Arsenal FC Renew Partnership With MP & Silva

Leading international sports media company MP & Silva (MPS) and Arsenal Broadband Limited, apoplectic the digital arm of Arsenal FC, have agreed to extend their existing six-year deal, which will now run through until 2018/19.

The new deal allows MP & Silva to continue to distribute the club’s international programming block (The Arsenal Media Channel) and to remain as the club’s strategic media advisor.

The extension of the deal is in no small part due to the announcement that MP & Silva delivered a record distribution of the Arsenal Media Channel to 130 territories in five continents in the 2013/14 season, covering a potential audience reach of 392 million households.

The Arsenal Media Channel is the club’s weekly three-hour international programming block and features match coverage from all domestic competitions, news, interviews and behind-the-scenes club life stories.

Under a separate deal with the club, MP & Silva will distribute both Arsenal’s pre-season match programme and the Emirates Cup, a pre-season tournament hosted by Arsenal.

‘‘We are extremely pleased to be renewing our long term strategic media partnership with MP & Silva two years early and for an additional four-year term,’’ said Tom Fox, Arsenal’s chief commercial officer.

‘‘We are selective about who we partner with at Arsenal and we are proud of our association with one of the leading sports media companies in the world. We look forward to an exciting future together.’’

Riccardo Silva, founding partner of MP & Silva, said: ‘‘We’re delighted to continue to work with Arsenal to provide original content, which we will jointly create to serve the fragmented way that the club’s 30 million supporters around the world experience their media.’’

‘’Sharing the knowledge and skills in our two organisations is a great combination, as we look to move from the traditional television-centric approach, towards a broader multi-platform experience.’’