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LiveScore Launches Free-To-Air Live Streaming Service, Will Air Remaining Serie A Matches

LiveScore, one of the world’s leading real-time sports updates and results providers, is set to launch its first ever live streaming service, offering millions of UK users a front-row seat as live football returns across Europe’s top leagues.

Having secured live streaming rights to all remaining matches in Italy’s Serie A season, LiveScore will be on-hand to help football fans in the UK and Ireland celebrate the return of elite sport, through to the climax of the current 2019/20 campaign.

The deal, the latest successful negotiation led by Saran Media Group on behalf of LiveScore and agreed with Premier Sports, also sees LiveScore secure the rights to live-stream one third of all remaining fixtures in Portugal’s Primeira Liga. Live football successfully returned to the country this month, whilst Italy’s iconic Serie A domestic league will restart this weekend on Saturday June 20th as Torino host Parma.

Tonight LiveScore’s new streaming service will be showing a match of big significance to the title race in the Primeira Liga, as sixth placed Rio Ave host second placed S.L. Benfica at 21:15 BST.

The free streaming service – which is to be integrated within the existing LiveScore iOS and Android application – ensures that LiveScore remains the go-to destination for fast and reliable sports coverage. With a global audience of 56 million monthly active users, including 2 million in the UK alone, the new OTT service complements existing unparalleled coverage, content and statistics for hundreds of sporting leagues and competitions around the world.

Ric Leask, Marketing Director at LiveScore, said;

“We’re excited to celebrate the return of football by providing live free-to-air streaming on LiveScore for the very first time. This is a hugely important step for LiveScore, as we continue to innovate and offer our audience the most immersive sports coverage possible.

“Serie A and Primeira Liga are two of the most popular and keenly followed European leagues amongst our 2 million monthly users within the UK and Ireland, so this is a fantastic opportunity to give something back to our loyal userbase. After a long wait for top-level football to return, this is a brilliant start for our new live streaming service.”

The new free-to-air live streaming capability will be facilitated by LiveScore’s partnership with leading sports OTT specialists StreamAMG. The relationship will enable a fully integrated video product which will deliver a first-class viewing experience.

Premier Sports will remain as the exclusive UK and Ireland broadcast TV partner for both the Primeira Liga and Serie A, with their subscribers able to watch all matches live on TV.

LiveScore Launches Free-To-Air Live Streaming Service, Will Air Remaining Serie A Matches

Tonight LiveScore’s new streaming service will be showing a match of big significance to the title race in the Primeira Liga, as sixth placed Rio Ave host second placed S.L. Benfica at 21:15 BST.

Ric Leask, Marketing Director at LiveScore, said;

Premier Sports will remain as the exclusive UK and Ireland broadcast TV partner for both the Primeira Liga and Serie A, with their subscribers able to watch all matches live on TV.

BT Sport Launches App On NOW TV Devices

BT Sport is giving customers more ways to watch, by making its award-winning app available from today (16 June) on NOW TV devices.

NOW TV joins a wide range of large screen devices and platforms on which sports fans can watch BT Sport, including Samsung smart TV, Sony PlayStation, Xbox and Apple TV, as well as mobiles, tablets, BT TV, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media.

Customers with a NOW TV Smart Box with 4K, who have the necessary subscription, will be able to access BT Sport Ultimate, the only channel providing regular live sport in stunning 4K with High Dynamic Range, which provides the highest quality pictures seen outside of cinemas.

Existing BT Sport customers with access to its app for large screen devices can access BT Sport on NOW TV devices at no extra cost, allowing them to watch live, catch-up and on-demand sport, and, have a second screen to watch two livestreams simultaneously*.

New customers can access the app in a range of ways including BT Sport Monthly Pass, which offers all sports fans a flexible way of watching top-flight sport for a simple monthly fee with no contract. Available for just £25 per month for instant access, BT Sport Monthly Pass lets anyone buy and watch BT Sport on a month-by-month basis. Over the month from BT Sport’s first live Premier League game on 20 June, the pass will offer live matches from the Premier League, every match from Germany’s Bundesliga, plus live UFC, Turkish Super Lig, WWE, AFL and more. To find out more customers simply go to bt.com/sport/monthly-pass, download the BT Sport App from their app store and log in.

