December 4 – Manchester United is again using its MUTV channel to drive the club’s brand and commercial presence into international markets. Last week it announced a distribution deal into Indonesia, this week it unveiled a partnership with telecoms giant Cable and Wireless Communications for the Caribbean.
The Caribbean mobile market phone has been dominated by Digicel which has increased its sports content to drive its services, and is a big supporter of Caribbean sports and teams. Man Utd’s partnership with Cable and Wireless becoming the first official quad play partner in the Caribbean opens up the telecoms battleground in the region for sports.
Described as a multi-year partnership it will see the two firms team up to develop football within the region by hosting Manchester United Soccer School competitions and coaching programmes within local communities.
Flow is the retail brand MUTV will distributed on, and will offer opportunities to win match tickets, signed merchandise as well as the chance to interact with Manchester United Legends and Ambassadors.
The channel will be exclusive to Flow starting with the 2016/17 season.
Manchester United’s Group Managing Director, Richard Arnold said: “(Cable and Wireless) is seen as a technology leader and innovator. Through its Flow brand, fans will easily be able to access Manchester United content via mobile, tablets and desktop devices, as well as through the Flow To Go app.”
From the 2016/17 season, Flow will become the exclusive distributer of the Club’s dedicated channel, MUTV. Viewers in the Caribbean will experience exclusive Manchester United programming as well as behind the scenes access to the Club.
Manchester United’s Group Managing Director, Richard Arnold said: “(Cable and Wireless) is seen as a technology leader and innovator. Through its Flow brand, fans will easily be able to access Manchester United content via mobile, tablets and desktop devices, as well as through the Flow To Go app.”
Flow has been building its sports content, a point emphasised by president of Cable and Wireless Communication’s Consumer Group, John Reid who said: “Our aim is to become the home of sports in the Caribbean and there is no better way to demonstrate our ambition than by partnering with one of the biggest sports brands in the world.
“Our agreement with Manchester United is the latest in a series of strategic partnerships that already includes the Premier League and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, and further demonstrates our commitment to delivering the region’s best sports content to Flow customers.”
Man Utd likes big global partners and Cable and Wireless Communications certainly fits that criteria in the Caribbean and Latin American region. The company has annual sales of over $2.4 billion and has more than 7,200 employees serving over 6.3 million customers (mobile 4.1m; fixed line 1.1m ; Video 465,000 and broadband 680,000) as well as over 125,000 corporate clients across 42 countries.
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