Optus expands Football offering by signing new deal with Nine

June 10, 2016SportKevin Perry

Optus today expanded its football offering by securing the broadcast and digital rights to fifteen exclusive matches and three simulcast matches of the pre-season International Champions Cup (ICC) tournament.

The agreement with Channel Nine comes as Optus continues to broaden its football offering, having already secured broadcast rights for English Premier League and the World Cup.

Watched by over 1 million fans world-wide, the International Champions Cup is the premier pre-season football tournament that brings Europe’s best clubs to the United States, China and Australia, including Premier League giants Leicester City, Liverpool FC, La Liga winners, Barcelona FC and Ligue 1 winners, Paris Saint-German.

Ben White, Managing Director, Marketing and Products at Optus said, “We know that football fans want the ability to see football matches live when they happen, not on long delay. Securing the live rights to the International Champions Cup further demonstrates Optus’ commitment to delivering exciting live football experiences to our customers.”

Optus will broadcast 15 matches from the US/Europe leg of the popular tournament starting from the 23 July 2016, which customers will be able to view exclusively live on Optus Sport. This will be the first tournament to be shown on the new Optus Sport content platforms ahead of the Premier League launch in August.

Customers will also be able to view the China leg of the tour from 22 July, which will be broadcast on Optus Sport and Channel Nine’s broadcast and digital channels. Channel Nine retains the rights to the three Australian matches that will be played in Melbourne in July.

Customers who have signed up to an EPL subscription on an EPL eligible plan will have access to Optus’ coverage of the ICC tournament as part of their package.

“This partnership, teamed with the ability to view and access high quality content across multiple platforms with our new Optus Sport offering, makes Optus an attractive option for customers as we continue to bring them closer to the action with game-changing football content through the likes of the EPL, the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup,” Mr White said.

ICC Matches to be shown live by Optus and Channel Nine:

Friday, July 22 - Shanghai, Manchester United v. Dortmund

Monday, July 25 - Beijing, Manchester City v. Manchester United

Thursday, July 28 - Shenzhen, Dortmund v. Manchester City

USA/Europe All Exclusively Live on Optus

Saturday, July 23 - Glasgow, Celtic FC v. Leicester City

Sunday July 24 - Orlando, PSG v. Inter Milan

Wednesday, July 27 - Columbus, Real Madrid v. PSG

Wednesday, July 27 - Chicago, Bayern v. AC Milan

Wednesday, July 27 - Parndana, Liverpool v. Chelsea

Saturday, July 30 - Dublin, Barcelona v. Celtic

Saturday, July 30 - Ann Arbor, Chelsea v Real Madrid