Finally, Facebook has decided to foray into the online sports streaming services. The good start will begin with live streaming of Spain’s top football league in the Asian subcontinent. The move will steps up a challenge to traditional broadcasters for the world’s most popular sports.
Facebook's foray into sports streaming began in 2017 when it started airing weekly Major League Baseball games in the US. But this latest deal is its first direct deal with a major football league.
Facebook wants to be a serious player in world sport to get users spending more time on its platform. Earlier this year, it hired Eurosport Chief Executive Officer to help it broker worldwide live-streaming deals. Last year, Facebook bid $600 million to stream Indian cricket but lost to Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc.
Facebook is going to live stream the matches from Spain’s football division La Liga in the Asian subcontinent for free so that viewers in India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan will be able to watch every game over the next three seasons. Moreover, it’s going to be a free-to-air service in such an important territory where football craze is increasing like anything.
Facebook Inc. has signed up a three-year agreement and their core objective is to offer content to the widest audience possible. Facebook is the world’s largest social media platform and it has a vast user base of around 270 million people in Indian itself, so partnering with La Liga will really make sense for both the parties.
This weekend in the U.K., Facebook will show a match each from La Liga and Italy’s Serie A under a deal with the sports broadcaster and rights holder Eleven Sports. The Italian match is scheduled to be superstar Cristiano Ronaldo’s debut in Italian soccer with his new club Juventus.
Sony, which reportedly paid $32 million (€28 million) for rights between 2014 and 2018, gave up broadcasting rights after Facebook's pitch. Several tech groups have secured rights for various sports in a bit to keep young viewers on their platform. Earlier this year, Amazon has acquired rights for 20 premier league matches a season from 2019 in Britain.
According to the Reuters, Facebook was interested in making further sports streaming acquisitions. Last year, it bid $600 million for Indian cricket rights but was trumped by Century Fox Inc.
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