Foxtel "is poised to acquire the rights to show delayed English Premier League football games featuring key teams via the clubs' own channels," according to Dominic White of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD.
The pay-TV group "is expected" to secure licenses to carry channels from the likes of ManU's MUTV, Liverpool's LFC TV, Man City TV, Arsenal TV and Chelsea TV as part of the deal.
The channels, which were previously carried in Australia by Foxtel's smaller rival Fetch TV, "have the rights to show tape-delayed coverage of games, normally the day after the matches are screened live." They "also carry club history documentaries, old games and behind-the-scenes shows from the clubs."
The move "is part of Foxtel's attempt to retain customers unhappy at its loss of English Premier League rights to Optus." Late last year, Optus announced that "it had secured the rights" to show EPL games for $63M per season.
Optus' expensive swoop "put Foxtel at risk of losing some of the EPL fans who had subscribed to the cable and satellite service predominantly to get the sport" (SMH, 5/1).
