Integrated Sports Media has acquired the pay-per-view rights to more than 40 CONCACAF World Cup qualifying matches ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Securing the WC qualifying rights from Traffic Sports USA, Integrated plans to sublicense the matches to residential pay-per-view providers, including In Demand, Avail-TVN, DirecTV and Dish, as well as bars/restaurants. It will also stream the games, comprising the first, second and final rounds of the qualifying, which ultimately will yield a trio of national teams from the region to the 2014 World Cup.
Doug Jacobs, president of Integrated Sports Media, the Hoboken, N.J. -headquartered sports television, athlete marketing and corporate consultancy, said that 24 nations will comprise six groups, the winners of which will join the U.S. Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Cuba and Honduras in the final CONCACAF qualifying stage.
First-round telecasts airing between September and November feature such teams as El Salvador, Guatemala and Haiti.
From June through October 2012, Integrated Sports will proffer second-round action showcasing action with El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Canada, Costa Rica and Panama.
Finally, as the 2014 World Cup gets closer and teams are battling it out for their spot in soccer's biggest and most important event, Integrated Sports delivers hexagonal (final) round qualifying action that will determine three berths for the World Cup. The final round matches take place between February and October 2013, leading up to the World Cup in Brazil.
Although it has forged its place in the PPV world principally boxing and mixed martial arts, Integrated held some home-game PPV rights to matches involving Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago and El Salvador during the last WC qualifying cycle, as well as the two play-in games between Uruguay and Costa Rica that determined the 32nd and final team in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Jacobs said those matches produced "nice results" and believes interest from the Hispanic community will make this expansive package of WC attractive. He expects that 75% of Integrated's revenue will emanate from deals it concludes with the residential PPV purveyors, with matches carrying a suggested retail of $24.95. He said it would be up to the PPV distributors, which he expects to have officially in the fold following the draw's announcement, to determine whether they want to sell longer subscription packages.
