Nine Entertainment has extended its exclusive Australian broadcast and streaming rights to the Premier League through the 2033/34 season, locking in a six-year renewal reportedly worth around $800 million despite having two full seasons still remaining on its current contract, which runs through 2027/28.
The early extension, announced Thursday, keeps every Premier League match live and exclusive on Stan Sport, Nine's subscription streaming service, with select fixtures also simulcast on free-to-air and broadcast channels under Nine's existing rights structure. The 2026/27 season only kicked off weeks ago, making this one of the more aggressive early renewals in Australian sports media in recent memory.
Nine Entertainment CEO Matt Stanton called the Premier League "a genuine game-changer" for the business, while Nine's Managing Director of Streaming & Broadcast, Amanda Laing, said the league's rights have been "one of the largest drivers of subscriptions in Stan Sport history." That framing matters: Nine is explicitly crediting a single overseas sports property, not local cricket or rugby league, as the biggest lever on its direct-to-consumer subscriber base.
The timing is the real story. Rights holders typically wait until close to a contract's expiry to renegotiate, using the leverage of an open market to test competing bids. By moving two years early, Nine effectively removed the Premier League from any future tender process — a defensive play against streaming rivals such as Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, or DAZN, all of which have shown appetite for premium live football rights in other markets.
It also reflects a broader pattern across football's international rights sales: leagues and their local partners increasingly favor certainty and long-term partnership over shopping rights to the highest bidder every cycle, provided the incumbent is willing to pay a premium for exclusivity and early commitment.
For Stan, the deal cements football as the anchor of its sports vertical, which competes with News Corp's Foxtel/Kayo ecosystem for Australian sports subscribers. Stan Sport was built initially around rugby and tennis rights before the Premier League became its marquee live-sport product, reshaping how the streamer positions itself against pay-TV incumbents.
The reported $800 million figure, if accurate over six years, implies annual value in the vicinity of $130-140 million — a substantial sum for a single overseas market of Australia's size, underscoring how much value the Premier League commands even outside its core UK broadcast markets like Sky, TNT Sports and NBC in the US.
For the Premier League itself, the extension adds another long-term, high-value international rights partner to a portfolio that has become one of sport's most reliable revenue engines, with international rights increasingly rivaling the value of the league's domestic UK deals.
The deal also sends a signal to other Australian rights holders and leagues currently negotiating their own media contracts: streaming services are willing to pay up and lock in premium live sport years ahead of expiry, a dynamic that should strengthen the negotiating position of other football and cricket properties heading into their own renewal windows.
Why it matters
The early, pre-emptive nature of the deal shows rights holders locking in premium live football before rival bidders (or streamers like Amazon/DAZN) can drive up the next cycle's price — and confirms football, not domestic leagues, is now the top subscription driver for Australian streaming services.
Builder angle
What to watch next
Sources
- Nine for Brands media release Official Nine Entertainment release confirming deal terms and executive quotes
- Variety Australia Confirms deal length, CEO and streaming exec quotes
- Sydney Morning Herald Reports the ~$800m deal value