Paramount has offered its full support to The Australian Professional Leagues (APL), the entity that operates the A-Leagues, as the company behind its television production went into administration yesterday.
Global Advance has been responsible for producing all A-League matches since 2021, and brings the games to the screens of Network 10 and Paramount+.
Global Advance is employed by the APL to provide all production facilities for all matches: six games a round. The production agreement was between APL and Global Advance, meaning Global Advance was a production partner of the APL, rather than Paramount.
A Paramount spokesperson said the company has offered its full support to the APL in securing another production facilities partner.
“Paramount Australia has been informed that the APL’s third-party production facilities provider, Global Advance, has gone into administration. We are confident that this will not affect the coverage of the A-Leagues going forward with football fans able to watch all the live action and excitement as scheduled,” it said.
NEP, which produces most other sports codes in Australia, is most likely to take over the contract, ensuring that the rest of the 2023-24 season will continue to be televised.
“Through a lot of hard work by a new production company, Ten-Paramount, and our team, we are close to finalising an agreement and are confident all matches will be broadcast,” an APL spokesperson said.
“There are many challenges that such a short timeframe presents, but we are working through this urgently with all of our stakeholders, and we thank the production company for their cooperation, flexibility and expertise at such short notice.”
The news comes as the APL made nearly half of its roles redundant in January, in a move to stabilise the body amid financial issues. Most of the staff let go were from the APL’s digital content arm, KeepUp.
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