Advanced Television

Perform, Ziggo take Premier League rights

December 4, 2015

By Nik Roseveare

Perform Group, the digital sports content and media company, has confirmed an exclusive deal to broadcast live and on-demand English Premier League matches in Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein from the start of the 2016-17 season. Sky Deutschland was the previous Premier League rights holder in German-speaking Europe.

The three-year deal also allows Perform to broadcast live and on-demand Premier League football in Switzerland and Luxembourg on a non-exclusive basis and includes clip rights across all five countries.

Perform’s acquisition of the Premier League rights further enhances its growing portfolio of premium broadcast rights secured for Perform’s OTT service launching in the selected markets in 2016, including La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1, NBA and NFL.

John Gleasure, Chief Commercial Officer, Perform OTT, said of the deal: “We are delighted to have secured the exclusive English Premier League rights for Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein as well as the non-exclusive rights in Switzerland and Luxembourg. The arrival of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Jurgen Klopp has further increased interest in the Premier League across the German-speaking markets, and it is an exciting addition to our already extensive portfolio of exclusive live and on-demand content on our upcoming OTT offering.”

“We will continue to add a range of both international and local rights to the service before our 2016 launch, and look forward to announcing further acquisitions in the very near future,” he concluded.

Premier League Executive Chairman, Richard Scudamore added: “Perform has an established track record as a digital content provider and we are very pleased they have chosen to invest in our broadcasting rights in Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Luxembourg. We look forward to working with them to make the best Premier League content available to our fans in those countries.”

In a similar deal, Liberty Global-owned cable operator Ziggo has acquired the Premier League rights in the Netherlands for the next three seasons. Ziggo has the rights to live matches and highlights as well as the rights to make matches available online via its Horizon Go and Ziggo Sport Totaal Go apps. Fox Sports was the previous rights-holder in the country.

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