By David Owen
January 29 – Italy’s Internazionale has agreed a deal for Le Sports, the former LeTV, to become the exclusive broadcast partner for the club’s TV channel in mainland China.
The two-year agreement covers all platforms, including website and mobile. In addition to the usual club TV channel mix of match re-runs and highlights, coach and player interviews and documentaries, the deal allows for Le Sports to produce a limited amount of local content.
Michael Bolingbroke, the Milan club’s chief executive, described the move as “a major step for Inter in China”, enabling it to “engage fully with our ever-increasing Chinese fan base”. He continued: “The broadcasting of Inter Channel across all Le Sports platforms will bring the experience of following Inter that much closer to our Chinese followers while at the same time helping to build the Inter brand.”
Lei Zhenjian, Bolingbroke’s opposite number at Le Sports, said he believed the partnership would “greatly boost the influence of both the club and Serie A in China”.
Elite European clubs and leagues are currently scrambling to position themselves for what is expected to be a decade of explosive growth for the sport in the world’s most populous country.
The then LeTV created an international stir last September when it won live TV rights to screen the Premier League in Hong Kong for three seasons from 2016-17. Its impending rebrand was revealed to insideworldfootball by Yu Hang, the group’s vice president strategy, in an interview in Monaco in October.
Three-times European Cup winners Inter Milan have been presided over since 2013 by the Jakarta-born businessman Erick Thohir. He took the helm after an entity led by him, International Sports Capital, acquired 70% of the club.
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