Sporty TV Unveils Free-To-Air Sports Packages for Nigeria

At the beginning of October, Disney+ unlocked a major shift in South Africa’s sports broadcasting landscape by adding ESPN and ESPN2 live channels to its platform at no extra charge. This marks the first time a traditional live pay-TV sports channel is available locally via a provider other than DStv, signalling a new phase of competition in premium sports streaming The addition brings Disney+ South Africa in line with international markets and gives subscribers access to live coverage of major international leagues In 2024, MultiChoice responded to growing demand for flexible streaming options by launching a standalone Premier League plan on Showmax, priced at R69 at launch and now R99 per month. The package, now including selected PSL games, is available across Africa – a strategic move given that around 20% of global Premier League TV audiences on matchday come from Africa, according to league CEO Richard Masters Following the Canal+ takeover of MultiChoice, the combined group is expected to consolidate sports rights acquisitions across the continent. Their non-overlapping regional footprints mean they can pursue continental bids, an advantage in negotiations for competitions like the Premier League and UEFA Champions League The Times reported that Netflix is expected to bid for global rights to one UEFA Champions League match per round from the 2027/28 season. Amazon Prime Video already holds similar rights in Europe UEFA is restructuring its rights model and is targeting at least a 10% revenue increase, with streaming platforms playing a central role in that growth The Premier League’s current broadcast contracts run until the 2028/29 season. Insiders suggest that the league is exploring a direct-to-consumer subscription model, but any move will need to balance against the £13 billion it currently earns from traditional rights deals In preparation, the league will bring Premier League Studios in-house from next season, ending its long-standing partnership with IMG. This production unit supplies the 24-hour Premier League TV world feed used by broadcasters such as SuperSport

Bahrain Sports Channel Prepares for Historic Asian Games Coverage Media Committee – Asian Youth Games 2025: As the Kingdom of Bahrain gears up to host the Asian Youth Games from October 22 to 31, 2025, Mr. Ali Hussain, Director of Sports Media, has confirmed that Bahrain Sports Channel will take on the monumental task of broadcasting the largest sporting event in the history of Bahrain. He emphasized that the coverage will be comprehensive and unprecedented in both scale and content. Hussain stated that television broadcasting will be the backbone of the media coverage, explaining, “Both Bahrain Sports Channel One and Two will broadcast the events live every day. We have allocated seven live broadcasts daily to cover 26 sports throughout the competition, featuring both men’s and women’s categories.” He added that the plan includes live coverage of more than 145 competitions across various media platforms, reflecting the significant efforts made to showcase this continental event in a manner befitting Bahrain’s stature. The Director of Sports Media also noted that the coverage will not be limited to live broadcasts; it will include both live and recorded programs to enhance audience engagement. “Daily morning and evening studios will be aired to keep pace with the tournament’s developments, highlighting key results and analyses with contributions from a select group of experts, stars, and sporting champions. Additionally, recorded programs will showcase behind-the-scenes footage, fan voices, and highlight the most memorable moments from the competitions.” He confirmed that all finals, along with the opening and closing ceremonies, will be broadcast live across Bahrain Sports Channels. He added, “The broadcasting plan has been developed according to the highest standards of professional excellence, utilizing all available human and technical resources. Daily reports and highlights will be aired throughout the day to ensure comprehensive coverage of the tournament in every Bahraini home" #Bahrain #BAYG #AsianGames #OCA #BahrainOlympic #BOC #Bahrain2025 

Geo-Blocked Sports Content: The Global Entertainment Industry Challenge Geographic content restrictions continue to create significant barriers for international audiences seeking access to premium sports entertainment, highlighting the complex relationship between licensing agreements and consumer access. Market Impact Analysis: ❌ "Content not available in your region," limiting audience reach ❌ Fans are missing critical games due to territorial broadcasting rights ❌ Expensive cable package requirements are creating consumer friction ❌ Limited local streaming options are reducing market penetration ❌ International viewers excluded from major sporting events ❌ Premium content accessibility gaps in emerging markets ❌ Corporate clients are unable to access global sports content for hospitality ❌ Educational institutions are restricted from international sports research content ❌ Tourism industry is missing opportunities for location-based sports viewing ❌ Broadcasting revenue losses from geo-restriction and consumer abandonment ❌ Brand sponsorship visibility is limited by regional content barriers Business Implications: Organizations in hospitality, entertainment, and international business sectors require reliable solutions for accessing global sports content to serve diverse clientele and maintain competitive service offerings. ExtremeVPN provides enterprise-grade streaming solutions enabling businesses to deliver comprehensive sports entertainment experiences regardless of geographic limitations. The future of sports broadcasting must balance territorial licensing with global audience accessibility demands. #Sports #Streaming #GlobalBusiness

