Optus Sport goes the way of Optus Vision, Stan gets English Premier League as Optus focuses on being a Telco

A big shift in the sporting media landscape today with confirmation of a shift in the English Premier League (EPL) rights away from Optus Sport.

Nine years since Optus absolutely shocked the landscape with the EPL rights which surprised even Foxtel, the Telco is getting back to it’s core business under new CEO Stephen Rue and Optus Sport just isn’t part of that plan.

Mr Rue says “Optus Sport has delivered outstanding sports broadcasting to Australian football lovers for almost a decade,”

“One of our key priorities was to find a home for Optus Sport content which would take the game forward and enable all Optus Sport subscribers to continue to receive uninterrupted access to all their favourite football action.

To that end, the Telco has done a deal with Stan Sport to transfer the rights they own to the streaming platform for the remainder of the rights term, and ensure that Optus Sports customers who continue as Optus Telco customers can get discounted Stan Sport pricing.

“Optus Sport customers and the game of football will be in great hands at Stan, and we know the game will receive the broadcasting priority it deserves from an organisation whose speciality is delivering quality sports programming to its customers.”

This sets Stan up as the almost total home of “Football” adding the EPL and other Optus owned rights to the many that Stan already owned and while Optus is walking away their interest remains in part as they are picking up some of the rights fees, and will make a one off contribution to the next round of rights to assist Stan in retaining the EPL going forward.

Nine (owners of Stan) CEO Matt Stanton says this strengthens a strong sport portfolio for the business “The Premier League is the most-watched football league on the planet, and alongside the 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,”

Optus Sport was a break from the traditional Telco model for the company, but not the first time – back in the mid-1990’s Optus Vision set out to rival Foxtel in the subscription TV game with rights to ARL during the Super League Wars and even things like 500cc Grand Prix racing. Across major metro areas there is still Optus Vision cable hanging from the telegraph poles, this was used to broadcast the content and then provide broadband internet. Those days are now long, long gone and Optus Sport joins Optus Vision as a venture to forget.

Optus Sport customers looking for clarity can call 1800 501 356 or go to the support page on our website: optus.com.au/oshelp