DAZN is a streaming service operating globally and focused solely on live sports. The core of the DAZN offering is boxing events, documentaries and top football leagues like Serie A, La Liga, and in some countries, Premier League.
The international operator is moving aggressively, trying to acquire TV rights for the best football leagues. Recently, Spanish La Liga granted domestic TV rights to DAZN and Movistar for 4.95 billion euros. It is a five-year deal and the highest so far. TV rights for the Spanish top-tier football league games will be split between TV broadcast and DAZN streaming services.
Both will have exclusive rights to five games per week, except for the three weeks when Movistar has all the rights. The overall number of pay TV subscribers for the football channels fell from 4 million to 2.5 million in the last five years.
It is a bit of a surprise that the new TV rights deal is higher than the previous one, knowing that Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 all had reduced contracts for upcoming TV rights. But everyone knows the power of football. It’s a sport that will undoubtedly bring spectators to your platform. As fans buy Premier League tickets to see their favourite teams in-person, broadcasters know millions will be viewing from home.
Going to Premier League
Aside from the new TV deal for La Liga, DAZN is actively pursuing Premier League TV rights. In 2021 England’s top flight football league extended TV broadcasting rights on the same terms without losing revenue, making it the perfect target for new broadcasting rights.
The English league has huge investments in the clubs, and the last few seasons in the Champions League saw Premier League sides heavily represented in the final four teams. Moreover, last May, the league extended the TV rights package with BT, Sky, BBC and Amazon until 2025 for an incredible $7 billion.
DAZN is cut out
DAZN could not compete for broadcasting rights. Still, the streaming provider with over 2 million subscribers and is slowly gaining revenue after losing money extensively in the first years is trying to buy one of the broadcasting partners.
DAZN already has Premier League rights in other markets like Spain, Canada, Japan and Brazil, but moving to the domestic market isn’t easy.
DAZN is working on a deal to buy BT, and that negotiation stalled. The streaming provider will need nine figures to close such a deal, and on top of that, they would require approval from Sky, who is BT’s partner in broadcasting rights.
This might be too much because DANZ outbid Sky for Serie A rights and five-year Matchroom boxing. DAZN also turned away a $1.8 billion bid from Sky to share Italian football rights.
According to various sources, BT would like to sell its media rights to focus on the 5G network and core telecommunication business. Simultaneously, DAZN is seeking another $500 million in investments so it can further expand globally. The company owned by billionaire Len Blavatnik is worth around $25.5 billion.