The Premier League, the top division of football in England, has agreed rights deals in China and Macau, the Caribbean and Canada.
In mainland China and Macau, the Super Sports Media Group agency has retained exclusive live rights for all 380 Premier League matches per season in a six-year deal, from 2013-14 to 2018-19.
Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said that Super Sports’ “innovative and successful business model,” which makes matches available to all provinces across mainland China and Macau, was the reason for agreeing such a lengthy deal with the broadcaster. Super Sports is the current Premier League rights-holder in China in a three-year deal, from 2010-11 to 2012-13.
In Canada, pay-television broadcasters TSN and Sportsnet jointly acquired the rights in a three-year deal from 2013-14 to 2015-16.
TSN has acquired rights to 190 games per season – up from 50 matches per year in its current deal – and will exploit the rights on its main English-language channel and on RDS, its French-language channel.
Sportsnet has acquired rights for television, online and mobile rights for the other 190 games per season.
In the Caribbean, the league has extended its rights deal with International Media Content, the owner of pay-television broadcaster SportsMax. The three-year deal, from 2013-14 to 2015-16, covers live coverage of all 380 games per season. IMC has been the league’s rights-holder in the region for the past 10 years.