Foxtel locks in multi-year ESPN deal to keep US sports in pubs
Foxtel Group has signed a new multi-year distribution deal with ESPN that will ensure the NBA, NFL, UFC and other popular US sports remain on Foxtel and Kayo — and in pubs and clubs around the country.
As part of the deal, Foxtel Business will now be the exclusive distributor of ESPN for commercial businesses, including in licensed venues.
This effectively closes a loophole that opened in March when ESPN’s two live channels joined the Disney+ service in Australia. Since then, pubs and clubs have been able to stream US sports directly from a single Disney+ subscription, rather than pay for Foxtel’s licensed venues package.
With this new distribution deal, ESPN’s two live channels are only (legally) available to venues as part of Foxtel’s sports package. Happily, for Foxtel and its billion-dollar local sporting deals, this forces any venue that wishes to broadcast US sports to also pay for Fox Footy, Fox League, and the other locally produced sporting channels.
This renewed deal comes at an interesting time for both companies. Foxtel Group was bought in April for $3.4 billion by UK-based global sports broadcaster Dazn, which operates in over 200 countries and has its own chest of international sporting rights deals.
After the sale was finalised, Dazn swiftly adopted the tagline “Foxtel: a DAZN company” to all Foxtel messaging, saying it will “reinforce its connection to a global leader in sports entertainment.” The Foxtel, Kayo Sports, Binge, and Hubbl products have so far retained their identities since the sale, however two rounds of firings at Foxtel Group, with job losses reported to be in the hundreds, suggest a major reshuffle is underway.
Dazn’s 2022 takeover of broadcaster Eleven Sports, saw the company strip out various sporting rights and business operations Eleven had operating in 17 markets across Europe and Southeast Asia, and fold these into existing Dazn platforms.
Kayo CEO Julian Ogrin told Mumbrella shortly after the sale that Foxtel Group’s sports streaming offering was one of the main incentives for Dazn to pursue the takeover deal.
“The IP that we have is something they were very interested in buying,” Ogrin said in April. “By bringing us together, they’re going to get the best of our IP and the best of their IP coming together, eventually, one day.”
ESPN, meanwhile, has recently traded 10% of its business to the National Football League in exchange for media assets, including the NFL Network and the league’s official fantasy football platform. It also plans to launch as a direct-to-consumer streaming service later this month in the US.
This renewed deal between Foxtel and ESPN continues what Foxtel Group CEO Patrick Delany calls “a wonderful, world-leading relationship … that spans more than two decades – a remarkable achievement in the dynamic world of media.”
“This agreement not only continues our relationship with ESPN but confirms our commitment to offering sports fans Australia’s most diverse, dynamic, and comprehensive sports experience,” he said in a release announcing the deal.
Local head of ESPN, Kylie Watson-Wheeler, said the company was “thrilled that Foxtel and Kayo Sports will remain a part of the ESPN ecosystem in Australia.”
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