TalkSport has signed a deal to secure EPL radio rights "outside Europe and will broadcast live match commentary around the world in English, Spanish and Mandarin,” according to Mark Sweney of the GUARDIAN. TalkSport will “broadcast live commentary of all 380 Premier League matches each season outside the European Economic Area for four years" beginning in August. The company will “broadcast commentary in three languages from its London studios via the internet and mobile apps, using a branded radio player.” It is "understood that the BBC World Service will continue to hold the rights to broadcast the second half of two matches a week.” UTV Media, which owns TalkSport, indicated that “set up and pre-launch costs" will be about US$1.28M. The company also said that “in the first year the service is expected to make a loss” of about US$1.6M, but in year two “it will hit break even and the remaining two years of the deal it will return a profit.” The digital radio player “will be ad funded in the first year, but UTV will look at the possibilty of launching a paid-for app for a premium service” (GUARDIAN, 4/18). Lagardere Unlimited Head of Media for Europe/Africa Phil Lines, who was “responsible for selling the Premier League’s last international broadcast rights,” said that Talksport "‘could make a bit of money’ because of the league’s popularity.” TalkSport CEO Scott Taunton said that Southeast Asia is “expected to be a key market for the company and it was possible commentary in Thai, Malay and Indonesian may follow” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 4/17).
