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Facebook secures $200m deal to broadcast English Premier League in South East Asia

Facebook has secured exclusive rights to broadcast all 380 English Premier League football matches in parts of South East Asia from 2019 in a deal worth $200m.

The social media giant will show the matches in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos after outbidding television networks BeIn Sports and Fox Sports Asia, according to The Times

The deal is further demonstration of the power wielded by non-traditional players and their desire to muscle in on lucrative live sports content.

The English Premier League is understood to have held talks with Youtube and Netflix over rights packages in several other territories.

Amazon has already made its first successful move into English football with a three-year deal to broadcast 20 matches from the 2019/20 season.

Facebook’s desire to move into mainstream sports was made clear last year when it bid, unsuccessfully, for the rights to the Indian Premier League cricket. It was beaten by Star India in a record $2.55m deal.

Facebook is currently limited to streaming Major League Baseball, College Basketball and occasional Champions League games in the US in a partnership with Fox Sports.

It poached Robert Hutton, the chief executive of Eurosport, in a bid to increase its sports portfolio.

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