Match TV picks up Premier League rights package in Russia

Russian sports channel Match TV has secured the exclusive broadcast rights to the English Premier League in the country.

From 2022/23 onwards, Gazprom Media-owned Match TV will carry the English top-flight, including all television and digital rights, for the next six seasons, according to reports in Russia.

The deal, which is described as ‘long-term in nature’, follows on from the Premier League’s invitation to tender in over 40 European and Central Asian countries and is the latest in a line of new agreements.

Previously, Rambler dislodged Match TV – which held the rights from 2016/17 to 2018/29 – as the Premier League broadcaster.

The Russian search engine and web portal screened the Premier League on its over-the-top (OTT) platform Okko, after landing the rights to the English top-tier in the country for the 2019/20 to 2021/22 cycle.

Match TV also carries the Russian Premier League, along with the German Bundesliga and UEFA club competitions, after striking a renewal last year with the European football governing body until 2023/24.

Alexander Tashchin, Editor-In-Chief of Match TV, said: “The question regarding the English Premier League on national free-to-air is perhaps the most frequent one that has been on everyone’s lips lately…we still have almost a year to come up to showing, probably, the best championship in the world fully equipped.”

Earlier in the week, Cypriot telecommunications provider Cyta inked a three-year rights renewal with the league, after Telekom Srbija-owned Arena Sport landed the broadcast rights in the Balkan region, and iQiyi Sports announced it would carry the English top-flight in China this morning.

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