Optus Sport Builds On Streaming Dominance In Australia With New EPL Exclusive Rights

Optus Sport has knocked out free to air broadcaster SBS to secure the exclusive rights to the English Premier League, with coverage to start this weekend.

For the first time, Optus Sport will become the exclusive home of every live match of the world’s most-watched football league after SBS failed to retain its rights to show one English Premier League match each round for the coming season.

The telecommunications giant swooped on rights to the EPL in late 2015 by successfully outbidding Fox Sports and has now amassed more than 700,000 active subscribers.

During last three seasons, Optus has slowly built up its European football offering, adding FIFA World Cup, Euros, Champions League, Europa League and Nations League rights.

“Having the Australian rights to show every single match of the Premier League exclusively live is an enormous opportunity for Optus Sport,” Optus’ Head of TV and Content, Corin Dimopoulos, said.

“Our suite of exclusively live premium sports content, which also includes the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, notably increases with the renewal of the Premier League this season.

This season’s Premier League on Optus Sport will be the first time globally that a 5G mobile network will be used to stream a live Premier League match to football fans.

“Making the Premier League available on Optus Sport through 5G is a world first,” Optus VP, TV, Content & Product Development, Clive Dickens said.

“This will be the first of many 5G initiatives we will take at Optus.”

Optus is now in the first year of its second EPL contract, with the rights reportedly costing Optus over $60 million each season and subscribers to the platform paying $14.99 per month for the service.

As of May 8, Optus’ streaming competitor, Kayo, had built up a paying subscriber base of 209,000 since it launched in November last year, with the basic subscription package costing customers $25 per month.

Kayo is due to release its latest subscriber numbers on Friday.