Facebook deal part of changed climate

THERE are a couple of very busy staff in FIFA who have spent a good portion of the World Cup trawling social media to find improper use of clips that belong to rights holders.

Slow-motion shots of Jordan Pickford’s amazing late save for England against Colombia were culled in the aftermath.

That’s just the way the world works with the current rights deal but it will be interesting to see if the climate has changed by the time 2022 comes around.

It was reported yesterday that Facebook have secured a deal for Premier League rights in Asia from 2019 onwards with 380 games set to be shown in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos via the social media company.

Amazon have already secured rights to Premier League games in the UK and while the World Cup is a monster in terms of the value of rights, the profile of future deals might have to change.

FIFA will always find a way to monetise it. With illegal streams all over the internet, high-quality legal ones are the natural way forward.