By Paul Nicholson
June 7 – The final Premier League TV rights packages for the UK have been awarded with Amazon swooping in with a groundbreaking deal that breaks Sky and BT’s grip on the broadcast of live games in the UK.
Amazon will livestream exclusive coverage of 20 matches a season online from 2019 to 2021. Amazon’s UK Prime Video subscribers will be able to watch 10 Premier League matches over one bank holiday and another 10 during one midweek round of matches.
No figure was announced for the rights buy but it was released that BT will pay £90 million over three years for the final UK package of 20 live and exclusive mid-week games each season.
Under the new TV arrangement that starts August 2019 BT will pay £975 million over three years for 52 live games per season, while Sky will pay £3.75 billion for 127 live games a season.
The introduction of Amazon to the broadcast mix is the first time the Premier League will have been streamed in the UK and puts a Premier League toe in the water with the world’s fast growing and big money technology led broadcasters.
While the Premier League is understood not to have achieved the price it wanted for breaking out exclusive live streaming rights packages, it nevertheless potentially opens the door wider for the next round of TV rights negotiation to the giants of Amazon, Facebook, YouTube and Netflix. As Sky and BT shows signs of having reached the limit of what they will pay for the rights, the path for the OTT broadcasters to step in and both gain a dominant foothold in the UK market, as well as push value on for the Premier League, has been smoothed open.
“We are always looking to add more value to Prime, and we’re delighted to now offer, for the first time, live Premier League matches to Prime members at no extra cost to their membership,” said Jay Marine, Vice President of Prime Video in Europe. “The Premier League is the most watched sports league in the world. Over these two December fixture rounds Prime members will be able to watch every team, every game, so no matter which Premier League team you support, you’re guaranteed to see them play live on Prime Video.”
Amazon has been building its sports rights inventory, having bought the rights to US Open tennis and via a deal with Eurosport providing access to the Australian and French Opens.
Amazon also outbid Sky in a £50m deal for the UK rights to the ATP World Tour. In the US Amazon has paid $130 million for non-exclusive livestreaming of NFL games.
Dani Warner, TV expert at price comparison website uSwitch.com, said: “For (UK) consumers, the commitment of watching Premier League matches for the 2019 season alone – across Amazon, Sky and BT – now starts at £966 and may well give even diehard fans pause for thought.
“Savvier consumers can strategically sign up to Prime Video towards the start of December, which means that football fans can catch a bumper day of sport on Boxing Day while keeping the kids happy with Amazon’s selection of festive favourites. For just £7.99 – or £2 more – families could also take advantage of Prime’s free delivery service just in time for Christmas.”
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