China’s Suning secures EPL football rights with US$700 million deal

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Chinese retail group Suning has secured broadcasting rights for the English Premier League from 2019 to 2022.

Chinese online TV and video content provider PPTV, controlled by Suning, has agreed to broadcast the Premier League’s 380 matches each season from 2019 to 2022 in China in a 564 million British pounds (696 million US dollars) deal, according to Suning.

Photo: CFP

The price is about ten times higher than the 20 million US dollars Hong Kong-based Super Sports Media Group paid per season from 2010 to 2019.

PPTV has agreed to share some of the Premier League matches with free-to-air broadcasters in China, according to the Financial Times.

The Premier League's largest overseas TV rights deal is currently with US broadcaster NBC, which paid one billion US dollars for the privilege of showing English football’s top clubs from 2016 to 2022. NBC’s new agreement doubled its previous three-year 250 million US dollar contract.

Suning also has the live rights to broadcast games in China from Spain's La Liga, and owns a 70 percent stake in Italian football club Inter Milan.

PPTV press conference after acquiring live rights for games from Spain's La Liga in China. Photo: CFP

PPTV's entry into the Premier League broadcast rights market follows huge Chinese investment into English football clubs. Chinese investors hold interests in Manchester City, West Bromwich Albion, Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers. And Sino-Europe Sports, a Chinese investor group, is set to acquire A.C. Milan next month.

Chinese firms have spent lavishly this year on football clubs, players, and broadcasting rights in an effort to diversify their businesses, while audiences for Premier League football are growing strongly in China. English clubs see the world's second largest economy as a major growth market.