Premier League extends Middle East TV deal, overseas media rights value up 27%
BeIN Sports has extended its deal for the Premier League's live TV rights in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), boosting the league's overseas media income and stalling Saudi Arabian hopes of creating a domestic rival to the Qatari broadcaster.
The new three-year deal runs from next season through until the end of 2027-28 and is worth approximately £550million ($742.3m), a 10 per cent uplift on the previous three-year cycle.
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'This renewal not only signifies our enduring commitment to providing the highest quality sports content on beIN Sports and reinforces our leading position in the region, but also demonstrates the trust that the Premier League has in us,' said beIN MENA CEO Mohammad Al-Subaie in a press release.
BeIN has been the Premier League's media partner in the 24 MENA countries since 2013, a partnership that has benefited both parties despite Saudi attempts to break the Qatari firm's hold over the region. Between 2017 and 2019, a state-backed digital piracy operation called beoutQ stole beIN's feed in Saudi Arabia, and beIN was then banned in the kingdom until late 2021.
That dispute was part of a wider diplomatic and economic stand-off between Qatar and its much bigger neighbour. And while relations between the pair have greatly improved, Saudi Arabia is still unhappy that the dominant entertainment and sports group in the Gulf is Qatari, not Saudi.
Initially, it seemed that the price of peace for Qatar might be a Saudi takeover of the Doha-based group but arguments over compensation for the beoutQ piracy and the value of beIN meant those talks went nowhere. And more recently, Saudi Arabia appears to have pivoted to a strategy of creating a beIN rival via a joint venture with global sports streaming platform DAZN.
The uncertainty created by these moves is probably the main reason why it has taken the Premier League so long to renew its deal with beIN, as an outline agreement was reached two years ago.
Whatever the reason, both beIN and the Premier League should be pretty happy with the deal, as the former gets 380 live games a season for its various channels, as well as highlights, interviews and access for its content, while the league gets a small, real-term financial increase at a time when most of its rivals are standing still or retreating.
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Overall, the total value of the Premier League's overseas media rights deals is up 27 per cent, largely thanks to huge increases in its Chinese, Thai and U.S. deals. When combined with the new four-year domestic deals with the BBC, Sky Sports and TNT Sports, the league will earn £12.25billion ($16.55bn) in rights payments over the next three years.
'We look forward to continuing our close collaboration on a variety of content and promotional initiatives, bringing the Premier League even closer to our passionate fans in this important region,' said Premier League chief media officer Paul Molnar.
Confirmation of the deal comes only two weeks after the league's clubs were told at their annual general meeting that domestic viewing figures for the competition dipped last season. They will be hoping that was due to an unusual lack of jeopardy at either end of the table, as opposed to evidence of any deeper waning in public interest.
(Top image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)
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