LeTV joins the virtual reality (VR) market with the launching of its first VR headset. (Photo : www.china.org.cn)
LeTV Sports, part of China's biggest online video company LeTV Holdings Co. Ltd., has acquired the Hong Kong rights to the English Premier League (EPL) football matches for three years from 2016.
The move by LeTV Sports is part of its plans to bring in new technology and secure exclusive television properties.
LeTV announced the agreement at a press conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Although details of the agreement were not disclosed, industry sources claim that LeTV could have paid as much as over $400 million for the three-year deal, more than double of what PCCW's Now TV, the current rights holder, paid for a three-year deal.
While LeTV is based in Beijing, it has recently been expanding into Hong Kong's pay TV market, which was previously dominated by Now TV and i-Cable.
LeTV Sports is also planning to webcast some EPL matches in ultra high-definition quality during the 2016-2017 season, according to newly appointed CEO Cheng Yizhong.
Though LeTV started out as an online video platform, the company has since evolved into a smart TV maker and has also gone into making smartphones, smart bicycles and vehicles.
LeTV Sports, which came from Leshi movie and TV website letv.com. transformed in 2012 into a separate live sports streaming entity, with the streaming rights to sporting events such as the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball games in the United States.
The company is now shifting into media business with all its content coming from sports.
While LeTV has favored the strategy of acquiring broadcast and media rights of major sporting events, it faces stiff competition from similar services controlled by other companies including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Dalian Wanda Group Co. and Tencent Holdings Ltd.
In January, LeTV Sports lost to Tencent for the rights to broadcast the next five seasons of NBA games in the Chinese mainland despite offering $600 million to Tencent's $500 million.
As of July this year, LeTV Sports handled the broadcast and media rights for around 200 events, amounting to about 10,000 live broadcast matches. These included cycling's Tour de France, golf's U.S. Open, tennis's Wimbledon Championships, the marathons of Boston and New York, and the Shenzhen International Marathon.
