Le Eco, the Chinese group formerly known as Le TV, "has picked up broadcast rights" in Hong Kong to the 2018 World Cup, according to Patrick Frater of VARIETY. But it is "not yet clear how the group will screen the matches in the territory." The group said that "it has acquired rights to all FIFA matches" from '16-18, including the World Cup. It "did not disclose how much it had paid for the rights." Rights to live football matches -- especially for the biggest championships and the English League -- are "among the most contested content on Asian TV as the games are capable of generating pay-TV subscriptions and VoD usage." While pay-TV operators "would like to show the matches only to paying clients, governments have sometimes intervened to make viewing more widely available." The group changed its name earlier this week, "in order to replace the notion of television with ecosystem." Like other Chinese groups, Le Eco "is pursuing a strategy of vertical and horizontal integration that takes its clients from content production and distribution, through ride sharing, to hardware." Le Eco is "even readying the launch of an electric car" (VARIETY, 1/14).
