Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) yesterday confirmed that The Premier League Limited has awarded Abu Dhabi Television's sports channels exclusive Middle East and North African rights to the Barclays English Premier League (EPL) for three seasons starting from August 2010.
Showtime Arabia had owned the rights for the Middle East and North Africa over the last three seasons.
An ADMC official told Gulf News: "ADMC has also bagged the internet and mobile rights to the EPL and are working on how to develop the existing system.
"Like in the Australian Open tennis and the currently ongoing Wimbledon Tennis Championship, Abu Dhabi Al Riyadiya and Abu Dhabi Al Riyadiya 2 will telecast the EPL matches in Arabic and English."
Ed Borgerding, CEO of ADMC, said: "This is a defining moment for Abu Dhabi and our media company as we establish a partnership with the world's most exciting football league.
"We look forward to many years of cooperation with the Premier League to develop the brand in the Arab world and to maximise the exposure to Arab-speaking families in the Middle East and North Africa region. This supports our strategy of delivering the best of the world's entertainment, sports and news to the Arab-speaking world."
Karim Sarkis, executive director of broadcast, said: "This is yet another accomplishment for Abu Dhabi sports channels and the Barclays Premier League is a welcome addition to our existing football portfolio. We are pleased at the Premier League's confidence in our ability to deliver a quality product across multiple platforms. Our sports channels have built a reputation for excellent live coverage and commentary and football fans across the Arab world can look forward to top quality comprehensive coverage of all 380 Barclays Premier League games."
Mohammad Najeeb, head of Sports Channels, added: "Winning the rights to the EPL is a testament to the hard work that has gone in to building the programming and the reputation of our channels and we are excited that we will be able to offer our loyal viewers exclusive coverage of the EPL in both English and Arabic across an expanded number of channels."
Your comments
This is great news. I only hope there is Enhlish commentary and they will replay some of the late matches which will help school students watycvh them the next day.
Aakarsh S
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: July 03, 2009, 14:11
