LeSports Acquires Exclusive Global Broadcast Rights for China's Top Football League and Launches Ambitious Plan to Expand Overseas Viewership

LeSports Acquires Exclusive Global Broadcast Rights for China's Top Football League and Launches Ambitious Plan to Expand Overseas Viewership

HONG KONG, Feb. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- LeSports, sports arm of LeEco, announced a wide-ranging strategic partnership with Ti'ao Dongli (also known as China Sports Media), headlined by exclusive global broadcast rights covering five seasons for China's top football league, the Chinese Super League (CSL). LeSports will live stream CSL matches starting in 2016 in mainland China, the U.S., Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Canada, and much of Southeast Asia. The move is a significant win for LeSports, as it continues to disrupt the global sports industry with its ecosystem of content, smart devices, event operations, and customer service.

Both companies also announced a cross-shareholding plan and agreed to leverage their strengths and expertise in working toward expanding global viewership of the CSL. Chinese American users residing in the U.S. will be able to view live-streaming CSL matches through LeEco's ecosystem of smart devices, which includes smart TVs and set-top boxes. CEO of LeSports, Zhenjian Lei, said: "LeSports is constantly trying to break through the bottleneck of traditional broadcasting using the Internet and innovation. We believe that with Ti'ao Dongli, we will be able to explore new ways to amplify and commercialize the CSL on its way to globalization using our Internet-powered platforms. This will be revolutionary and exemplary for the entire Chinese sports industry, while also being a part of LeSports' ecosystem to profit from upstream to downstream."

The partnership attracted the attention of several Chinese government authorities who attended the signing ceremony including: Han Zhiyu, General secretary of Beijing copyright protection union (Beijing Municipal Bureau of Copyright); Ma Chengquan, chairman of the Chinese Football Association Super League, and other special guests.

Chairman Ma said: "An opportunity for the development of China's future in football was made with this change. All clubs in the CSL are set to increase investment in 2016 to attract better players. I believe that in 2016 the CSL will become more exciting, and I hope LeSports and Ti'ao Dongli will elevate the global impact and brand value, as well as the broad reach and depth of the CSL with their Internet-based broadcasting innovations."

Han Zhiyu said: "There is great market potential in China's sports industry, and to encourage innovation is an obligation of the copyright protection union. The government will strengthen its market surveillance and fight against piracy to provide a better market and legal environment for the growth and development of the sports industry."

A New Era of Internet Live Broadcasting with the CSL

Starting with the 2016 season, LeSports and its subsidiaries Zhangyu TV and Soda Soccer will live stream all 240 CSL matches in high definition, allowing hundreds of millions of fans across the world to view the matches live anywhere, anytime. As part of the five-season partnership, LeSports is also planning to launch a new product in 2018 that requires users to pay for watching CSL games online.

Chairman of Ti'ao Dongli Li Yidong said: "Ti'ao Dongli is a leading firm of sports production and media rights distribution in China's sports industry. We're all duty-bound people, willing to help China to revolutionize its football industry to new heights with our multi-method broadcasting, a plethora of programs and various modes of profit towards bringing the CSL to the international market as well as Internetizing the structure of the CSL. With world leading leagues in mind as competitors, we will make every effort to help increase the value of the CSL and drive the reform of China's football industry to a virtuous circle."

An Eco-sports Company Across the Entire Industrial Chain

With its cutting-edge platforms and innovative business model, LeSports is poised to deliver a next-gen sports broadcasting experience. In 2016, LeSports will work with Ti'ao Dongli to test and implement high-speed cameras, 360 degree panoramic shots, as well as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technology. In order to encourage direct user participation, LeSports will invite sports fans from around the country to host CSL matches on Zhangyu TV.

LeSports will also break the tradition of only broadcasting on the weekends, with programming during the week ranging from "CSL Tactician" to "CSL Face-to-Face," and "CSL Stats" to satisfy even the most hardcore of fans.

The partnership with Ti'ao Dongli is the latest significant achievement of LeSports, and adds to other exclusive deals, including live streaming rights for Major League Baseball in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau; Wimbledon from 2016-2018; the English Premier League in Hong Kong from 2016-2019, and a five-year global partnership with Association of Tennis Professionals.

About LeSports

LeSports is China's leading Internet-based eco-sports company known for its unique business model spanning event operation, content platform, smart devices, and value-added service. With its motto of "Your Participation, Our Goal," LeSports strives to create a sports system that covers the whole industrial chain, integrate sports resources from around the world, enhance the integration of technologies into sports and promote an overall upgrading of the sports industry. In March 2014, LeSports was officially established into an eco-sports company covering the entire industrial chain. LeSports is a subsidiary of LeEco and is privately funded.

With its comprehensive content platform, LeSports now hold media rights over 280 sports events covering 30,000 matches. With its abundant sports rights, LeSports is now known as the biggest sports media empire in the industry. LeSports launched its first smart device, the Super Bike, in August 2015, with many more products already in the research and development stage. The company continues to offer a variety of services, including O2O training, gaming, e-commerce, ticketing and more. As an event organizer, LeSports introduced the International Champions Cup (ICC) into China, oversaw the operation and promotion of the Women's Super League and mass participating events including several marathon and road running scheme.

For more information, please visit www.lesports.com.

About LeEco

Founded in November 2004 by Jia Yueting, Le Holdings is committed to creating the "Le Ecosystem," a next-generation Internet engine that is vertically-integrated to offer an online platform complete with content, device and application. Le Holdings is engaged in a rich array of businesses, spanning from Internet TV, video production and distribution, smart gadgets and large-screen applications to e-commerce and Internet-based electric vehicles. Le Holdings comprises a number of subsidiaries, including Le.com, Le Vision Pictures, Le Holdings, Le Finance and Le Mobile. In 2014, the aggregate sales of Le Holdings amounted to approximately RMB 10 billion.

Le.com made history on August 12, 2010 when it was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, making it the world's first IPO company in the sector. Le.com was also the first video company listed on China's A-share market. Prolific as well as successful, Le.com currently offers more than 100,000 episodes of TV dramas and over 5,000 movie titles. In addition, the site draws an estimated 250 million page views per day, 350 million users per month, 100 million daily content viewers on mobile devices, and 10 million daily content viewers on large-screen TVs.

LeEco Hong Kong, as the headquarters of Asia Pacific region, was officially set up in August 2014, marking an important milestone of the company's expansion in the overseas market. The company provides Hong Kong with an established vertically integrated ecosystem of "Platform + Content + Terminal + Application". LeEco has held 13 online flash sales in Hong Kong, with thousands of smart devices sold on every occasion. Currently, LeEco Hong Kong offers various sales channels for users, including online pre-ordering services and 1,800+ offline outlets in Hong Kong and Macau. As the only entertainment platform with over 1,500 hours of 4K programs in Hong Kong, LeEco has always been committed to providing rich and diverse online content including movies, dramas, variety shows and concerts to its fans.

For more LeEco information, please visit:

Website: http://www.leeco.com
Online Store: LeMall.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LeEcoHK

SOURCE LeEco

LeEco

CONTACT: Will Ip, LeEco, +852-3128-9305, willip@letv.com; Karris Law, +852-3128-9304, karrislaw@letv.com; Nelson Leung, +852-2114-4345, +852-6023-4862, +852-2114-0880, nelson.leung@sprg.com.hk; Pam Leung, +852-2114-4984, +852-6220-2281, +852-2114-0880, pam.leung@sprg.com.hk

Web Site: http://www.lesports.com


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