Telstra to stream A-League football matches in FFA mobile deal
Telstra has secured the live mobile rights for football until 2023 in a sub-licence deal with Fox Sports and the Football Federation of Australia (FFA). The agreement includes live streaming of the Hyundai A-League and select Westfield W-League, FFA Cup and National Team games.
The deal comes at a time when sports rights are being seen as increasingly important for telcos competing in a fiercely contested market. Rival Optus has seen subscriber numbers bounce as a result of securing the local rights for the English Premier League.
Telstra CMO Joe Pollard: Sport is important for attracting mobile phone subscribers
Optus first snatched the broadcast and digital rights for the EPL from Fox Sports in 2015. Initially, it won the rights to 380 games from August, 2016. At the time, CEO Allen Lew said the move was central to the telco’s transformation towards becoming a content platform.
In recent times, new competitors such as Ovo have appeared offering sports and family content as part of their services. Yesterday the startup appointed former Pandora and WooliesX marketing boss, Nicole McInnes as its first marketing director.
At the beginning of the month, Optus renewed its deal with EPL and made coverage available to the general public. Telstra will also be making its coverage available beyond its network with Live Passes available for between $4.99 per week or $99.99 per year.
Telstra’s deal is a sub-licensing agreement with Fox Sports – who won the master rights to FFA games as part of a $346m deal signed in December 2016 – and will see the telco stream Australian soccer games including national matches, the A-League and selected W-League games.
For Telstra, the FFA deal rounds out similar offerings from the AFL and NRL as sports content becomes increasingly important to telcos fighting over a largely static marketplace.
Joe Pollard, Telstra’s group executive of media and chief marketing officer acknowledged the importance of sport in retaining customers, saying: “It’s incredibly important. I think the fact we now have the relationship with the FFA gives us a new world of sport and it’s one of the main differentiators for customers.
“We will have a five-year deal which will see Telstra partner with the FFA to bring all the A-league games livecast and data-free for mobile. We’ll also be partnering with the FFA to develop a new app that will be built and managed by Telstra.
“As a mobile customer of Telstra, you’ll be able to get the games livecast and data-free as part of your mobile plan.
“We offer live streaming of every game of the AFL, AFLW, NRL and Netball seasons, on the leading mobile network in the country – and football is now joining the family. Adding the My Football Live App gives our customers a summer offering to complement the existing AFL, AFLW, NRL and Netball Live apps that are created by Telstra,” she said.
“We are enhancing the sports experience and shaping the way Australians are consuming sport. Customers now expect always-on ease of access, and deeper engagement with the game through their mobile devices, and we’re seeing strong continued growth of live streaming in 2018,” concluded Pollard.
FYI, there is no such thing as Football Federation of Australia games, so Telstra can’t really stream them. What Telstra has gotten the rights to are A-League games, as well as some W-League, FFA Cup and international fixtures.
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Hi ‘Sub’,
Thanks for flagging. I have clarified in the copy – although if you spot anything else, do let me know.
Many thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
Joe – can you get the Super Rugby now?
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