US social media giants to seek online rights from Fox Inc for soccer world cup highlights: Report

Facebook Inc, **Twitter Inc** , and Snap Inc are seeking online rights to video highlights from Twenty-first Century Fox Inc for next year’s soccer World Cup, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

The companies have offered tens of millions of dollars for rights to video highlights for the Russia-hosted tournament that air in the United States, Bloomberg reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.  Fox will retain rights to use highlights of the World Cup across its shows, Bloomberg reported, citing the people.

Social media companies have beefed up their focus on signing live-streaming sports deals as young audience increasingly rely on the internet to watch sports, ditching the traditional cable services. Fox Sports said last month it partnered with Facebook to live-stream UEFA Champions League matches during the 2017-18 season.

Social media’s growing interest in video, including sports, gives Fox a potential new source of revenue for the games as well as a tool to promote its coverage, Bloomberg said. Twenty-first Century Fox, Facebook, Twitter, and Snap were not immediately available to comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

**Earlier this year** , Twitter had allowed media firms to live stream videos directly into the services. On February 28, Twitter, in partnership with PBS Newshour had live streamed Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress.

Reuters