Facebook has won exclusive rights to broadcast live Premier League soccer matches in southeast Asia.
The multi-year deal, valued at around £200 million ($264.4 million), is Premier League’s first with the social network, that will broadcast matches in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos from 2019 to 2022, which henceforth includes all 380 matches in 2019.
“We are always looking to add more value to Prime, and we’re delighted to now offer, for the first time, live Premier League matches to Prime members at no extra cost to their membership,” said Jay Marine, vice president of Prime Video in Europe, in a statement.
“The Premier League is the most watched sports league in the world. Over these two December fixture rounds Prime members will be able to watch every team, every game, so no matter which Premier League team you support, you’re guaranteed to see them play live on Prime Video,” Jay further stated.
Facebook reportedly beating out BeIn Sports and Fox Sports Asia signals an emerging trend of big digital media companies competing for and winning major live sports rights.
The Facebook Premier League deal follows Amazon’s announcement last month that it had signed a three-year deal with the Premier League to live stream 20 matches per year in Britain.
For Facebook, the Premier League deal marks a bit of a turnaround from the company’s recent failed attempt to bid for cricket rights in India.
