The Premier League has been forced to go back to market with its rights for Southeast Asia after a deal with Facebook fell through, according to SportBusiness.
The social media giant agreed a deal in May last year to land coverage of the English top flight in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia before securing an agreement in Vietnam a month later, but it has now emerged that neither deal was finalised.
The Premier League reportedly entered a 'standstill agreement' with Facebook, giving the social media platform an exclusive period of negotiation as the highest bidder. However, the two parties apparently failed to agree on a number of issues after eight months of talks, and have now decided not to go through with the deal.
The contract, which was worth a reported UK£200 million, was due to kick in next season and covered the three campaigns from then until the end of the 2021/2022 campaign.
The Premier League will now be forced to put the rights back on the market and find a new broadcast partner for the region.
The league could turn to either BeIN Sports or Fox Sports Asia, both of which were reported to have been outbid by Facebook when the rights originally went to tender.
