Eleven Sports, the self-styled “Netflix for Sports” controlled by the Leeds United owner, Andrea Radrizzani, has saved its UK and Ireland operation from closure after reaching deals to offload the rights to Italy’s Serie A and continue coverage of Spain’s La Liga.
In December, it emerged that the service, which launched last summer, was facing the prospect of shutting its streaming operation in the UK and Ireland after being unable to attract enough subscribers. The company attempted to renegotiate rights deals at a much cheaper rate to try and avoid pulling the plug.
Eleven Sports has now concluded talks with IMG, which acts as the agent for Serie A rights, with the UK and Ireland rights for the Italian league to move to pay-TV operator Premier Sports from March until 2021. Premier Sports also picked up the rights to the Dutch Eredivisie and Chinese Super League from Eleven Sports.
Eleven Sports has also concluded a new agreement with La Liga giving it temporary breathing space to keep broadcasting matches in the UK and Ireland until the end of the season. In the summer, Eleven Sports will have to negotiate another deal with La Liga.
“Our priorities lie with our subscribers who we hope will experience minimal disruption as a result of these developments,” said an Eleven Sports spokesman. “The strategic direction we have chosen allows us to focus on La Liga which not only drives real value for us in the UK and Ireland but is also a property which we continue to have a valued partnership with in five markets globally.”
Eleven Sports said that as a result of the cutback in sports offered on its service existing and new subscribers will automatically see the price of its monthly pass reduced to £4.99 from 1 March. The company, which is thought to have attracted about 50,000 subscriptions since its UK and Ireland launch in August, was charging £5.99 a month.
A statement from Eleven Sports UK & Ireland 👇
— Eleven Sports (@ElevenSports_UK) January 30, 2019
If our subscribers have any further questions surrounding the service, please email us on: info@elevensports.uk pic.twitter.com/S37H3SZq1G
In November, Eleven Sports struck a deal with the Scottish broadcaster STV to show two live La Liga and Serie A matches a week through its online streaming service. In October, Eleven Sports was forced to stop its controversial practice of broadcasting European games on Saturday afternoons after pressure from football stakeholders.
Eleven Sports said that despite the setbacks it is still looking for new sports rights deals.
Endeavour, the Hollywood talent agency which owns Ultimate Fighting Championship, the increasingly popular mixed martial arts competition, and IMG hold a minority stake in Eleven Sports UK & Ireland. Eleven Sports, which also operates in markets including Poland and Portugal, is controlled via the holding company Aser, which in turn is controlled by Radrizzani.
Late last year, UFC opted to move back to previous rights holder BT with a new broadcast deal.