⚽The way fans are engaging with sports is leading to a new business model that allows buyers and federations to maximise the value of produced content, which is now layered instead of universal. 💰Sports rights fragmentation is transforming from a challenge to an opportunity for a healthier, more dynamic, and inclusive sports media ecosystem. Our latest research shows an interesting pattern in sports rights deals in 2024. Approximately 2% of all deals have transitioned from traditional broadcasters to newer platforms like streaming services and D2C offerings, a movement that is rapidly accelerating. 📈This has led to platforms like YouTube securing more sports rights than any other single outlet in many territories, particularly within Tier 2 and Tier 3 sports. Read more in the article at SVG Europe to understand how this evolution is creating new commercial potential and leveling the playing field for smaller federations. 👇

Saudi Pro League (SPL) League media rights surge 20% — a new era of global reach 🇸🇦 The Saudi Pro League (SPL) has announced a 20% uplift in global media rights revenue across the last two seasons, with coverage now stretching to 180+ territories for the 2024-25 campaign. 👉 Subscribe to the 365247 Newsletter for Daily Insights: https://lnkd.in/e7_e_qSz 📊 Regional performance: Asia: +35% — new deals with SPOTV (SE Asia), FanCode (India), Begin (Pakistan) Americas: +32% — major partnerships with Globo (Brazil) and FOX Sports (US) Africa: +25% — coverage powered by ESPN Africa The SPL now claims it engaged 230 million fans worldwide in 2024-25. Alongside long-term broadcast agreements, the league has doubled down on short-form digital content, with highlights and clips distributed across YouTube, OneFootball, and DAZN — tapping into how Gen Z and millennial fans consume sport. Behind the scenes, rights are managed by IMG, which renewed its SPL distribution deal in August for another four-year cycle. The result: 2023-24: SPL games aired in 160 countries on 40 platforms 2024-25: Expanded to 184 countries on 43+ platforms across six continents 💡 Why this matters - From domestic to global: The SPL is no longer just a regional league; it’s building the infrastructure to be a global entertainment property. - Investor confidence: Long-term deals show broadcasters believe the SPL can sustain its momentum beyond big-name signings. - Content strategy shift: The emphasis on highlights shows the league understands that reach = relevance in today’s digital-first sports economy. - Benchmarking Europe: While not yet at Premier League levels, the SPL is carving out space in the global football economy faster than expected. The big question: Can the Saudi Pro League convert global visibility into long-term fan loyalty and commercial sustainability? 📖 Read the full article here at 365247 Media: https://lnkd.in/e3HYg9m6 Credit: Sportcal (Read the Original Article: https://lnkd.in/ekKCw9mP) 🫵 For Brands, Businesses and Services, feature in our posts: https://lnkd.in/egP62YtG #SaudiProLeague #SportsBusiness #MediaRights #FootballBusiness #GlobalFootball #SportsMarketing #IMG #FanEngagement