Additionally, BT Sport is increasing the range of catch-up and on-demand content available via its app for large screen devices (NOW TV, Samsung smart TV, Sony PlayStation, Xbox and Apple TV). Customers can now access classic matches and events from the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Premier League, Emirates FA Cup and more. Full event replays are also now available, enabling fans to re-watch Premier League games in full, soon after they are broadcast on BT Sport.

Andy Haworth, managing director, commercial, BT Sport, said: “Today’s news marks the latest in this season’s sport innovations from BT, following our launch this season of Europe’s only channel offering sports in stunning HDR picture quality. BT continues to create more ways for our customers to watch their favourite sport, and we’re connecting more viewers to our content as BT Sport continues to go from strength to strength.”

Today’s launch comes ahead of the Premier League returning to BT Sport this June. BT Sport will kick off with a double header of Watford v Leicester City at 12.30pm this Saturday (June 20) and Brighton & Hove Albion v Arsenal, the first Premier League game to be shown at 3pm on a Saturday.

Red Bull And Dorna Sports Extend Sponsorship Agreements

Dorna Sports is delighted to announce an extension to its partnership with iconic energy drink company Red Bull. Part of the agreement will see Red Bull title sponsor both the 2020 Gran Premio de España and 2020 Gran Premio de Andalucía, which are set to take place at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto from the 17th to the 19th of July and the 24th to the 26th of July, respectively.

Moreover, the agreement also sees the global energy drink brand confirmed as the title sponsor of the Gran Premio de España and the Grand Prix of the Americas until 2024, as well as a co-sponsor of the Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini.

Over the years Red Bull has shown a strong commitment to sports worldwide, including the MotoGP™ World Championship. Not only is Red Bull present in every category partnering with a wide range of athletes and teams, but it is also a significant contributor to the motorcycle racing scene through the Red Bull MotoGP™ Rookies Cup, one of the most successful talent development programmes. Red Bull is both title sponsor and co-organiser of the Cup.

Pau Serracanta, Managing Director of Dorna Sports: “Red Bull is a true partner of MotoGP™. As we approach the end of this agreement, it will be nearly 20 years that we will have spent working together – since 2005, when Red Bull was the title sponsor of the US GP at Laguna Seca. In addition to this agreement, we have also worked together as co-organisers of the Red Bull MotoGP™ Rookies Cup for more than a decade, Red Bull has been our partner in the MotoGP™ eSport Championship since inception, as well as the Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup, and we organise the Austrian Grand Prix together at the Red Bull Ring – in addition to our broadcast agreement with ServusTV covering Austria and Germany. We are delighted to continue working with Red Bull.”

With this extension of the partnership that has already existed for many years, Dorna and Red Bull show a solid commitment to keep growing the sport together for many more years.

Digital Café: How Lockdown May Change Social Media Communications In Sport

In the Digital Café this week, we sit down to discuss how social media in a time of lockdown might shape the future of communications. Will the medium really now shape the message?

No Filter

Something which is going to be interesting to monitor as sport gets back to business is what has changed once the enforced closed season is over. While “the new normal” was born, post-Covid, what will we have become used to in the world of digital and social in sport?

One prediction is there will be a realignment of the relationship between an athlete and their PR departments. A couple of cases have highlighted that in lockdown the connection between sportspeople and their audience (not necessarily their fans) has strengthened and that social media now merrily skips the filter Comms and PR usually provide, sometimes for good, sometimes, well…

When soccer player Clevid Dikamona took to Twitter back in March to make a statement regarding his future at Hearts he prefaced it with “Before someone distorts reality…”. An indication he was keen to ensure the the statement and his sentiments were his own words, rather than have anyone spin the story for him.

