The Scottish Professional Football League "has agreed a deal to show live Scottish football on mainstream television in China for the first time," according to Chris McLaughlin of the BBC. Thought to be worth about £500,000 ($778,000) a year for three years, the deal "is with Letv Sports, China's leading digital broadcast platform for sports." It "will make 55 Premiership matches available across TV, online and mobile." SPFL CEO Neil Doncaster said, "It's a fantastic deal for Scottish football." The deal forms part of a wider, 10-year int'l rights agreement worth about £20M ($31M) struck in '13 between the SPFL and MP & Silva, "which sells rights to the region for the benefit of all 42 SPFL member clubs over that period." Doncaster said, "Clearly, this is a massive market and gives our member clubs a great opportunity to sell themselves to the world's fastest growing economy." Games "will be streamed live across all forms of China's traditional TV channel, IPTV, and all its online and mobile services" (BBC, 7/20). In L.A., Patrick Frater wrote "the deal is styled as a strategic alliance between the two companies and gives them room to develop joint projects in the future." LeTV Sports plans to broadcast some 1,800 hours of live football per season "on its digital platform." Rights "covered by the deal include Italian Serie A, French Ligue 1, England’s FA Cup, Sky Bet Football League Championship, Capital One Cup, Scottish Professional Football League, Belgian Jupiler Pro League, the Brazil National Team Global Tour matches, the England national team and under-23 home friendly matches, and the (recently completed) Copa America 2015." LeTV Sports CEO Lei Zhenjian said, "Letv Sports is always looking to establish itself as a leader in this industry and invest in the world’s most compelling sports media rights." LeTV Sports "is a spin off from online video firm LeShi Internet Information" (VARIETY, 7/20).
