Saran Media, a leading sports media company, has announced two exclusive multi-year media rights deals for English soccer’s Premier League (EPL) and the FA Cup matches. These agreements cover several Eastern European and Central Asian territories.
The first deal is an extension of the existing EPL tie-up that covers Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The extended agreement will run from the 2025-26 season through to 2027-28.
Under the EPL agreement, Saran Media holds exclusive rights for live coverage, delayed broadcasts, highlights and clips across the aforementioned territories. The coverage will be available on various platforms including TV, online and mobile. This ongoing deal was initially struck by Saran in August 2021 for the 2022-25 cycle. According to GlobalData Sport estimates, this agreement is worth approximately $21 million.
New FA Cup deal
The second deal pertains to the FA Cup competition. This new agreement extends from the 2024-25 season through to the 2027-28 cycle across predominantly similar markets as covered by the EPL deal. However in this case Belarus is replaced by Ukraine with Czech Republic and Slovakia also included.
This latter contract has been agreed upon with England’s Football Association (FA). Last season's FA Cup was won by Manchester United with coverage provided across Eastern Europe and Central Asian countries by various broadcasters including Setanta Sports in Ukraine; TV Nova in Czech Republic; Slovakia among others.
In terms of recent deals beyond English football entities, Saran Media has also made significant strides. The company recently unveiled a five-year media rights management contract with French soccer's LFP body. As part of this arrangement, Saran will exclusively manage the media rights of top-tier Ligue 1 matches, second-tier Ligue 2 and the Trophee des Champions in 18 Central Asian and Eastern European markets from the beginning of the 2024-25 season through to 2028-29.
Global EPL media rights deals
The last significant EPL media rights deal, which also included FA Cup rights, was announced last week. Japanese streaming service U-Next secured these rights for the next seven seasons, running through to 2030-31.
Prior to this, a three-season tie-up was agreed upon with free-to-air broadcaster Syn in Iceland. This deal is set to commence in the year 2025.
These deals highlight Saran Media's commitment towards expanding its sports coverage across various territories and platforms. They also underscore the global appeal of English football leagues and competitions among sports fans and sports betting enthusiasts alike.
