Singtel-Optus has secured the Australian broadcast rights to English Premier League football in another blow to News Corporation's Fox Sports.
Optus chief executive Allen Lew has made good on his promise to "be in the game" with live sports rights by lodging a bumper $US45 million-plus offer for the right to show the UK's most valuable sporting commodity for three years starting in the 2016-17 season.
It is understood the bid was significantly higher than the offer lodged by Fox Sports, which is the current EPL broadcaster, and also eclipsed interest by Qatar-owned beIN Sports.
"This is another significant step in our strategy to become a mobile-led multimedia company," Mr Allen said.
It is understood Optus has also expressed interest in the NRL mobile streaming rights and it is considered a potential bidder for the pay-TV rights currently held by Fox Sports.
Fox Sports is yet to resign the NRL pay-TV rights after being surprised by a free-to-air deal struck between the football code and Nine Entertainment Group in August. The new FTA deal means the number of live games on free-to-air TV will increase to four, with matches to be played during prime time on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. News Corp executives were furious that Fox Sports lost the valuable Saturday game.
Sources close to Fox Sports claim the EPL was not a big money-spinner for the broadcaster and the impact of losing the rights has been offset by winning a five-year deal to show Formula One alongside Ten Network from this year. It is understood the Optus bid was more than double $20-25m Fox Sports is paying now in Australian dollars
Optus, which holds the EPL rights in its hometown of Singapore, has made no secret of the fact it wants to become a serious sports media rights holders in Australia in an attempt to entice mobile and internet customers away from rivals such as Telstra and TPG Telecom.
The aggressive bid for EPL rights demonstrate the telecommunications company is willing to re-enter the pay-TV market. It is understood Optus has discussed sharing the rights with online subscription television service FetchTV.
Winning the EPL rights is also a major boon for Optus as it targets the migrant demographic, who often have a much higher affinity for professional soccer. The EPL has a massive following across Asia and the Middle East.
"Optus has never been in sports rights and we're now in the game," Mr Allen said earlier this month, after Optus signed a multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal with Cricket Australia to be its mobile streaming partner.
"We have the necessary budget, as we showed with our mobile network budget, to do what we need to do, and as long as we can justify it I'm sure our shareholders will give us the dollars to do it."
The move is bad news for Optus' main rival Telstra, which owns half of Foxtel. It has spent hundreds of millions of dollars signing up the rights to the AFL and is fighting hard to win streaming rights for the NRL, both of which are now in their off-seasons.
But sources with an understanding of the EPL negotiations said Telstra would have been unaware of Optus' relatively strong bid for the rights, given the nature of the "blind auction" process.
Telstra and Optus must use premium content to differentiate themselves from rivals like TPG Telecom and M2 Group, who are able to offer low prices as their biggest selling point.
Under Mr Lew, Optus has been pushing hard to grow its number of fixed-line customers. It stands a better chance of winning market share during the transition to a national broadband network if more broadband users are signed up before the switch.
