English Premier League (EPL)

The value of the English Premier League’s free-to-air rights in sub-Saharan Africa has fallen by about 17 per cent after a difficult cycle in which the last rights-holder handed back its rights.

England’s Premier League saw its rights in Myanmar tumble in value after renewing with pay-television broadcaster SkyNet.

Currency depreciation against the dollar has hurt English Premier League revenues in its final three deals in Asian markets.

The IMG agency is understood to be close to a deal for English Premier League rights in Romania with sports broadcaster Eurosport.

England’s Premier League is understood to be prioritising reach and distribution over revenue in the sale of its free-to-air rights in sub-Saharan Africa.

The threat of an OTT player entering the local television market helped Israel’s Premier League to a 198-per-cent increase in the value of its media rights last month.

The Saran Media agency has suffered mixed fortunes in Turkey over the last fortnight, securing rights to England’s Premier League but losing out on Euro 2016 to Turkish state broadcaster TRT.

England’s Premier League has almost doubled its income in recently-agreed deals covering 11 territories across Europe.

Telco Altice last week blindsided French broadcasters to acquire Premier League rights in the country with a knockout first-round bid.

Pay-television broadcaster Sky has acquired six packages of rights in the Republic of Ireland for football’s English Premier League.

England’s Premier League this week completed the first set of deals across Asia for its rights in the 2016-17 to 2018-19 cycle, with mixed results. It saw significant increases in value from Australia and New Zealand, but a decline in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, while Malaysia and Myanmar are proving difficult.

BeIN Media Group has agreed a three-season extension to its broadcast rights deal for football’s English Premier League in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Strong competition in the Nordics between established media groups and an as-yet unidentified player helped the Premier League double its income in the region – continuing the remarkable start to its new international sales cycle.

Chinese internet company LeTV Sports’s acquisition of English Premier League rights in Hong Kong is indicative of the company’s international ambitions.

English Premier League executive director Bill Bush has criticised European Commission plans to remove geographical barriers to accessing digital content across member countries.

Football rights fees across sub-Saharan Africa continued their rapid growth this month, with big increases paid for three of Europe’s major football leagues.