STV Group PLC STV ANNOUNCES NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH PREMIER SPORTS

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STV Group PLC

03 September 2019

   PRESS RELEASE                 PRESS RELEASE                 PRESS RELEASE 

STV ANNOUNCES NEW SPORTS PARTNERSHIP

WITH PREMIER SPORTS

3 September 2019

STV has today announced a new partnership with pay television sports broadcaster, Premier Sports and their free-to-air sister channel, FreeSports. The partnership will initially cover two distinct areas with scope to develop and extend as both STV and Premier Sports continue to grow their audiences.

Through this new deal, the STV Player will become the first partner to host a live stream of 24-hour sports channel, FreeSports, providing an 'always on' sports offering on the STV Player.

Sports fans will be able to keep up with events around the clock with highlights and live coverage from the UK and global sporting calendars, including up to 10 live football matches a week from Major League Soccer (MLS), Liga NOS and Serie A. In addition to football, sports covered include international rugby, ice hockey, motorsports, boxing, wrestling, pool, cycling and equestrian events.*

STV will also become the exclusive advertising sales agent for Premier Sports' subscription services, Premier Sports 1 and Premier Sports 2, across all of their broadcast and digital platforms as they continue to build market share in the UK. The advertising sales agreement is for a term of three years.

Launched in 2009, Premier Sports holds exclusive live UK and Republic of Ireland TV rights to Guinness PRO14 Rugby (UK only), Premier League (ROI only), Scottish Cup Football, Serie A, Eredivisie, NHL, NASCAR and GAA.

The new deal builds on STV's experience of marketing Scotland's biggest commercial broadcast channel (STV) and biggest commercial video-on-demand service (STV Player) where digital revenues were up 19% in the first half of 2019. Harnessing STV's expertise in providing effective marketing solutions on broadcast and around premium digital content, the new partnership will ensure advertisers can target their products and services to Premier Sports subscribers across the UK.

Peter Reilly, STV's Commercial Director, said: "This partnership will provide our viewers on STV Player with access to 24-hour sports coverage. In addition to the wide range of original and archive content already available, FreeSports will further strengthen the STV Player as Scotland's content destination of choice.

"We are also delighted to be appointed as exclusive sales agent for Premier Sports. STV is Scotland's pre-eminent advertising platform and we look forward to bringing our expertise and proven track record of working with advertisers to drive growth for Premier Sports across their digital and broadcast platforms."

Richard Sweeney, Chief Executive Officer, Premier Sports, said: "We are thrilled to partner with STV as we look to continue growth across our three channels with ever increasing sports content.

"The addition of FreeSports to the STV Player is a welcome boost for fans of the channel and will be a huge hit with users of the STV Player."

Ends

For further information, please contact the STV press office:

Katie Martin

0141 300 3109

[e-mail]

Notes to editors

About STV

STV is Scotland's home of news and entertainment, serving audiences with quality content on air, online and on demand.

STV's broadcast channel, accessible free-to-air on all the main TV platforms in Scotland, reaches 3.5 million viewers each month and is home to some of the biggest and most popular shows on television.

The channel's first-class content includes soaps Emmerdale and Coronation Street, big drama productions, entertainment hits Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor, strong home-grown productions and Scotland's best, most comprehensive and most trusted news service. Flagship news programme STV News at Six continues to grow its audience share.

STV Productions is one of the UK's leading content businesses with ambitious plans for domestic and international growth. The company has an impressive track-record of success across genres including drama, entertainment and factual, with commissions from a wide range of broadcasters.

Highlights include iconic game show Catchphrase for ITV, ratings winner Antiques Road Trip for BBC One, peak-time entertainment show Sex Tape, which recently aired on Channel 4, and documentaries Ross Kemp Behind Bars - Inside Barlinnie for ITV and Scotland and the Battle for Britain for BBC Two. In drama, four-part thriller The Victim for BBC One, starring Kelly Macdonald and John Hannah, was watched by more than 7.2 million people, and STV Productions has also confirmed a second BBC drama commission - 90 minute drama Elizabeth is Missing which will star two time Academy Award winner Glenda Jackson in the lead role.

STV recently acquired a majority stake in award-winning unscripted producer Primal Media.

About STV Player

The STV Player, STV's online VoD service, offers a fantastic range of exclusive, live and on demand content to viewers in STV's broadcast licence areas. With over three million registered users, the STV Player is one of the fastest growing on-demand platforms in the UK as it continues to develop as Scotland's digital destination.

STV favourites such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Britain's Got Talent and The Voice are available to view free of charge live and for up to 30 days. Viewers can also catch up on the latest news and discussions with STV News at Six and Scotland Tonight, and watch series box sets and favourites from the STV archive including top dramas Taggart and Rebus.

Recent highlights on the STV Player include dramas Manhunt, Cheat and The Bay which was the biggest catch up drama series ever on the Player. Deep Water starring Anna Friel is the first drama box set to premiere on the STV Player - and in the first week, became second most watched drama with more streams than Coronation Street and Emmerdale combined.

Strategic partnerships have been confirmed with both Sky and Virgin extending the reach of the STV Player to new audiences. An increasing range of content has been made available through a number of partnerships covering children's programming, sports, drama, documentaries and factual from ten domestic and international content partners: DCD Rights, Endemol Shine International, Flame Distribution, Hopster, Joe Media, Jukin Media, Kew Media, Little Dot Studios, TCB Media Rights and TVF International.

STV launched STV Player+, an ad-free subscription which offers an opportunity to watch STV programming without the adverts, download shows for offline viewing and watch abroad for the first time.

*About FreeSports

 
 Football/Soccer 
 Liga Nos                          Live 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 MLS                               Live 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 National League                   Highlights 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 Serie A                           Highlights 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 Rugby 
 Rugby union                       Highlights pre-world cup friendly 
                                    internationals e.g. Georgia 
                                    v Scotland 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 Rugby league                      Preview/chat 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 Ice Hockey 
 KHL (Kontinental Hockey League)   Live and highlights 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 CHL 2019 (Champions Hockey        Live and highlights 
  League) 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 Boxing 
 Pool 
 Shoutout Pool                     Highlights 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 IPA Premier League Pool           Live and highlights 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 Speedway/Motorcycle 
 Swedish speedway                  Live and highlights 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 FIM Trial World Championship      Highlights 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 Motorsports 
 Virgin Australia Supercars        Highlights 
  Championship 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 FIA World Rallycross              Highlights 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 Formula E                         Highlights 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 Blancplan GT Motorsports 2019     Highlights 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 Icelandic Formula Offroad         Highlights 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 Cycling 
 Bike World 2019                   Mountain biking 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 Equestrian 
 Fédération Equestre 
  Internationale 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 Wrestling 
 Major League Wrestling            Highlights 
                                  ---------------------------------- 
 

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 03, 2019 06:14 ET (10:14 GMT)