The Premier League "is turning its attention to selling the next round of international rights," according to Chris Johnston of the London GUARDIAN. English matches can be seen in some 750 million homes globally, it says: and of the £5.5B global total generated by the three seasons starting from '13-14, "just under half came from foreign broadcasters." Int'l sales began last week with a six-year deal for the U.S. won by NBC for a reported $1B (£640M), or about $160M (£106M) a year. That "is roughly double" the $250M it spent for the rights for the three seasons from '13-14. Austin Houlihan, a director in Deloitte’s sports business group, said the deal underlines how important Premier League content is to incumbent broadcasters. Houlihan: "The U.S. market is growing fast. There was a reason the Premier League started the international sales process in the U.S. Significant growth sets the tone for the rest of the deals they’re going to do in other markets." The six matches at the weekend attracted 4.2 million viewers -- 25% "higher than last year, according to Nielsen ratings." Signing deals with global broadcasters "will continue for the rest of the year." EPL Communications Dir Dan Johnson said that last time around the Premier League "struck 85 agreements," but the number could vary this time. Asia "is the most valuable market" after the U.K. for TV rights, accounting for about 45% of the £750M ($1.1B)-a-year total under existing int'l agreements. Thailand paid about $106M a year, Singapore just under $100M, with Hong Kong and Malaysia on about $66M each. Not every territory "is a story of continual success." The Middle East and North Africa market "provided a rare example of the price of rights falling in the last negotiations." TV Sports Markets writer Frank Dunne said that competition "had been more intense for the previous round." But "he expects prices to increase substantially across the board next time." He said, "If it’s 50 percent to 100 percent higher than they’re getting at the moment it wouldn’t be a surprise. It could be even more" (GUARDIAN, 8/15).
