The Premier League is close to completing the sale of overseas TV rights for '16-19, which will allow EPL CEO Richard Scudamore "to deliver lucrative New Year tidings to his clubs," according to Nick Harris of the London DAILY MAIL. The "astonishing bottom line" will add up to £3.2B ($4.7B) for the foreign rights alone for those three years. When the EPL began in '92-93, the league earned less than £8M a year "from selling live rights to every other country in the world combined." The Premier League has "since become such a truly global phenomenon -- earning more from foreign sales each year by far than any other league in any sport, anywhere -- that by next summer that figure will be almost 150 times larger."
Nearly all the major '16-19 deals are done: a $1B six-year package in the U.S. with NBC; "a sensational doubling of rights values in Scandinavia and Hong Kong; bumper deals across the Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa; and a huge leap in France." The last "major" market, India, should be completed in the coming weeks, when a deal worth just under £100M for '13-16 "is expected to jump significantly" (DAILY MAIL, 1/2).
HONG KONG DEAL: In Hong Kong, James Porteous wrote Hong Kong "will pay the most amount for Premier League TV rights than any other country in Asia" as the league prepares to finalize its final bumper deal for '16-19 rights.
Mainland China broadcaster and gadget manufacturer LeTV "shocked Hong Kong football fans" with a $400M offer for the broadcast rights.
And that works out at the equivalent of £87.7M ($129M) a year from Hong Kong to Premier League clubs, more than Thailand’s £65.7M ($96M) (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 1/4).
