Saran extends EPL tie-up, secures FA Cup through 2027-28

The deals stretch across 11 (EPL) and 13 (FA Cup) central Asian and eastern European countries.

Euan Cunningham July 30 2024

Saran Media has today unveiled two exclusive multi-year media rights deals covering English soccer’s Premier League (EPL) and knockout FA Cup competition, across a range of Eastern European and Central Asian territories.

The EPL tie-up, covering the countries of Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, is an extension and runs from 2025-26 through 2027-28.

Saran holds exclusive live, delayed, highlights, and clips rights across those territories, on TV, online, and mobile platforms.

The ongoing rights deal in these territories was struck by Saran in August 2021 and runs for the 2022-25 cycle. GlobalData Sport has estimated the total value of that agreement as $21 million.

The FA Cup deal, meanwhile, is a new agreement and extends for the 2024-25 to 2027-28 cycle across predominantly the same 11 markets as the EPL deal (except for Belarus, replaced in this case by Ukraine), as well as Czech Republic and Slovakia.

That latter deal has been struck with England’s Football Association.

Last season’s FA Cup, won by Manchester United, was covered across Eastern Europe and the Central Asian countries by a range of broadcasters. Setanta Sports held rights in Ukraine, while TV Nova did so in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

In early May, Saran Media unveiled a five-year media rights management deal with French soccer's LFP body. Through the deal, Saran will exclusively manage the media rights of the top-tier Ligue 1, second-tier Ligue 2, and the Trophee des Champions, in 18 Central Asian and Eastern European markets. The agreement runs from the beginning of 2024-25 through 2028-29.

The last significant EPL media rights deal (with FA Cup rights also snapped up) was unveiled last week, as Japanese streaming service U-Next secured rights for the next seven seasons, through 2030-31.

Before that, the league agreed a three-season tie-up in Iceland with free-to-air broadcaster Syn, beginning in 2025, in late June.

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