Less than a year after laying off several employees and refusing to pay rights fees for suspended sporting events, DAZN seems to be back on its feet financially. The streaming company has reportedly declined a $1.83 billion offer from Comcast’s Sky Sports to share Serie A broadcasting rights for the next three years — about $609 million per year. DAZN outbid Sky Sports to land a $2.96 billion deal for the rights in March.
Sky Sports was the exclusive streaming partner of Serie A for nearly 20 years. Its ten-figure offer to DAZN required keeping the DAZN app on its set-top box and satellite service. DAZN has successfully shifted its business strategy to a more global approach. Earlier this month, DAZN announced a five-year, $100 million deal with British boxing producer Matchroom as previously reported. Sky Sports had previously owned the rights for 27 years.
In November, DAZN began a partnership with BetMGM for 12 fights over 12 months. In August, it also agreed to a sub-licensing deal with Discovery to broadcast Bundesliga matches. The company is now reported to be engaged in The Premier League rights and taking the company public.
While DAZN has taken some of Sky’s rights, the English broadcaster has had a few wins of its own. Earlier this week, it advertised a four-year deal with Top Rank Boxing, per The Athletic. Along with BBC, Sky Sports signed a broadcast deal in March worth more than $11 million with the Football Association’s Women’s Super League to air on free network TV for the first time in history.
The recent rivalry between the two has opened an entirely new dimension in sports media. DAZN famously disregarded by traditional media is now mounting the biggest challenge to one of the UK’s oldest sports media dynasties. DAZN also recently took a massive step in the boxing arena by signing a deal with Matchroom.