David Farnor | On 13, Jul 2018

Sports streaming service Eleven Sports has snapped up the UK rights to Serie A and LaLiga football, ahead of its launch this summer.

Eleven Sports is teaming up with IMG in the UK and Ireland to launch two sports channels that will include live and exclusive rights from the Spanish and Italian leagues.

The over-the-top sports platform first launched three years ago and is now preparing to take on Sky and BT Sport in the competitive British landscape. Indeed, Amazon, is entering the sporting arena too, with the recent acquisition of Premier League football matches and ATP tennis. While most competition in the UK focuses on the Premier and Championship League, though, Eleven Sports is eyeing up specifically international football.

Eleven Sports has secured Serie A on a three-year agreement starting with the upcoming 2018/19 season and a three-season agreement for LaLiga. That means Eleven Sports will be the only place where fans can watch every game from two of Europe’s best leagues, including every league game featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, following his recent transfer to Juventus.

IMG’s experience and expertise in global media rights and broadcast production will provide strong backing for Eleven’s offer in the UK and Ireland.

“The partnership with IMG strengthens Eleven Sports’ position as a major player in the UK and Ireland.” says Marc Watson, Executive Chairman and Group CEO. “IMG adds significant resources to our operations and they will contribute greatly to our innovative way of delivering more contemporary sports coverage that appeals to today’s audience.”

“We are excited about this new partnership and the launch of the two new sports channels in the UK and Ireland,” adds Adam Kelly, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales, IMG Media. “Eleven has shown, in a relatively short time, they are an innovative and creative company and we believe our vast experience and knowledge of the sports media rights business, alongside our production expertise will play an important part in making these two new channels a big success in the UK and Ireland. Going direct to consumer is a natural evolution of our overall business and very much part of our strategy to search for new commercial avenues for our clients.”

Eleven Sports 1 will be 100 per cent football showcasing some of the biggest leagues, best teams and leading players; and Eleven Sports 2 will provide live premium fight sports, Esports and extreme sports, plus football overspill from Eleven Sports 1. IMG will produce the output for both channels from its HQ at Stockley Park.

Four live Event channels that ‘pop up’ to prevent schedule clashes and enabling fans to access several simultaneous matches at one time will also be utilised. Fans will also have access to LaLigaTV, the league’s own 24/7 in-house channel, which features documentaries, magazine shows and other exclusive LaLiga content, giving fans behind-the-scenes access and insight.

The services will be available on Eleven’s soon-to-be-launched online streaming platform, with pricing and device compatibility to be announced soon.

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