30/06/2025
SMH
English Premier League to air on Stan, ending Optus’ sports foray
Stan Sport will broadcast both the English Premier League and the FA Cup until 2028 in a deal its parent company Nine has signed with telecommunications giant Optus.
The deal ends Optus’ nine-year association with the Premier League, one of the most popular sports leagues in the world. All 380 matches of the soccer competition are now set to stream live and on-demand on Stan Sport.
Nine, through Stan, will pay Optus an upfront fee of $20 million and make an upfront contribution to the next $100 million instalment of the sports rights fees to the EPL, it told the ASX on Monday morning. Optus will then make periodic payments to Nine for the remainder of the rights deal to subsidise the streaming service’s fees to the sports body.
Optus’ current deal, worth $600 million across six years, has three years to run. Last week, TheAustralian Financial Review reported that Optus will subsidise $40 million of the annual $100 million outlay for the soccer rights.
More than half of Optus Sport’s estimated 700,000 subscribers are not signed up to Stan Sport, the company determined through due diligence.
The new acquisitions position Nine as a destination for football, already holding the rights to broadcast the UEFA Champions League, as well as all four tennis grand slam events and most rugby union action.
Optus Sport subscriber numbers have fallen since losing the Champions League rights to Stan in 2021. Sports rights expert and consultant Jon Marquard says Optus had been at its best when it offered a diverse selection of international competitions alongside its weekly Premier League coverage.
“Stan will be able to market a much more compelling set of rights, on a similar basis, given it already holds the Champions League and Europa League,” he said.
The deal marks an end to Optus’ sports venture, with as many as 100 jobs uncertain as Nine is expected to draw on its existing tech and production staff to produce the Premier League’s additional coverage.
The Premier League, despite being an international league with few prominent Australians and airing overnight, is one of the most popular sports codes in Australia.
A survey of 3000 Australians by firm Tracksuit recently found it to be the third most popular sports league across the country behind the AFL and NRL. In Victoria, the Premier League and NBA came in equal second, behind the AFL but ahead of the NRL.
The minimum cost for Stan Sport is currently $15 on top of a $12 basic Stan subscription. Stan has 2.3 million paying subscribers, and while the number of those with the Stan Sport package is unknown, it is believed to be marginal.
A shortcoming of the package has been the lack of consistent content, with the Champions League running sporadically throughout the year, and grand slam tennis only in four two-week blocks.
The Premier League runs consistently for most of the year from August through until May, with matches stretched across the weekends and mid-week.
If Nine’s right in its estimate that more than half of Optus Sport’s customers do not have a Stan subscription, this could translate into some 350,000 new customers, delivering a minimum extra revenue of $9.45 million per month.
Nine also owns this masthead.
“This marks a step change in Nine’s digital growth strategy” said Matt Stanton, Nine’s chief executive.
“The Premier League is the most-watched football league on the planet, and alongside the Emirates FA Cup, this acquisition reinforces Nine’s position as the home of sport in Australia. We are proud to deliver these iconic competitions to Australian audiences through Stan Sport.”
The deal also includes the rights to the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 championship, which starts this week on July 3, as well as the Japanese J-League and the National Women’s Soccer League in the United States.
Nine expects the sports rights acquisition to increase Stan’s earnings and cash flow for the remainder of the media rights deal, it said in its statement to the ASX.
