Hutchison 3G UK Ltd. (‘Hutchison 3G’), holder of the UK’s largest third generation mobile phone licence, today announced that it has reached an agreement with the F.A. Premier League to secure the rights to provide Premier League content to mobile phones and wireless devices.
The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Under the agreement, Hutchison 3G will hold Premier League rights for all mobile technologies including GSM and UMTS from August 2001 until July 2004. These rights will enable Hutchison 3G to provide top-level football content to customers using its 3G networks in the UK and Ireland.
Following this announcement, Hutchison 3G has now become the Official Mobile Service Partner of the F.A. Premier League. Along with a range of other Premiership content and official data, customers in the UK and Ireland will be able to receive the following on mobile devices:
– Footage of selected goals seconds after they have been scored
– Clips of matches
– Match commentaries
– Archive material
– Still photographs
– Match results
– Goal scorers
– Full fixture listings
Colin Tucker, Managing Director of Hutchison 3G said: ‘We are putting together a wide range of sports services for customers, ahead of our launch in 2002, and this is a great starting point for us. We believe these rights give us a head start on our competitors and will be a strong subscription driver at launch. Football supporters are major users of mobile phones and online services, so we feel this will make our products very attractive.’
Richard Scudamore, Chief Executive of the F.A. Premier League, said: ‘We welcome Hutchison 3G as the Official Mobile Service Partner of the F.A. Premier League. This is the first time that the F.A. Premier League has sold mobile rights and we are sure that Hutchison 3G will be able to provide a valuable and innovative range of new services for football fans to enjoy up and down the country.’
James Strachan, Head of Sport at Hutchison 3G said: ‘Football is the most widely followed sport in the UK, around 17 million men and women watch it regularly on television and football supporters are some of the most passionate and enthusiastic fans in the UK. We believe that this announcement is great news not only for the fans, but also for the sport as a whole and we look forward to working with the F.A. Premier League, the clubs and the industry to make mobile football services a reality.’
For further information, please contact:
Edward Brewster
Hutchison 3G
020 7887 7869
Andrew Humber
Hutchison 3G
020 7887 7843
Craig Breheny
Brunswick
020 7396 7429
Dan Johnson
FAPL
020 7298 1690