Fans of the EPL "have their first official clue as to how Optus is planning to broadcast the world's most popular football league in Australia," according to Max Mason of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD.
Optus "secured exclusive rights for the Premier League in November," outbidding current rights holder Fox Sports and Al Jazeera-owned beIN Sports with a A$189M ($137M), three-year bid.
But for those hoping to know exactly how they'll watch EPL games, details from Singtel-owned Optus "have been thin."
Optus "has now launched a registration page for keen Premier League fans who want to be kept up to date with the telecommunications provider's plans."
Optus "is trying to position itself as a multimedia business and sees sport as an important part of that strategy." Its chances of drawing in new mobile and broadcast customers, as well as hanging onto existing ones, "increase with having exclusive content." Optus CEO Allen Lew said,
"We've seen how other providers have used the EPL to their advantage in terms of bringing value to their basic carriage service and we think that we can do the same thing here" (SMH, 3/2).
