Nine Entertainment’s Stan Sport nets rights for English Premier League soccer off Optus

Stan Sport will broadcast the English Premier League for the next three seasons after its owner, Nine Entertainment, acquired the assets of Optus Sports.

Liverpool players celebrate with the trophy after winning the English Premier League last season. Picture: Getty Images

Stan Sport will broadcast the English Premier League for the next three seasons after its owner, Nine Entertainment, acquired the assets of Optus Sports.

The deal – which was flagged by The Australian two months ago – represents a further step in Nine’s bid to position its streaming service at the centre of its broadcasting future.

“This marks a step change in Nine’s digital growth strategy” said Matt Stanton, Nine’s chief executive officer.

It’s understood that Nine will pay about $60m per year for the rights to broadcast the EPL and the FA Cup over the next three seasons.

Stan currently holds the broadcast rights to major tennis tournaments including Wimbledon and the French Open, Super Rugby and the UEFA Champions League, and the streaming platform will also be a key platform for rugby league should Nine secure the next hotly-contested contract to screen NRL, for which negotiations are already underway.

But the acquisition of Optus Sports by Nine does come with some risk – subscription numbers for Stan Sport have plateaued in recent years, and if Nine is to make a profit on the EPL deal it will need a sizeable spike in paying customers.

A subscription to Stan Sport is currently priced at $27 per month, but existing Optus Sport customers will only have to pay a discounted rate of $9.99 per month to continue to watch the EPL for the next three seasons, meaning Nine will need to attract hundreds of thousands of new subscribers to turn a profit from its acquisition of the broadcast rights to the British competitions.

After January, Optus Sport subscribers will also have the option of access to Stan Premium at the discounted price of $20 a month.

But for existing Stan Sport customers, there is no guarantee that a subscription will remain at its current price over the three-year life of the EPL deal.

A Nine spokesperson said: “Our immediate priority is supporting a smooth transition for Optus Sport subscribers and delivering the best possible value to our audience. As always, we regularly review our pricing to ensure it remains competitive and reflects the quality and breadth of content available. We’ll share more details on packages as soon as we can with customers.”

In a statement to the ASX on Monday, Mr Stanton said that Nine expects the acquisition to be “cash positive” to Stan over the next three years.