The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Ma & Abkowitz reported as part of the NFL's deal with Tencent, the China-based company will pay the league to "stream all of its Thursday, Sunday and Monday Night Football games," as well as the Super Bowl and other select games. Chinese viewers will be "able to listen to live Chinese commentators as well as read NFL coverage on Tencent’s news platform." Chinese viewers will "get to see more than 100 NFL games a year, including all the league’s prime-time games, live or on-demand." NFL China Managing Dir Richard Young said that "expectations are that most of the viewing in China will be on mobile platforms, partly because of the time difference between the U.S. and China" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/23).
FIRST TEST: WORLD SOCCER TALK's Christopher Harris wrote NBC Sports’ Premier League Pass "faces its first major test this weekend when 50% of the EPL games will be on the paid streaming service including Sunday’s match between Tottenham and Burnley." The first big test the service will face is how many Tottenham supporters in the U.S. will "decide to pay for it ($50 per season) and how many will decide to stream it illegally through other means." NBC Sports "hasn’t publicly shared the total number of Premier League Pass subscribers, but the network will be able to gauge the interest level in the subscription service based on this game" (WORLDSOCCERTALK.com, 8/22).
NEW TREND DOING WELL: Subscription-based sports outlet The Athletic is "going to be introducing a Montreal site that will have coverage in English and French" (CRAINSCLEVELAND.com, 8/21)....Boston Sports Journal has "exceeded" its own expectations by going over 4,000 subscribers over the weekend. The subscription-based site launched last month (BOSTONSPORTSJOURNAL.com, 8/21).
