Nigerian partnership another boost for Premier League

22 November 2009 | By Adam Fraser

Contract summary

Length of contract: 3 years
Annualised value: US$30 million
Overall value: US$90 million

Nigerian television broadcaster HiTV has tripled the amount it will pay for Premier League soccer rights for the next three-year cycle, in another big boost for the league's leading clubs.

The Premier League's multi-billion dollar television revenue streams have continued to rise for the current cycle, and the agreement is no surprise.

The rights have been an ever-more lucrative revenue stream for England's top clubs. Last year, Manchester United and Liverpool topped the list of earnings, with the Premier League champions collecting UK£51.5 million. Liverpool also broke the UK£50 million mark, albeit narrowly, collecting UK£50.1 million.

HiTV, which previously showed 80 per cent of the games shown in Nigeria, will now have exclusivity in the country. HiTV paid around US$28 million for the previous three-year package.

"The Premier League did not break up the rights into two separate packages this time around," said Olumide Amure, the broadcaster's chief operating officer. "All the matches were bundled into one package which HiTV won. As such, HiTV now owns 100 per cent of the rights."

He added: "HiTV subscribers who continue to pay their subscriptions should be on the lookout for more value added services such as mobile downloads, opportunities to watch the matches on the internet, travel to watch their teams play live in stadiums, visit their team's dressing room and even have interviews with their favourite players."

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