Ordinary Gweilo

Well, I wasn’t expecting that.  LeTV out-bid Cable TV and PCCW’s Now TV for English Premier League (EPL) TV rights in Hong Kong, paying US$400 million (double the value of Now TV’s current agreement).  They had a big launch event this week – and then promptly sold the broadcast TV rights on to Now TV.

Which presumably leaves LeTV with the streaming rights, with speculation that they might offer individual games or a "season pass" (for all of one team’s matches), but nothing has been confirmed.

It should at least be better than the hopeless "Now Player" (I gave up on that after losing the connection three times in the first few minutes of the only EPL game I tried to watch).  

LeTV’s streaming service only recently launched in Hong Kong, so it makes some sort of sense for them.  Well, possibly – in the UK it worked for Sky, but not for ITV Digital or Setanta Sports UK (both closed down after over paying for rights), and I suppose it has helped Now TV in Hong Kong (who first acquired the rights in 2007, only to lose them to Cable TV three years later).

Apparently some of the games will be available in 4K.  That’s no use to me – my TV only supports 720p (what they used to call "HD ready") and I already have Now TV’s so-called "Super HD" service (which I believe is 576p).  

Meanwhile, in other streaming news, Netflix have announced that they will launch in Hong Kong early next year.