Italy: Eleven Sports takes a majority stake in Sportube, will be rebranded to Eleven Sports in 2017

Eleven Sports Network have established a presence in Italy by taking a majority stake in the OTT platform Sportube, the British audiovisual group announced on 10/05/2017. Sportube will take the name "Eleven Sports" in Italy in the summer of 2017.

Sportube.tv, founded in 2010, was the first Italian OTT service dedicated to sports. The platform has multiple agreements with Italian sports leagues, notably with the Lega Pro, the third division of Italian football (three groups of 20 teams each), for the full broadcast rights to the league. The matches of 162 Italian amateur football teams are also broadcast on Sportube, as well as other sports such as volleyball, water polo, and motor sports (Superbike, Motocross, Enduro, etc).

"The acquisition of a majority stake in Sportube - a successful, profitable business with a loyal following - presents a fantastic opportunity for Eleven and we are very excited about the growth opportunities for this business in Italy and beyond," said Marc Watson, executive chairman of Eleven Sports, on 10/05/2017.

Sportube: 4.3 million unique visitors in 2015-16