Optus strikes Nine deal for International Champions Cup rights

Australian telecommunications company Optus has reached an agreement with commercial broadcaster Nine to air a number of live games from the 2016 International Champions Cup pre-season football tournament.

The agreement secures Optus exclusive broadcast and digital rights in the country to 15 games that take place across the US and Europe, while it will also air coverage of three matches held in China. The games will be the first to be broadcast on the company’s new Optus Sport platform.

Optus will not broadcast the three Australian games, which will instead be shown by Nine. The broadcaster will also air the three Chinese matches along with Optus, which last November secured exclusive rights in Australia to all English Premier League games in a three-year deal that will cover the 2016-17 to 2018-19 seasons.

This year’s International Champions Cup will run from July 22 to August 13.