Broadcast – Inside World Football

TNT Sports to debut in UK in July as BT Sport rebranded for start of new season

Paul Nicholson — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 06:59:02 +0000

February 22 – The UK sports broadcast landscape is changing with BT Sports channels changing their name to TNT Sports in July 2023 for the start of the new football season.

The rebranding is part of the new joint venture announced between BT Group and Warner Bros. Discovery that will eventually see the Eurosport TV channels combined under the same title for the UK and Ireland, though that is not expected to take place until afte rhte paris Olympics in 2024.

Netflix to make first Spanish sports docuseries with LaLiga

Paul Nicholson — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 05:40:34 +0000

February 20 – LaLiga LaLiga has announced a partnership with Netflix to develop the streaming giant’s first sports documentary series in Spain.

The documentary series, currently in pre-production, will focus on the 2023-2024 season, and will be launched worldwide on Netflix next year.

LaLiga said the content will be “similar to Netflix’s growing slate of sports programming such as Formula 1: Drive to Survive and Break Point”.

The producers will have behind the scenes access across LaLiga and its clubs to tell the “more personal stories”.

OneFootball and DAZN test new ground with live football PPV distribution deal

Paul Nicholson — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 04:25:40 +0000

February 3 – Sports streaming leaders DAZN and OneFootball have struck a distribution deal that will widen the reach of DAZN content in Germany and Austria via OneFootball’s network.

Kicking off this weekend, selected live DAZN matches from Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue1 will be offered as single pay-per-view events in the two countries.

The first matches in the new agreement this weekend include Paris Saint-Germain vs FC Toulouse and Olympique Marseille vs OGC Nice in Ligue 1,

DAZN boosts global streaming roll-out with Prime Video distribution deal

Paul Nicholson — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 00:41:25 +0000

January 20 – Sports-streaming giant DAZN has agreed a deal with Prime Video to distribute its service in Amazon’s Prime Video Channels.

DAZN has built its platform around football with rights to the Bundesliga, English Premier League, J.League, LaLiga, Serie A, and the UEFA Champion’s League, as well as a strong package of women’s football.

While Amazon Prime has picked off marquee sports rights in key markets to drive subscriptions to its multi-genre streaming service,

DAZN reveals $1.36bn loss but reports pick-up in subs and engagement as model evolves

Paul Nicholson — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 09:40:53 +0000

January 12 – Sports-streaming giant DAZN has reported an operating loss of $1.36 billion in 2021, taking the company’s total losses over the past three reported financial years to $5 billion.

That loss was mitigated somewhat by a re-capitalisation that wiped out $3.3 billion in loans to parent company Access Industries.

While the red ink looks frightening, DAZN has a number of big wins in its armoury as it cements position in the sports media business.

Real Madrid and Barca easily top LaLiga’s tv earners with €160m each

Paul Nicholson — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 09:00:43 +0000

December 30 – Real Madrid tops the table of broadcast revenue LaLiga is distributing to its clubs for the 2021/22 season at €160 million, marginally ahead of rivals Barcelona. Atletico Madrid rank third with €130 million.

The drop to the rest of LaLiga’s top tier clubs is steep. Bottom of the revenue distribution table are Mallorca and Rayo Vallecano de Madrid on €45.89 million. Ten clubs – 50% of the league – receive less than €55 million from the TV rights distribution.

MLS secures domestic Fox and TelevisaUnivision deals ahead of Apple season pass launch

Paul Nicholson — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 09:30:48 +0000

December 15 – Major League Soccer has released detail of its expanded four-year ‘linear’ television agreements with FOX Sports and TelevisaUnivision in the US, plus TSN and RDS in Canada.

ESPN, a partner with the MLS since 1996, will not have any broadcast rights. ESPN reportedly withdrew over a stipulation that the new Apple streaming partnership will see Apple branding on all matches. ESPN has its own streaming service.

The new linear agreements start with the new season in 2023 and run through 2026 when the US will co-host the World Cup with Canada and Mexico.

MUTV distribution expanded to smart TVs and key digital platforms

Paul Nicholson — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 08:00:15 +0000

December 6 – Manchester United have increased the distribution of their broadcast channel making the MUTV app available on Samsung, LG and Android smart and connected TVs.

The app is also available on Apple TV, Xbox, Amazon Fire and Roku.

The app carries the full archive of highlights from all 1,167 Premier League games played by Manchester United, including all 2,205 goals scored by the club.

New content will include MUTV’s United Daily show,

beIN Sports reports record breaking 1bn+ viewers for Qatar 2022 openers

Paul Nicholson — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 08:31:08 +0000

November 30 – BeIN Sports, the broadcast rights holder for the MENA region for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, is claiming more than 111 million viewers tuned in for the Opening Ceremony, while a cumulative total of more than 900 million watched the first 16 group stage games.

The 111.7 million adults across MENA equates to 31% of the total adult population – a six-fold increase on the viewing figure for Russia 2018.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Qatar’s beIN and Saudis in new broadcast spat

Paul Nicholson — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 20:31:07 +0000

November 27 – With relations between Qatar and Saudi Arabia seemingly having found a new level cordiality in polar opposite to the Saudi-led blockade of the country two years ago, a new dispute has arisen around broadcast rights that could threaten the detente.

World Cup games are licensed to be streamed into Saudi Arabia by Qatar-owned TOD, beIN Sport’s streaming platform.

An hour before the Opening Ceremony of the World Cup (last Sunday November 20),