World Table Tennis, the commercial arm of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), has locked down a rights deal in its biggest market, China, renewing a gatekeeper agreement with streaming service Migu to 2028.
The new four-year contract with China Mobile’s Migu will ensure live streaming of all WTT Series events across China each year. In 2025 that includes a top-tier Grand Smash in Beijing in September.
The agreement, brokered by the IMG agency, which manages the global distribution of media rights and television production for all WTT events, includes the annual ITTF World Table Tennis Championships.
Migu and WTT first teamed up in 2021 with a four-year contract worth a record sum for the organisation. With state broadcaster CCTV an increasingly difficult negotiating partner for international sports rights-holders, WTT and IMG instead chose to deal with China Mobile, which has since acted as a gatekeeper for the rights, ensuring all events are shown on free-to-air television through a sublicensing deal with the state broadcaster.
That is expected to remain the case for the 2025-28 cycle.
SportBusiness Media reported over a year ago that a renewal with Migu was the most likely course of action for WTT and IMG.
Shen Wenhai, chairman of Migu, said today (Thursday): “Table tennis lives in the hearts of millions in China, and Migu is proud to be the digital bridge that brings fans closer to the game. WTT’s bold vision and world-class events align with Migu’s mission to create the most engaging, seamless viewing experience for sports lovers. With this renewed partnership, we’re ready to inspire the next generation of fans and deliver more must-watch moments every season.”
Steve Dainton, chief executive of the ITTF and WTT, added: “Migu has been an incredible partner in helping WTT reshape the way table tennis is seen, streamed, and celebrated in China. Their energy and commitment to digital innovation have matched our ambition from the start. With this long-term deal, we’re unlocking a future of deeper fan connection and non-stop global competition.”
WTT was created by the ITTF in 2020 to revamp the sport’s annual tour and take its events and commercial operations into the 21st century, with IMG promptly brought on board. But big plans for the first commercial rights cycle, 2021-24, were devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Exceptionally restrictive pandemic measures in China meant events could not be held there and caused travel difficulties for Chinese stars, while similarly tough pandemic responses in other Asian markets posed challenges elsewhere in the sport’s most important region.
Indeed, it was only late last year that China was able to stage its first Grand Smash of the WTT era.
Before Migu came on board, the ITTF had media rights deals in China for 2017-20 with CCTV, sports marketing company Seca, and pan-Asia pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports Asia. Seca used the rights on its streaming platform Zhibo.tv.
In doing those deals, the ITTF sold its rights directly in China and in Japan, Singapore and Taiwan. The rights in the rest of the world were sold by the Lagardère Sports (now Sportfive) agency.
Aside from China, WTT’s biggest market in terms of media rights value is Japan. Earlier this month, SportBusiness exclusively revealed that terrestrial and satellite broadcaster TV Tokyo is close to renewing its media rights agreement. A new multi-year deal would begin this year, and comprise the first-ever WTT Champions event to be held in Japan, in Yokohama in August.