He later confirmed his departure with a second post https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/sport/football/clevid-dikamona-confirms-hearts-exit-18338254. The interesting thing about the second post (below) was, not only was it pretty emotional for an au revoir, but it also read the tone of the supporters and the replies were nigh-on universally positive.

before someone else distorts reality … pic.twitter.com/LntjS4IxdF

— dikamona clevid (@DikamonaClevid) March 20, 2020

Contrast that with the communications situation just a few years back and firstly there would not have been the access to publicity without third party media and secondly sportspeople would be seen and, for the most part, not heard.

The second example was Lewis Hamilton calling out his whole sport on Instagram. Pundits and fans often bemoan the bland responses of rigorously media-trained drivers who aren’t keen on voicing their opinions – the heady time of James Hunt not holding back are cited as the good old days.

But Lewis took matters into his own hands over the recent events in the US and the ensuing Black Lives Matter protests. He reprimanded the whole sport on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lewishamilton/, and asked why people were silent. This prompted responses from several other drivers and also brought media and commentators’ attention to bear. It was a move which the multiple world champion had the confidence, and arguably the authority to do, but social media gave him the means to voice his message loud, clear and unfiltered.

If, as Marshall McLuhan famously said, the Medium is the Message https://medium.com/@obtaineudaimonia/the-medium-is-the-message-by-marshall-mcluhan-8b5d0a9d426b, then social media has put sportspeople right back in touch with the fans.

During the turbulent first half of 2020, at a time when sport has been put on hold more and more drivers, players and athletes have had the time to hone their messages on a medium which has been available for some time, but is right now coming into its own.

What will be interesting will be to see how teams, sports and even federations attempt to shape those messages and whether (or not) there will be a realignment of that relationship between the comms and PR teams who once held sole power over the message published and their athletes and teams.

…Because there will have to be some alignment – or education – to avoid situations where it’s not only you, but your family’s social media that detrimentally affects your career. Such as Serbian winger Aleksandar Katai’s decision to leave LA Galaxy after inappropriate posts by his wife on Instagram. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/la-galaxy-release-serbian-soccer-star-aleksander-katai-over-wife-n1226601

International Coalition Brings Down Piracy Ring Boasting 40,000 Video Channels, VOD content And 2 Million Subscribers

Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL), the Spanish Football League (LaLiga), NAGRA and Nordic Content Protection thank the Spanish National Police, and law enforcement agencies throughout Europe, for crackdown on international illegal IPTV streaming network

The Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL), the Spanish Football League (LaLiga), NAGRA and Nordic Content Protection today announced the shutdown of an illegal IPTV streaming network based in Spain that served more than two million paying subscribers worldwide.

The shutdown is the result of criminal complaints and assistance of DFL, LaLiga, NAGRA and Nordic Content Protection to the Spanish police. The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) was also involved on behalf of the content industry. The coordinated international law enforcement operation was led by the Spanish National Police with the support of Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union, and Eurojust, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation.

The pirate network was offering more than 40,000 video channels and video-on-demand content, offering a wide range of channels, sports events, films, documentaries, and series, as well as 50 pirate servers located in various countries in Europe. All were shut down as part of the anti-piracy operation.

The piracy network was based in Spain but operated worldwide – in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States generating profits in excess of 15 million euros and causing much higher damages to the content industry. Its IPTV service was offered to resellers allowing them to create their own brand and illegal service as a franchise. Arrests were made in several European countries including Spain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Sweden. Individuals were charged with crimes against intellectual property, communications fraud, money laundering and criminal organization.

“We are grateful to the Spanish National Police and all involved in this operation for working together to protect and defend content owner rights,” said Melcior Soler, Audiovisual Director at LaLiga. “Piracy is a global problem and it’s critical for the industry as whole to come together to fight it, share knowledge and leverage key partnerships and anti-piracy technologies to preserve high-quality content for our fans – whether it’s in sports or other types of entertainment. Together we can make a difference and alter the piracy landscape.”

“The DFL welcomes this transnational anti-piracy operation that comes at the same time major European championships resume their activities. Tackling large pirate operations at the source is a key component in the fight against large-scale content theft,” said Dr. Holger Blask, Director Audiovisual Rights at DFL. “We are glad the industry is more and more united against piracy, in this case both the sports and the content industries joined efforts to make it happen”.

