Australian pay-television operator Foxtel has struck agreements with six English Premier League football clubs and will add three new channels to its Sports Pack offering at no extra charge.
Deals have been secured to add the official television channels of Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United to the Sports Pack from July 1, increasing the total number of channels to 15.
Foxtel will also show programming blocks from the official channels of fellow Premier League clubs Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur.
All games from the six clubs in the league and the FA Cup and League Cup knockout competitions will be shown on a delayed basis. There will also be exclusive access to the clubs’ pre-season games, player and management interviews and press conferences.
In November, Foxtel was dislodged as the league’s rights-holder in Australia by telecommunications company Optus, which acquired the rights over three seasons, from 2016-17 to 2018-19.
In an open letter to viewers, Foxtel chief executive Peter Tonagh said the new deals would provide a boost after losing the rights for the league.
“Rest assured, we competed strongly for these rights and were willing to pay a large amount for them,” Tonagh said. “When we missed out we sought to reach an arrangement with Optus so that we could continue delivering great EPL coverage to all Australian fans. Unfortunately Optus was not open to the deal we proposed.
“Since then we have been working hard on alternative arrangements and we have come up with something that ensures that our customers will have access to more great European football than ever before.”