What a kerfuffle?
Optus caused EPL fury by buying EPL rights purely to force hardcore EPL fans to churn broadband and mobile plans over to Optus whether they were actually able to or not. Now Foxtel has announced that it will still show many matches but they will be delayed. Will the delayed coverage get higher viewership figures than Optus? Quite possibly. How many Australian EPL viewers really stay up all night to watch the matches live?
Here's the release in full:
Foxtel to bring the biggest English football clubs to subscribers
New deals with six English Premier League clubs
Foxtel revealed today it has signed broadcast partnership agreements with six major English football clubs that will deliver subscribers dedicated new sports channels and programming featuring English Premier League games and exclusive behind the scenes content.
From July 1, 2016 – and for the first time in Australia – the official club television channels from top EPL teams Chelsea, Liverpool FC and Manchester United will broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week on Foxtel.
Additionally, dedicated programming blocks from high profile teams Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur will join the FOX SPORTS line-up each week.
Chelsea TV, LFCTV and MUTV are an addition to the Foxtel Sports pack* and will boost that pack’s offering to 15 sports channels at no extra cost.
The channels and programming blocks will be available in both high definition* and standard definition.
The new channels will give fans unprecedented access and exposure to their favourite clubs including all games from the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup.
This new deal secures all home and away EPL matches from the six teams, and fans of other clubs will see their teams play 12 times, providing subscribers with more than half the games played each EPL season.
In addition, there will be exclusive access to each of the major clubs including pre-season games, player and management interviews, manager’s press conferences, and extended in-depth pre-match build up and post-match analysis.
Games will be delayed, with games played overnight Saturday night (3pm London) available to our viewers from 1pm AEST on Sundays.
Peter Tonagh, Foxtel Chief Executive said: “The addition of these dedicated new sports channels is a huge win for English football fans who subscribe to Foxtel. These channels, along with the recently announced beIN SPORTS channels, will be compulsory viewing for all fans of international football and will also complement the FOX SPORTS coverage of the local A-League competition.”
“Our new EPL Club partners are global brands in their own right and have large groups of dedicated supporters in Australia making up more than 75 per cent of the English football fan base here. Our customers will now have access to commentary, analysis, insight and behind the scenes action they’ve never seen before.
“We know how much Australians love sport and these new channels, all available in HD, will make Foxtel an even more compelling proposition and cementing us as the new home of European football.”
All of the new sports channels will also be available to stream via Foxtel Go and Foxtel Play^, giving sports subscribers the flexibility to enjoy the service anytime, anywhere.
The channels join the recently announced beIN SPORTS 1,2,3 which will be available to Foxtel sports subscribers from Saturday May 14, 2016. beIN SPORTS will be the only place to see all 51 games from UEFA EURO 2016 LIVE and in HD.
beIN SPORTS is the home of European Football and Rugby Union, offering some of the world’s best competitions in those sports, including: UEFA EURO 2016, the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 Capital One Cup, European Rugby Champions Cup, and the Six Nations tournament. South American football including the South American FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, Brazilian Serie A and Sao Paulo Championship are also featured.
Foxtel is the indisputable home of Australian sports with 15 dedicated sports channels offering live and exclusive sports coverage and in HD across FOX SPORTS 1-5, FOX FOOTY, ESPN 1,2, Eurosport; with six new arrivals – Chelsea TV, LFCTV and MUTV to join the recently announced three beIN SPORTS channels.
In 2016, Foxtel brings subscribers, for the first time ever, every game, every team, every week from the NRL, AFL, Super Rugby, A-League, NBL as well as every race, practice and qualifying session of Formula 1 and V8s, plus the best sporting news and commentary from the biggest names in the business all on FOX SPORTS.
*HD channels only available to customers with the Sports and HD channel packs.
^SD channels only.
About Foxtel
Foxtel is one of Australia’s most progressive and dynamic media companies, directly employing around 2,800 people and delivering a diverse subscription television service over cable, satellite and broadband distribution. We offer a better entertainment experience every day to each one of our 2.8 million subscribing homes through delivery of new and inspiring programming across all genres, the world’s most popular channel brands, and investment in high quality local content. As constant champions of innovation we have brought customers the iQ personal digital recorder, Australia’s largest HD offering, the Foxtel Go App for tablets and mobile devices, internet TV service, Foxtel Play, subscription on demand (SVOD) entertainment service, Presto and television, broadband and home phone bundles with Foxtel internet and voice services delivered over Australia’s largest telecommunications network. Foxtel is owned by Telstra Corporation Limited ACN 051 775 556 (50%) and News Corporation (50%). foxtel.com.au
About beIN Media Group
beIN is a leading global network broadcasting in the Middle East and North Africa (in 24 countries), France, USA, Canada, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia. The beIN Media Group is a global multi-genre company providing exclusive access to prime sporting competitions including: FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League, football leagues from Europe including Spain’s La Liga, England’s Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, France’s Ligue 1, German’s League Bundesliga; CAN, AFC Champions League and AFC Asian Cup. Among the world’s other most popular sports, tennis (including French Open, US Open), basketball (NBA), motorsports (MotoGP, Dakar Rally, NASCAR), cycling (Tour de France), rugby (Six Nations) and many more including handball (Qatar 2015) and gymnastics are also broadcast by beIN around the world.