“We applaud the Spanish National Police for leading this anti-piracy effort to a successful outcome,” said Pascal Métral, VP Legal Affairs and Head of Anti-Piracy Investigations, Intelligence and Litigation at NAGRA. “These results could not have been achieved without close collaboration between all stakeholders – content owners, governmental entities and anti-piracy companies – and is a clear demonstration of how such efforts can have a real impact on stopping the spread of commercial piracy. We are honored to support the effort through our investigations and intelligence teams and to represent the interests of the sports and content industry to ensure their rights are protected.”

“Nordic Content Protection congratulates the Spanish National Police and other national law enforcement agencies throughout Europe that conducted this very successful operation. With assets and money worth six million Euros confiscated from the pirates, it’s a strong signal to other pirate organizations that organized IP crime eventually does not pay off,” said Anders Braf, CEO at Nordic Content Protection.

This latest success further illustrates the importance of a close partnership between content owners, operators, technology providers, policy makers and governments, to make real strides in the battle against piracy and to protect all media and entertainment industry stakeholders’ legitimate business.

LaLiga President Javier Tebas has also provided comment on LaLiga’s latest ruling regarding the beoutQ piracy operation.

“LaLiga welcomes the WTO’s ruling which indisputably establishes Saudi Arabia’s role in one of the most sophisticated and damaging piracy operations that has ever existed. Never before have we seen one of LaLiga’s attempts to protect its intellectual property deliberately blocked by a government. If Saudi Arabia wants to be taken seriously in world sport, it simply has to play by the rules.”

International Coalition Brings Down Piracy Ring Boasting 40,000 Video Channels, VOD content And 2 Million Subscribers

LaLiga President Javier Tebas has also provided comment on LaLiga’s latest ruling regarding the beoutQ piracy operation.

Sportradar Adds Eastern European Championship 2020 To Tennis Portfolio

As part of its ongoing support for tennis around the world, Sportradar, the global provider of sports content and intelligence, has announced a partnership with the Tipsarevic Tennis Academy for the duration of the Eastern European Championship 2020, which is taking place in Belgrade, Serbia.

Throughout the pandemic Sportradar has worked closely with its partners to bring back live tennis and its involvement in the Eastern European Championship follows recent successes with the likes of the Tennis Point Exhibition Series, the Austrian and German Pro Series featuring world No.3 Dominic Thiem and the International Tennis Series.

With 352 matches scheduled to take place over a six week period, the Eastern European Championship is a substantial addition to Sportradar’s portfolio of tennis events. The data company will provide a range of live tennis content solutions directly from the event including the data production for all matches, using data collection software which the umpire will use to score matches and transmit data back to Sportradar.

Following ATP and WTA rules, the event will feature players from both the men’s and women’s tours. Forty-eight players are set to take compete in the men’s draw including Milomir Kecmanovic, currently ranked No.47 with the ATP, and Aljaz Bedene, who sits at No.61.

The women’s event will feature 42 players from the WTA including Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann and the Netherlands Arantxa Rus, ranked 63 and 70 respectively.

Additional live content from the tournament includes a state-of-the-art audio visual offering. As well as its live AV feed, Sportradar is distributing the event for television worldwide and providing coverage of four matches each day of the week with play scheduled to take place between 14.00 and 22.00 CEST.

David Lampitt, Managing Director Sport Partnerships at Sportradar said: “This past few months have proved challenging for everyone in the industry. We’ve drawn on the full breadth of our resources in order to support our partners within tennis and to ensure the sport is brought back safely for everyone to enjoy.

“We’re delighted to be involved in an event of this size and profile as we continue to facilitate the return of live sport. And we’re particularly pleased to have the chance to be involved in a combined event involving top players from both the men’s and women’s Tours. The scale of it is truly unique in the current circumstances.”

BT Sport Launches App On NOW TV Devices

BT Sport is giving customers more ways to watch, by making its award-winning app available from today (16 June) on NOW TV devices.

Red Bull And Dorna Sports Extend Sponsorship Agreements

With this extension of the partnership that has already existed for many years, Dorna and Red Bull show a solid commitment to keep growing the sport together for many more years.