China: Bilibili acquires the digital broadcasting rights to the FA Cup for three seasons (2021-2024)

The Chinese streaming platform Bilibili has acquired the exclusive digital broadcasting rights, for China, to the Emirates FA Cup for three seasons (2021-2024), on 03/12/2021. The matches will be available for free on the platform.

This agreement was negotiated by the British agency IMG, which markets the international rights to the FA Cup outside Western Europe, the Middle East and North Africa over the 2018-2024 period.

This is Bilibili's biggest acquisition of traditional sports rights. The platform, which initially specialised in gaming and animated content, had acquired the exclusive Mandarin language TV rights to the world events on the League of Legends game, including the "Worlds", the equivalent of the World Championships, for China, for the 2020-2023 period, for an estimated ¥800m (€110m), on 03/08/2020. Bilibili also acquired the broadcasting rights to Liga Endesa (Spanish basketball championship) in September 2021.

• The broadcasting rights, for China, to the Emirates FA Cup The FA Cup is an English association cup competition sponsored by Emirates an airline based in…