The MP & Silva agency finalised an agreement with the English Football Association to distribute rights to England national team games and the FA Cup in Asia, excluding Thailand.
The six-year deal, which was first reported by TV Sports Markets last month, covers the period 2012-13 to 2017-18 (TV Sports Markets newsletter issue 16:5).
MP & Silva will market the rights for up to 59 live matches per season. The matches will be drawn from club competitions the FA Cup and the Community Shield, England national team home friendly matches and England Under-21 national team matches. The English national team’s home matches in the qualifying campaign for the 2014 World Cup are also included.
The package excludes the rights to England’s qualifying matches for the 2016 European Championships and the 2018 World Cup. These rights are to be sold along with all other European federations’ qualifiers by Uefa, European football’s governing body, as part of its qualifier rights centralisation project, which begins with the Euro 2016 qualifiers.
The rights in Thailand were carved out of the deal to be sold separately.
Mark Shannon, broadcast manager at the FA, said of the deal: “The Football Association is delighted to announce a new long term partnership in Asia with MP & Silva. Their expertise and strong portfolio of football rights in the region impressed throughout a highly competitive tender process. We very much look forward to working with them to further enhance The FA’s competitions in the years to come”.
Andrea Radrizzani, group chief executive at MP & Silva said: “English football is extremely popular in Asia and I am delighted that we can use our local network and expertise to increase the revenues and exposure of The FA in Asia. The rights for the FA Cup, together with Serie A, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Brazilian League and World Cup qualifier matches puts MP & Silva in control of football rights in Asia, helping us to better negotiate with different broadcasters and ensuring that audience numbers will keep growing in the region.”