By Mark Baber
February 12 – The English Premier League has signed three year deals for audio-visual broadcast rights in several European markets, taking the decision to go with rights broking agencies rather than selling direct to broadcasters themselves.
New deals have been inked with Pitch International, MP & Silva and IMG Media for Italy, the Netherlands and the Balkans respectively.
All three agreements cover the exclusive audio-visual broadcast rights for all 380 Premier League matches per campaign for seasons 2013/14 to 2015/16.
In each case, Richard Scudamore, the Premier League Chief Executive, expressed his confidence the agency concerned would distribute the best Barclays Premier League action within each territory
No figure has been released for the guarantees that the agencies will be making for the Premier League rights.
The deals with Pitch and MP & Silva are new partner agencies for the Premier League. The IMG deal is a renewal for a new three-year term of an existing partnership.
The Italian deal represents a first for Pitch and Jonathan Rogers, Pitch International Managing Director, said: “We are delighted to be appointed as the Premier League’s licensee in such an important football territory as Italy. It is widely acknowledged how important Premier League rights are to broadcasters worldwide and for Pitch to open its account with the Premier League and add it to its growing roster of major clients is another step forward in the company’s growth.”
Andrea Radrizzani, Group CEO of MP & Silva, said: “We’re glad to extend our long-time and vast partnership with the Premier League in a new country like the Netherlands, and we are looking forward to giving even greater exposure to the Premier League there.”
On securing the rights for Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosovo, Victor Blundell, Senior Vice President MENA for IMG Media said: “The Premier League is extremely popular in these countries with several players from the region plying their trade in the English top flight. Having sold the rights in the region for the current three-year cycle, we know the market very well and we are delighted to renew this property again with the Premier League.”
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