In the high-stakes race to control soccer TV rights in China, with a potential market of hundreds of millions of fans, an electronics retailer is betting up to $2 billion that could give it a near monopoly on broadcasting the sport at home.
Suning Commerce Group, a retail conglomerate with annual revenue of around $22 billion, owns Italian soccer club Inter Milan, and is fast securing the rights to air matches from Europe's top leagues in China. It already owns rights to Spain's La Liga and the Chinese Super League, has bought future seasons of top-flight German and English soccer, and is looking to secure Italy's Serie A and Asian soccer, three people familiar with its plans said.
Suning's rise to prominence is all part of China's power-grab in world soccer, with Chinese clubs paying top dollar for star players and Chinese tycoons buying clubs across Europe.
Backed by Beijing, China's domestic sporting market - from soccer to basketball and beyond - could be worth 5 trillion yuan ($740 billion) by 2025.
Key to a share of that profit is the right to show matches from major leagues, and Suning's PPTV video streaming website is sweeping most rivals out of the way. Competition from Sina Sports and technology giant Tencent, though, means it's costly to stay out in front.
