The Political Economy of Football V2

Facebook has won the rights to screen La Liga matches across the Indian sub-continent. They will be free to view. The deal covers the next three seasons in India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives. La Liga hailed the deal as giving it greater reach in the sub-continent and in particular to Facebook's estimated 270m users in India. Facebook displaces Sony who reportedly paid a total of $32m between 2014 and 2018. It is thought that Facebook would pay between $10m and $20m. Facebook has recruited Peter Hutton from Eurosport to lead its live sports strategy. Facebook subsequently won a three year contract to show Champions League matches in Spanish speaking South America.

The Premier League has agreed its first broadcast deal with Facebook, which has won exclusive rights to show matches in parts of Asia from next year. The social media giant is understood to have beaten the television networks Bein Sports and Fox Sports Asia in the auction to gain live broadcast rights in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from next year until 2022 in a deal worth about £200m. Facebook's successful bid in Asia follows Amazon's breakthrough deal in Britain last month in which it gained the rights to broadcast 20 live matches a season from 2019-20. It is the latest indication of the Premier League's determination to appeal to streaming services as well as traditional broadcasters. The Premier League is also understood to have held talks with YouTube and Netflix over rights deals in several territories and believes that targeting technology companies is the best way to secure future revenue growth for the clubs. Amazon has ambitions to increase its offer...