- Gazprom-owned network also has rights to Russian Premier league and Bundesliga
- Details of Match TV’s FTA coverage to be confirmed closer to start of contract
Gazprom-backed sports network Match TV has agreed a long-term broadcast partnership with the Premier League which kicks in for the start of the 2022/23 season.
Covering linear, as well as digital broadcast, the deal secures rights to all matches from English soccer’s top flight and, according to reports in Russia, will run for six seasons.
Match TV previously held the Russian rights to the Premier League but lost out on the contract to national digital giant Rambler ahead of the 2019/20 season. Rambler, which airs the Premier League on its Okko Sport streaming platform, is entering the last year of its deal.
For Match TV, the Premier League adds to a soccer portfolio which includes the domestic top-flight Russian Premier League, the Bundesliga from Germany, as well as Uefa’s elite European club competitions, the Champions League and Europa League.
Alexander Tashchin, Match TV’s editor-incChief, said that details around the network’s Premier League coverage would be revealed closer to the start of the 2022/23 season.
“The question regarding the English Premier League on national free-to-air is perhaps the most frequent one that has been on everyone’s lips lately,” he said. “We still have almost a year to come up to showing, probably, the best championship in the world fully equipped.”
For the Premier League, it adds another closed deal to overseas sales process after agreeing a three-year extension with Cypriot pay-TV provider Cyta and a Balkan rights deal with Telekom Srbija-owned Arena Sport.
Match TV has agreed a long-term broadcast partnership with the Premier League
