Optus announces streaming packages for English Premier League 2016/17 season

Britain Football Soccer - Manchester United v Leicester City - Barclays Premier League - Old Trafford - 1/5/16 Manchester United's Wayne Rooney warms up before the game Action Images via Reuters / Jason Cairnduff

Optus is making the most of its exclusive broadcast and digital rights to the English Premier League. The telco has unveiled the pricing for the 2016/17 season of the EPL, with the lowest add-on fee at $15 per month.

In November, Australia’s second largest telco confirmed it won the bid for the exclusive rights to the EPL from Foxtel, making English football fans wonder how exactly Optus would deliver.

Wonder no more. On Wednesday, Optus has announced options on how their customers can get their EPL fix. As entailed on its exclusive rights, Optus only offers this feature to subscribers on select broadband plans. Pre-paid mobile, home wireless broadband and other older selected postpaid mobile and mobile broadband plans are not eligible.

Newer postpaid mobile, mobile broadband and home broadband bundle plans may receive the EPL package for an additional $15 per month, while eligible plans that cost at least $85 monthly will have the EPL package included at no extra cost.

Click here for the list of qualified plans.

EPL streaming is also data-free. Subscribers with eligible plans can stream English football games without worrying about consuming their data. Optus is promising live access to all 380 games of the English Premier League 2016-17 season, including shows featuring EPL news and analysis.

Subscriptions will come with access to a new website that supports up to four screens, which can come in handy when games are on at the same time. The telco also promised to launch new mobile and tablet apps, as well as a dedicated website that can allow customers to synch up to four devices.

Access to the 24/7 EPL channel will be available as well through Yes TV by Fetch set-top box and Yes TV by Fetch Mini device. For those who live in areas where there is no Optus broadband service or those whose home broadband service doesn’t support HD video content, a satellite option is available for an added fee.

Ben White, the managing director of Marketing and Product, is confident the EPL can convince non-Optus subscribers to switch to the company.

“While you’ll need to be an Optus customer to get all the EPL action, Optus research shows that close to two in three (63 percent) football fans, who are not already Optus customers, are out of contract for at least one of their fixed broadband or mobile services,” he said. “We’re confident that when these fans see our range of great value EPL-ready plans, they’ll be convinced that now’s the right time to switch.”

He continued, “And for those not quite ready to make that extra commitment, we also have a great postpaid BYO mobile plan that will provide access to the EPL.”

Pre-order of the service will open on May 15.

Earlier this week, Optus announced unlimited Internet data for its new and recontracting customers. It also offered data-free music streaming for its prepaid customers.

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