparison to the previous campaign.

ESPN provided full coverage of the Premier League for the first time in the country in 2016-17, having shared rights with pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports in 2015-16.

A host of Brazilian national team stars compete in the Premier League. David Luiz and Willian (both pictured) helped Chelsea win the title last season, Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino starred for Liverpool, while Gabriel Jesus made an instant impact after his debut for Manchester City in January.