I've been reading this new Leaders Report on alt-casts in sports from Genius Sports, and honestly? It's got me thinking about how much has changed in just the past few years. Remember when watching a game meant one broadcast, one commentary team, one perspective? That's basically over now. From Formula 1 creating kid-friendly streams to CazéTV in Brazil, we're seeing sports coverage split into all these different versions, each focuses on a specific audience. CazéTV and the ManningCast in the National Football League (NFL) prove the same point from different sides of the world: when you localize your storytelling and make it community-driven, you don't just reach more people, you reach them in a way that actually matters for them. As someone who studies sports comm, what strikes me most is how this isn't just about giving people options. It's about, in theory, letting fans participate in the narrative. They're not just watching anymore, they're part of the story. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝗯𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱: this shift also raises some questions. Are we fragmenting audiences so much that we're losing shared cultural moments? When everyone's watching a different version of the same game, do we lose something in translation? And there's the access issue, not everyone can afford streaming subscriptions or has the bandwidth to choose between different broadcasts. The "democratization" of content can sometimes mask new forms of exclusion. Plus, when independent creators and alt-casts depend on platform algorithms and ad revenue, how sustainable is this? We've seen YouTube and social media change their rules overnight. What happens to these voices when the algorithm shifts? The wildest part? This isn't just big media companies anymore. Individual creators are doing this too. I support Cruzeiro Esporte Clube - SAF in Brazil, and we have the case of Samuel Venâncio, who spent years as a traditional sports reporter at Grupo Itatiaia, then launched Samuca TV and built his own thing, commentary, stories, direct connection to fans. No corporate backing. Same with independent channels covering Brazilian clubs like Clube Atlético Mineiro, Cruzeiro, Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, Clube de Regatas do Flamengo and so on. They're competing with (and sometimes beating) traditional outlets because they have something money can't buy: a more genuine voice and trust. Though I wonder: as these independent voices grow, will they face the same pressures that traditional media did? The need to scale, monetize, professionalize , does that eventually erode the authenticity that made them special in the first place? And I think that's where the most interesting work is happening right now, even if we're still figuring out what it all means. What do you think? Is this the future we want, or are we trading one set of problems for another? #SportsMedia #AltCast #SportsCommunication #MediaInnovation #FanEngagement #SportsMarketing

Friday musings: Is your sports streaming experience really cutting it? The lack of business model innovation means, for the most part, it still feels more like a TV channel with a ⏯️ button! We’ve reached a plateau in the streaming business model. We pay decent money, yet our live sports experiences are still linear, and enable near zero interaction. All the while, most sports streaming aggregators are bleeding money and the e-sports industry paves the way for what is possible for fan UX in this decade. It still feels absurd that: The incentives are broken: Player wages in elite sports now rival small nations' GDPs, yet many clubs, the huge competitions and the Leagues themselves face financial and infrastructure costs limits that threaten the whole market. The model is inequitable and feels unsustainable. The Real Prize? Fans want to be close to the super clubs and the celebrity players they adore and without the League/Competition/Codes — the entities that organizes the schedule, manages fairness, and create the recurring, emotional tension; there is no fabric of sport or sense of competition. These entities are the next most critical rung, the lynchpin that ties the entire ecosystem to its value. We need to empower them to do more. The closeness is prevented because the user is still passive: We still can’t use our collective fan power to vote in real-time on the camera angle, content decision, or on-field statistic we want to see next. We can't even buy merch that we see and love with one click. We still (mostly) just... watch - but unlike previous generations, this simply isn’t the modern UX that fans demand. At Rilla, our mission isn't just to cut content distribution costs; it's to help fix the business model that sustains the fabric of sport from grassroots to elite. The future of live media requires a model where the distribution of content is cheaper, the quality is solid and the means to recognise and distribute the value is decentralised at almost zero marginal cost. This will allow the Leagues and rights holders to enable standards across all clubs, cut their distribution overhead, and allow the redistribution of that value equitably to the entire ecosystem bottom to top. We can move beyond the "eyeballs for cash" model and build an infrastructure scalable enough for the intelligently streamed and interactive future that fans crave. The question to the Sports-Games industry: If reducing your content distribution costs by a massive factor and opening up interactive community connectivity meant you could re-invest directly into better fan experiences, grass roots development, league or competition stability—would you make the jump? We are betting on it. 🙏🏼 #SportsTech #FutureOfStreaming #Fandom #Leagues #therillamovement

