Telecommunications giant Optus has sensationally won the digital and broadcast rights to the English Premier League in Australia, pipping long-term holder Fox Sports in a shake-up of sports broadcasting.

The shock three-year deal was announced on Monday morning, with industry analysts suggesting the telco could have paid around $50 million annually.

Fox Sports has broadcast the league since the late 1990s and put in a "strong and realistic" bid to retain the rights, saying they were disappointed to lose them.

Qatar-owned broadcaster BeIN Sports is also understood to have bid.

The English Premier League is the most watched sports league in the world and Optus has won the broadcast rights in Australia to all 380 matches each season.

It is unclear how Optus will use the rights, with a spokesperson saying the telco was currently exploring options for distribution.

"Our goal is to make this content available to as many fans as possible but we're not going into to detail about distribution platforms at this stage," said the spokesperson.

"We'll have more to say about this in due course."

That could mean on-selling rights to other existing broadcasters, an online subscription model, or a new platform for distributing the matches to the EPL's millions of fans in Australia.

Sorry, this video has expired English Premier League broadcast rights scooped by Optus from Fox Sports ( Elysse Morgan )

The move into football by Optus comes after the company secured Cricket Australia's digital rights last month, making good on a previous pledge to become a strong player in sports broadcasting.

A senior Australian football figure said the deal's value suggested football had landed as a major sport, with broadcast values only improving.

The move is likely to have flow-on effects for other broadcast deals, including the A-League.

The domestic league is screened on SBS2 and Fox Sports, and - due to the English Premier League's poor viewing times for Australians - receives stronger audiences.

Football Federation Australia is seeking a re-negotiation of the current broadcast deal, which would include a move to a more popular free-to-air channel.

Fox Sports, which is part-owned by Optus' telco rival Telstra, said it was "disappointed" to lose the rights as the league's foundation broadcast partner in Australia.

AAP