Optus unveils Premier League plan, strikes deal with SBS, launches 24/7 football channel
Optus has unveiled the details of how it plans to deliver the English Premier League to consumers, signing a deal with SBS to sub-license games.
As part of the deal with SBS Optus will get access to the FIFA World Cup.
The deal sees Optus also full coverage of the FIFA World Cup, while SBS will secure a Saturday match of the English Premier League.
Optus has confirmed it will launch what it says is Australia’s first ever 24/7 football channel dedicated exclusively to the English Premier League, and carried on Optus’ subscription TV platform, Optus TV with Fetch. Consumers will be able to access the channel via a new, mini set-top box similar to the Telstra TV product and on mobile.
Presumably SBS will get a highlights show package as well – otherwise this would be a very low level of content opportunity.
I dont know how or why the EPL agreed to this. Disastrous in terms of growing the brand in Australia. Absolute boon for Optus though. Wise move partnering with SBS, who need this as their football credentials continue to decrease given the sub-par coverage and sentiment they apply to the domestic format.
another horrible result for football fans in Australia. Could it get any worse? 3 years years ago you get watch every game, in every football competition in HD on Foxtel….. then they went and stuffed it up and have lost out on everything. The competitions are now spread over multiple channels/platforms (including standard definition only options like BEIN Sports). Corporate greed is ruining sport in this country…
@Gezza – one game per week is massive for free to air regardless of whether highlights come in
the times are a changin’
this is actually pretty huge news – I just hope that, like Gezza said, that SBS gets a highlights package show. COME ON YOU SPURS
So is it available on Fetch, or do you need the new mini box?
Hi James,
It will be available on Fetch but if you don’t have Fetch you can buy the minibox to get it.
Cheers
Nic – Mumbrella
@Dan – nicely put!!
SBS are a disgrace. Sooner they are merged with the ABC the better.
UK has gone the way of fragmented coverage with Sky. Setanta. BeIn. It was done to provide more choice and more competition to benefit the consumer. What seemed a well intentioned decision to prevent a monopoly and price gouging has in fact turned in that exactly with fans being way more out of pocket and unable to watch all games live
Let’s hope we don’t find this the same result in Australia.
Also be interesting to see if the money paid by Optus is now the peak and they can extract value. Some markets in Asia. Indonesia I think off the top of my head for one have seen the content license deal drop in value for Premier League for the first time.
Apologies for any massive spelling errors. On the mobile.
So if you want to reasonably follow football in Australia you now need about 3 different subscriptions over two pieces of equipment on two different provider plans….
Can’t wait to get Optus TV with Fetch!™™™
(as long as Airplay and Google cast from mobile devices are supported :p)
Well I suppose it would be too much to ask to have Tottenhams game on SBS every week? Yes? Optus/ Fetch for me soon then! COYS!
What an absolute crock of S***!!! Today you can watch EVERY game….. EVERY week; and somehow one stupid game a week on free TV is better?? Who cares about free TV anyway? Nobody watches it any more. SBS have failed again. The faster it is rolled in ABC the better for every one!!!
Amongst all this hype no-one seems to realise or want to mention that the ratings for EPL is relatively tiny compared to Australian Football (AFL), League, Peppa Pig etc. I’m talking about average matches on Foxtel getting 20-30 k and big matches just 90-110 k, so am not sure how Optus are going to justify the expense.
And another thing – now all you need another set top box. How many is too many?
Pretty sure we will be getting every match, every round as it’s stated. Why so much crying? There’ going to be 10 subchannels which will allow multiple games to be simulcast all at once. There’s going to be one FTA game shown per week which is going to be huge after all these years. There should be so many different options on how to watch or stream via Chromecast etc like Netflix users already do with their ipads etc. As a long time Optus user I’m psyched for this deal and think it will be great for Football here in Australia. Optus will make this work, trust me. Cannot wait for unmetered streaming as well:) Very smart business move by Optus to steal A LOT of Telstra’s users which in the long run can only improve Optus having to improve on an already pretty good network.
It will be great. The only thing that could top it is if ‘Arry come back to manage Spurs again
So if it will be on Fetch, there are loads of companies offering Fetch like Dodo. Does that mean I don’t have to switch internet and phone provider to Optus to watch EPL? Eg. if I have Dodo, can I just upgrade to Fetch + EPL?