talkSPORT has announced its first English language broadcast partners to carry its official Barclays Premier League and FA Cup coverage during the 2012/13 season, which starts on 18 August.
Bell Media’s TSN and Team stations in Canada, Radio Sport in New Zealand and Citi FM in Ghana will all carry both talkSPORT’s live Barclays Premier League and FA Cup commentary on an exclusive basis within their broadcast area, and Brila FM in Nigeria will carry the station’s live Barclays Premier League commentary. More broadcast partners will be announced in due course.
The deal will grant the stations, based in three different continents, access to talkSPORT’s commentary, insight and links with Premier League football football players, as well as its production experience and experience of broadcasting live sporting events, which include the 2011 Rugby World Cup and UEFA EURO 2012.
talkSPORT has launched its talkSPORT Live digital service at talkSPORT.com, where live commentary on all 380 Barclays Premier League games in multiple languages, including English, Spanish and Mandarin will be available outside of the European Economic Area . The station has agreed a deal with the Premier League for the exclusive package of international audio broadcasting rights for the next four football seasons (2012/13 – 2015/16) and with the FA for the next six seasons.
talkSPORT has been an official broadcaster of the Barclays Premier League in the UK since 2001 and currently broadcasts 64 games per season domestically. The station is also an official broadcaster of the FA Cup and England games, with FA Cup matches also available globally on the talkSPORT Live digital service from the 2012/13 season.
Scott Taunton, Chief Executive, talkSPORT said: “I’m delighted to be working with these partners to bring our exclusive live coverage of the greatest league in the world to listeners around the globe. After one of the most exciting seasons in the history of the Premier League, we’ll be bringing all of the drama, goals and news live to fans throughout the upcoming season.”
“There are many loyal and passionate Barclays Premier League fans in Canada, and we are thrilled to bring them live coverage of marque games across TSN and TEAM radio stations,” said Robert Gray, Program Director, TSN Radio. “As we saw with UEFA EURO 2012, talkSPORT delivers exceptional coverage keeping fans up to date on all of the action as it happens.”
Matt Hunt, Sport Director, Radio Sport said: “It’s exciting for us to be associated with the world’s biggest sports radio station, and one of the world’s biggest sporting competitions.”
Samuel Attah-Mensah, Managing Director, Citi FM said: “This is great news for our teeming listeners who have been waiting patiently for this announcement for the past two seasons. Our live commentary of the Barclays Premier League and the FA Cup, reinforces Citi 97.3 FM as the relevant radio partner for Ghanaian audiences, with a balanced mix of the most authoritative news function, backed by innovative listener-driven programs in sport, business and events.”
Dr Larry Izamoje, Chairman/CEO, Brila FM said: “The English league has given many Nigerian players the platform for global recognition and we are extremely delighted to partner talkSPORT in bringing our listeners mankind’s most followed matches -the games of the Barclays Premier League now on radio.”