The Japanese streaming network, Abema has announced that it will telecast 114 live matches from the English Premier League during the upcoming 2022-23 season under a sublicensing contract with SPOTV Now, the master rights-holder in the market.
It is also acknowledged that discussions are also currently in progress between SPOTV and DAZN, Japan’s former Premier League rights holder.
Abema further mentioned its coverage will concentrate on games involving the Premier League’s two Japanese players, Arsenal‘s Takehiro Tomiyasu and Brighton‘s Kaoru Mitoma, as well as matches involving the league’s top teams.
Some matches, according to Abema, will be free, whilst others require payment. According to the Japanese news service Nikkei, 57 matches will be for free, including all of Tomiyasu’s Arsenal matches. The remaining 57 will be accessible through Abema Premium, which costs $7 (€6.80) per month.
SPOTV procured Premier League rights in Japan in a groundbreaking three-season contract that spans 2022-23 to 2024-25. SPOTV, which is owned by the South Korean firm Eclat Media Group, was a surprise winner of the rights; previously, it had a small position in the marketplace, with an asset allocation concentrated on Major League Baseball (MLB). The Premier League deal saw it outbid market leader DAZN for one of the latter platform’s most important assets. To obtain the rights, SPOTV paid a significant increase in the rights fee.
The Premier League arrangement is Abema’s second major football rights deal this year, following an agreement for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Abema will provide free live coverage of all 64 World Cup matches, as well as highlights. This means that Abema will cover Japan’s initiative at the competitions after the national team qualified through the Asian Qualifiers competition in late March. Abema’s World Cup highlights coverage will include a function that permits audiences to choose the camera angle from which they will view the action.
At the time of the World Cup deal, Susumu Fujita, President of parent company AbemaTV, said, “With CyberAgent’s purpose ‘to break through stagnation with new power and the internet’, we hope to energise Japan, that is amid the continuing effects of the COVID-19 [pandemic] through Abema. We will seize this opportunity and prepare to provide everyone with the best viewing experience in all aspects, including technology and content.”
The Premier League agreement expands on Abema and SPOTV’s existing partnership. For the last two seasons, Abema has sublicensed MLB rights from SPOTV. Last season, Abema broadcast 166 regular-season matches live. This season, the agreement contains 324 games. The matches are obtainable to audiences for a fee. Weekly highlights and discussion show for Japanese MLB viewers is also produced and broadcasted by Abema and SPOTV.