June 4 – The Premier League clubs meeting today are expected to rubberstamp a domestic TV schedule that will see 33 of the remaining 92 fixtures broadcast free to air.
Sky, BT Sport, BBC and Amazon are splitting the remaining fixtures that will be played from June 17 and across six weekends with mid-week games around June 24, July 8 and July 15.
Sky have the bulk of the games with 64, of which 25 will be free-to-air. BT Sport has 20 games and currently all are still scheduled to be aired behind a pay wall.
The BBC, for the first time, will broadcast a Premier League fixture which will likely be Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace at 8pm on Saturday June 20. The public broadcaster has three other matches. The BBC’s Premier League rights have until now only seen highlights on the long-running Match of the Day.
Amazon, who debuted as a Premier League partner earlier this season, is making its four additional live matches available for free on its Prime Video streaming platform. In December Amazon’s Premier League broadcasts were considered a major subscription driving success for its Prime service, with a peak of 2 million viewers registered for Liverpool’s 5-2 win over Everton.
That return match of the Merseyside derby will now be aired on Sky and free to air, and may be Liverpool’s title-winning game.
Premier League bosses are also discussing today how the league would be settled if it had to be curtailed, as well as whether to bring in the new five subs rule.
Outstanding issues over whether some games will be played at neutral venues for fear of fans gathering outside home grounds will likely remain predominantly a matter for local police authorities, however it is looking increasingly likely that fears are lessening over potential dangers of fan gatherings.
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