LeTV nets Premier League rights for Hong Kong

Fans cheer their team in a pub in Newcastle, the United Kingdom.

A mystery over just how Hong Kong soccer fans will be able to catch English Premier League action next season seems to have ended with a dramatic conclusion as the current broadcaster and the internet company that has acquired the rights reach an agreement.

“Le Sports and PCCW Media Ltd [the Now TV owner] jointly announce the two parties have reached an agreement in relation to cooperation on the broadcast of Premier League matches, and are actively discussing the execution details”, said LeTV’s Le Sports portal in a statement.

Hong Kong football lovers can rest easy again after new English Premier League rights owner LeTV said it had come to an agreement with Now TV to allow broadcasting of the matches in the territory.

Beijing-based LeTV is aggressively expanding into the Hong Kong pay TV market, which has been dominated until recently by Now TV and i-Cable.

“In the future, LeTV Sports and the Premier League will bring the match broadcast to a newer, higher level”, Lei added.

In January this year, Tencent beat LeTV Sports with $500 million for the rights to broadcast National Basketball Association games in the Chinese mainland for the next five seasons, despite LeTV Sports offering $600 million.

While LeTV has favored the strategy of acquiring broadcast and media rights of major sporting events, it faces stiff competition from similar services controlled by other companies including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Dalian Wanda Group Co. and Tencent Holdings Ltd.

LeTV also holds the rights in mainland China to the UEFA Champions League and Europa League, Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue 1.

At the same time, the company also needs huge cash flows to pursue its sports ambitions.