Optus Sport have fought off tough competition from rival streaming services to retain broadcast rights to the English Premier League for another six years.
Optus Sports have been the Aussie home of Premier League since 2016, but were at risk of losing the rights to one of the many new streaming services that emerged since.
Leading the contenders was Paramount+, who have a keen eye on football with parent company Network Ten after agreeing to tip $300 million into the A-League, Socceroos and Matildas over the next five years.
On top of Premier League rights, Optus Sports have also retained the rights to the FA Women’s Super League.
The monetary value of the Premier League deal has not been revealed but sources previously indicated to Fairfax that the rights were likely sold for $80 million per annum.
The Premier League also announced a six-year deal with NBC Sports in the US, worth a reported $2.7 billion USD ($3.7 billion AUD).
The announcement came on Friday morning, when Optus Sports also revealed they surpassed 1 million subscribers.
Optus CEO, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said: “We are thrilled to be able to significantly extend our exclusive partnership with Premier League and the FA Women’s Super League and continue to bring the best football coverage to more than a million of our passionate and loyal Optus Sport customers.”
Premier League CMO, Paul Molnar was also happy to extend the relationship saying: “Optus has proven to be an outstanding home for the Premier League in Australia and has helped to grow the fanbase of the Premier League and its clubs through market-leading content and impressive innovation.”
The deal for Optus settles uncertainty around the future of its sports streaming business, which was built around the Premier League and would be in trouble had it not secured the streaming rights.
