Letv will broadcast Chinese Super League matches to Chinese soccer fans in 2016 and 2017 under an agreement worth several billion yuan.
Letv and China Sport Media, a subsidiary of China Media Capital, yesterday announced cooperation in capital, content and marketing for new media broadcasting of CSL games from this year. Letv was said to pay 2.7 billion yuan ($414 million) for the online broadcasting rights of CSL matches in 2016 and 2017. But both sides declined to confirm the figure.
"The Internet and high technologies are catalysts for the CSL development," said Ma Chengquan, chairman of CSL Corp. "It also improves brand awareness of CSL globally."
In September, CSM spent 8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) to win the rights to produce live video content for the matches under a four-year deal.
Letv plans to charge users for watching 240 CSL matches broadcast online annually.