English Premier League retains Stan in $800 million rights deal

Streaming service Nine Stan has extended its agreement with the English Premier League to continue broadcasting the world’s most popular sports league until 2034.

The media group did not disclose commercial details of the deal when it announced the extension on Thursday morning, although it is expected to be worth about $800 million over the full six years.

Now in its second season of Stan, after Nine agreed to take over the current broadcast deal from telecoms provider Optus, the Premier League has achieved 50 per cent growth in subscribers at the Sports level, the company said. More games could be shown on free-to-air TV, Nine said in a statement, and it plans to promote the game through its other media assets, including its recently acquired outdoor media and QMS billboards.

Optus shuttered its sports service when it divested itself of a number of sports rights, including the Premier League, last year. It currently subsidizes the annual fees paid to the Premier League. Nine will pay in full for the new six-year deal, which will cost almost the same per year as they agreed to pay the NRL in the recent broadcast deal signed in June.

Nine is currently paying the Premier League around $60 million, with Optus paying the rest as part of the deal until 2025. The company said the cost of the first year of the new deal will be largely similar to the cost of the final year of its current deal in fiscal 2028, which is estimated to be about $120 million, and will increase at a 3 percent annual rate thereafter.

The Premier League has been a game changer for Stan and the company is delighted to extend its partnership until the mid-2030s, Nine boss Matt Stanton said.

“This is at the core of our premium content strategy,” Stanton said.

“This agreement further strengthens Nine’s premium sports offering alongside the NRL and NRLW, all four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the Olympics, rugby union, NBL and WNBL, netball and more.”

“Collectively, these partnerships reflect Nine’s long-term strategy to invest in premium live sports and deliver the sporting moments that matter most to Australians.”

The cost of sports rights has risen sharply over the past decade. While the annual value of this deal is not a dramatic increase over the current annual terms received by the Premier League, the AFL and NRL rights deals agreed in recent years have risen significantly.

The terms of Foxtel’s new rights deal with the NRL will be double current costs. Media companies such as Foxtel and Stan have increased subscription prices to offset some of the cost of broadcasting rights. After Nine won the rights to broadcast the Premier League last year, it raised its monthly subscription price to Sports by $5.

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