Sky News Arabia inks EPL football TV deal

Sky News Arabia, the new breaking news channel operating in the Middle East, has signed an agreement to broadcast highlights from the English Premier League.

The 24-hour Arabic channel, which launched on May 6, will broadcast the league highlights as part of a wider deal with Abu Dhabi Media, which owns the exclusive broadcast rights to the Barclays Premier League in the Middle East.

The news channel, a joint venture BSkyB and Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corp, will broadcast to an estimated 50m households across the Middle East and North Africa.

Viewers will be able to stay abreast of current and future seasons of the Barclays Premier League, enjoying clips of the latest action and previews of upcoming matches, Sky News Arabia said in a statement.

Under the agreement, Sky News Arabia will broadcast significant highlights of the Barclays Premier League footage as part of its sports news bulletins, two hours after each match with pre- and post-match and half time footage available in real time.

Barclays Premier League fans will also be able to re-live the action whenever they want to by going on to Sky News Arabia's website, which hosts all the broadcasted highlights.

Ali El Garni, sports editor at Sky News Arabia, said: "The Barclays Premier League is undoubtedly one of the top football leagues in the world and it has a huge following across the Arab world.

"I couldn't be more excited about bringing the league action to our viewers to be able to engage with Arab football fans through Sky News Arabia's multimedia platforms."

Mohammed Najeeb, head of Abu Dhabi Al Riyadiya Channels - Abu Dhabi Media's sports broadcasting department, added: "Our new partnership with Sky News Arabia will allow us to further extend the reach of the league to even more viewers across the Middle East with these new game highlights."

Sky News Arabia will be covering the last match of the current Barclays Premier League season directly from the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.