Chinese internet operator Le Sports has today (Thursday) confirmed a wide-ranging partnership with Italian Serie A football team AC Milan which includes carriage of the club’s television channel.
Le Sports has agreed a two-and-a-half-year deal to become the club’s official new media partner in China. The agreement will cover the remainder of the 2015-16 season, as well as the 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns.
As part of the deal, content from the club-dedicated Milan Channel will be streamed across mainland China on Le Sports’s various digital platforms. Milan Channel features match highlights, interviews, press conferences and behind-the-scenes footage.
Le Sports has also been granted various advertising and promotional rights as the official partner and official new media partner of AC Milan in China.
AC Milan chief executive Barbara Berlusconi said: “With this partnership we further reinforce a commercial relationship with a country in which AC Milan is the top football club with the highest number of fans and a greater digital growth than other major European clubs. For us China is a primary objective and all our efforts are focused on enhancing our presence in that area.”
The partnership was brokered by Infront Sports & Media, the marketing agent of AC Milan.
Le Sports last week agreed a similar deal with AC Milan’s cross-city rival Inter running until the end of 2017, and it is also the exclusive new media broadcaster of Serie A in mainland China.