Sina, Tencent and LeTV claim Premier League rights deals

Chinese internet operators Sina and Tencent and digital media company LeTV Sports have secured digital broadcast rights to the English Premier League for the 2015-16 season. 

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but an insider said each of the three Chinese companies offered a price over 110 million yuan ($18 million).

On July 10, Sina, the previous exclusive digital broadcast rights owner of the EPL bar last season, and Tencent, owner of NBA’s exclusive digital broadcast rights for the next five years, both announced bagging digital broadcast rights of the EPL for 2015/16 season. On July 12, Lei Zhenjian, CEO of LeTV Sports, also announced through social network that LeTV Sports would continue providing live-streaming services of the EPL to Chinese football fans for 2015/16 season.

According to sources, there are at least four Chinese companies bidding for digital rights to Premier League, and three of which were selected to have the rights at last. 

The $18 million (110 million yuan) rights fee was an increase more than 40 million yuan compared to 11 million US dollars last year when only two Chinese media companies (LeTV Sports and PPTV) paid top dollar to get non-exclusive broadcast rights of the EPL.