Industry Shorts: Premier League, Fanatics, Leyton Orient
The Premier League will return to free-to-air this month after scrapping its controversial move to screening games on pay-per-view platforms.
The league has confirmed that all fixtures from Saturday 21st November through to the end of the Christmas and new year period will be available to fans via its four broadcast partners, Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon and the BBC.
According to the league, the agreement will be reviewed in the new year following consultation with clubs and broadcast partners, and will take into account any decisions made by the government to allow fans back into stadiums.
Fanatics has appointed Younes Latayi as its new Licensing Director to manage the company’s growing international partner portfolio.
Latayi joins from Nike, where managed the brand’s relationship with the French Football Federation and PSG. In his new role, where he will be based in Europe and report to SVP, Business Affairs, Vicky Picca, Latayi will be responsible for driving Fanatics’ international licensing strategy, working day-to-day with existing partners across several global leagues and properties to maximise their online and offline commerce offerings.
The news comes after Fanatics’ recent deal with PSG, which will see Fanatics operate the club’s e-commerce business.
Leyton Orient has announced a new partnership with YouTube group Sidemen, which will become an Official Partner of the League Two club.
Sidemen, which was founded by a group of YouTubers including KSI, Miniminter and in 2013, have created a number of YouTube channels which are followed by over 15 million people, having amassed more than 26 billion views combined.
As part of the deal, the group’s apparel brand, Sidemen Clothing, will be shown on-screen during the pre-match show on Orient’s streaming service.
IMG ARENA has expanded its long-term deal with the World Snooker Tour (WST) which covers live streaming rights for the betting industry.
The deal will grow the number of WST tour matches and tournaments streamed on the platform, with the rights holder having successfully staged 20 events across a truncated 2020 season.
Sky Sports picked up the rights to screen the British Basketball League in a two-year agreement which will see the broadcaster air 30 live games per season.
As part of the agreement, Sky will screen both the men’s and women’s finals including BBL Trophy Final, BBL Cup Final and the BBL Playoffs, as well as a double header live from the Eagles Community Arena on 3rd December to kick-start the coverage.
Sky’s coverage will include analysis from Kieron Achara, who was part of the London 2012 Olympics Basketball squad, and current Newcastle Eagles star Drew Lasker.
