Watching Premier League live no longer free in China  

门户退出英超直播 免费时代终结

(ECNS) -- Football fans who used to spend their weekends watching the Premier League live online or on TV for free may have to pay starting this summer.

China's online video sites PPTV and LeTV have signed deals with Super Sports, the Premier League's mainland copyright agent, to broadcast the games of the upcoming season, the Beijing News reports.

The first four matches of each round of games are free, but watchers will have to pay for the remaining six.

PPTV and LeTV paid $11 million each for the rights. The money covers the cost of the four free matches, while the revenue from the other six will be divided between Super Sports and the broadcaster.

That's a more than 10-fold price hike. Just two to three years ago, the fee was only 5 to 7 million yuan (about $1 million).

Soaring broadcast fees have scared away many online websites and TV stations. China's four biggest portal websites have stopped streaming the games, and many TV stations, which are already losing ground to their online counterparts, are also shying away.

The fee hike is fueled by the growing popularity of the Premier League around the globe. Initially a thing of interest in the UK, Ireland and Australia, it has become the most widely distributed sports program in Asia.

Beijing-based Super Sports struck a deal with the Premier League for a six-year broadcast copyright, which starts from the 2013/14 season. The amount it paid is estimated to be $30 million, and it's trying to shift the high cost to other broadcasters, said Yan Qiang, a league expert.

The price hike is happening all around the world. Singapore's SingTel bought its three-year broadcasting right for 190 million pounds ($314 million) in 2010. Hong Kong's I-Cable paid 146 million pounds ($241 million) and the Abu Dhabi consortium paid 225 million pounds ($372 million).

It's uncertain how the model combining free and paid streaming will play out, but LeTV's sports channel director Zhou Liang said opportunities abound.

He said the price raise has pushed many competitors out of the game. Previously, there were more than six broadcasters in China, but now there are only two.

Zhang Lei, marketing director of LeTV sports, said LeTV will explore other channels to make money other than advertising.

"We want to explore a chain of business instead of focusing only on content streaming," Zhang said. "In the future, the company will build a fan database and organize trips and bar events to combine online streaming with offline activities."