The Premier League has signed the biggest overseas broadcast rights deal in its history with Chinese over-the-top (OTT) streaming service PPTV, reports are claiming.
According to the BBC, which quotes a PPTV source, the three-year deal could be worth up to a total of UK£560 million (US$700 million), or around US$235 million per season.
The Premier League has yet to comment but, if confirmed, that figure would represent an enormous increase over the current Chinese TV deal, signed with Super Sports Media Group in 2013/14, estimated at the time to be worth in the region of US$150 million over six years.
The new Chinese agreement will kick in on the expiration of the Super Sports deal, beginning with the 2019/20 season. It eclipses the league's previous record for an overseas TV deal with NBC in the US, which sees the American broadcaster shelling out US$167 million per season over a six-year period.
The Premier League's domestic rights unsurprisingly remain its main source of income, with the current UK£5.14 billion deal shared between Sky Sports and BT Sport running until the end of the 2018/19 season.
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