Pay-television broadcaster Star Times has acquired rights of the Canadian Premier League (CPL) in the sub-Saharan Africa region. The CPL 2020 matches would be covered which are taking place in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island under the ‘Island Games’ banner.
Star Times will air seven first-round matches, six play-off matches and the finals on its ST Sports Life Channel. The matches would also be covered on the StarTimes ON streaming service. The CPL features a number of players of African origin, including Forge FC’s Senegalese star Elimane Cissé, Valour FC’s Congolese international Bouka Moutu, and FC Edmonton’s Cameroonian player of the year Jeannot Esua.
The agreement was struck by Mediapro Canada, an arm of the international production and media-rights agency, which last year signed a long-term deal for the worldwide media rights to the CPL.
Last week, Mediapro Canada negotiated deals with Fox Sports in the US and 1Sports in the Indian subcontinent for the broadcast of the shortened CPL 2020. Fox Sports will show every match whereas 1Sports will be broadcasting the delayed fixtures due to the time lag and that will also be available to other countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
Mediapro Canada recently negotiated a broadcast deal with Canadian broadcaster CBC Sports for exclusive linear television rights in Canada to the 2020 CPL. All eight games will be will be produced by Mediapro.
Star Times also holds rights for UEFA European Champions League and Nations League competitions, England’s FA Cup and Community Shield, and Italy’s Coppa Italia. Earlier this month it finalised an agreement with LaLiga for French-language rights in sub-Saharan Africa to the top two tiers of Spanish football covering the 2020-21 to 2023-24 seasons.