European football needs as much brand outreach as it needs subscribers. Following YouTube’s great experiment with the National Football League (NFL) in September, which league will be the first to create an eventful free-to-air game in partnership with a broadcaster? The Christmas NFL games on Netflix also come to mind. I venture that the UEFA and Relevent, currently making their sales pitch to the market for Champions League rights from 2027, will consider very closely the option of licencing one game per year as an event to a free-to-air operator or to Netflix. Speaking with football leagues about broadcasting, I often note a focus on subscription. Probably rightly so, because pay-TV and SVOD have been the main revenue source of the industry for decades. However I rarely hear about brand reach. Subscription services monetise the core fan base, but like any brand, leagues must also think of their halo, that is ‘light buyers’ who may buy into the brand only occasionally. Studies upon studies show that strong brands (ie with a high segment market share) are so because they invest steadily in advertising (read Byron Sharp). For football leagues, this means showing games on free access media. Of course, many leagues and their broadcasters put highlights on YouTube. But there is an argument for a stronger presence in the FTA space. I am thrilled to see what the Champions League may do. France’s Ligue 1, now directly distributing eight out of nine weekly games, has the freedom to experiment. My big favourite would be a free TV broadcast of the first Paris derby when PSG will play against the newly promoted Paris FC on 4 January. In a stagnant market, invest long-term in your brand’s reach. Who will try first? #football #streaming #FTAtv

They didn’t just buy content. They bought control. Earlier this year, PIF’s sports investment arm, SURJ Sports, took a minority stake in DAZN, the global sports streaming platform. That shift means Saudi is no longer just licensing rights, it is becoming a streaming owner. DAZN is recognized for its dominance in sports rights, live streaming, and hybrid subscription plus ad models worldwide. SURJ is PIF’s vehicle for sports and media investments. With this stake, Saudi is entering the value chain at the platform layer: not just the licensing layer. This matters because in streaming, contracts alone don’t guarantee outcomes. You might outbid everyone for rights, but if your tech stack is incapable of enforcing blackout windows or switching regions on the fly, the value of those rights evaporates. I see three red flags most platforms overlook: 1. Geo-swap enforcement: instant entitlement checks when users change locations. 2. Layered rights stacking: sports rights mixed with VOD, highlights, or multi-country clips. 3. Blackout logic under load: enforcing conditions correctly during peak matches. Because matches get emotional. Fans remember if a blackout fails or a stream lags. If your system cannot handle territorial swaps, windowed release rules, live stream blackouts, or regional licensing edge cases, the deal you signed becomes meaningless. Your rights strategy is your tech strategy. And in streaming, it is the code you ship that decides whether fans stay loyal or leave for the next platform.

Artificial Intelligence boost for sports commentary Al Borshid: Unprecedented readiness for AYG broadcasting Media Committee – Asian Youth Games 2025: Ibrahim Abdullah Al Borshid, Director of Broadcasting and External Transmission at the Ministry of Information and Executive Committee member, has announced that the technical preparations for the third Asian Youth Games (AYG), set to take place in the Kingdom of Bahrain from October 22 to 31, 2025, have reached an unprecedented level of readiness. The sports venues hosting the competitions are being equipped with the latest global broadcasting technologies, ensuring a viewing experience that rivals major international championships. Al Borshid emphasized that the team has relied on a blend of international expertise and Bahraini talents to deliver a comprehensive broadcasting experience that showcases the Kingdom's capability to host major sporting events with high efficiency. In a pioneering move, Al Borshid highlighted that, for the first time in Bahrain, sports commentary using artificial intelligence technologies will be tested for some competitions, reflecting the adoption of the latest innovations in the media sector. He added, "All sporting events of the championship will be broadcast live, including the opening and closing ceremonies, from an International Broadcasting Center equipped with cutting-edge technology. There will also be simultaneous broadcasting across multiple platforms, including satellite and digital broadcasting using the SRT protocol, among other modern media." Al Borshid also revealed the establishment of a International Broadcasting Center (IBC), ensuring that all technical and service needs are met to facilitate smooth and professional operations for journalists. In an effort to enhance international cooperation and knowledge transfer, contracts have been signed with international broadcasting companies, involving Bahraini engineers in the technical operations to benefit from global expertise and develop national competencies in this vital field. #Bahrain #BAYG #AsianGames #OCA #BahrainOlympic #BOC #Bahrain2025