The two rival sports streaming services could end up as one, with DAZN in talks to acquire its rival. The move follows DAZN’s last minute failure to acquire BT Sport.
According to the FT, discussions have reached an “advanced stage”. Despite this, there’s no guarantee of success.
DAZN is owned by billionaire Len Blavatnik. The company is working aggressively to expand globally, with new content rights deals. So far, it has failed to gain much of a foothold in the UK, but is already dominant in a number of European countries.
Eleven Sports was briefly available in the UK, acquiring the UK rights for a number of global football leagues. It failed to gain much traction and closed down its UK service. Eleven currently holds F1 rights in Poland and Premier League rights in Portugal.
Late last year, DAZN was the front runner to buy BT Sport. In a last minute twist, Discovery – immediately before its merger with Warner Bros – swooped to secure a joint venture deal with BT. The deal will give Warner Bros Discovery the option to fully take over the joint venture from BT in the coming years.