Kirk Van Houten
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- May 7, 2019
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Premier League agrees record £6.7bn TV rights deal
www.theguardian.com
The Premier League has agreed a new record £6.7bn domestic television deal for Sky and TNT to show up to 270 live games a season. The Saturday 3pm blackout will remain in place, but every 2pm Sunday kick-off will be televised. Sky has been awarded four of the five packages and will show a minimum of 215 matches a season including Saturday 5.30pm kick-offs, Sunday 2pm and 4.30pm kick-offs, plus evening games on Mondays and Fridays and three midweek rounds. TNT will show a minimum of 52 matches a season including all 12.30pm kick-offs on Saturdays and two midweek match rounds. Sky Sports will also broadcast all 10 matches on the final day of each season. Amazon, which shows 20 matches per season under the league's current deal, has not secured rights in the new agreement.
For the first time, all matches outside of Saturday 3pm kick-offs will be broadcast live in the UK. There will also be more midweek matchdays where games are shown simultaneously and fans can choose which to watch. This expansion of available content, and extension of the terms of the contract (with deals previously agreed over three-year periods) have enabled the Premier League to achieve what it calls “the largest sports media rights deal ever concluded in the UK”. The deal will be seen as reinforcing the Premier League’s status as the world’s most successful domestic football competition. Despite securing growth in its annual revenue from domestic rights of just 4%, below the current levels of inflation, the deal is more than double the value of the agreement struck recently by Italy’s Serie A.
One other consequence of the expanded Premier League deal may be on the Saturday 3pm blackout. One of the longstanding arguments against televising games at this time has been the need to maintain scarcity to keep up demand for the live product. A growth in live matches of more than 25% is likely to test that argument and comes at a time when the UK government has got behind proposals to allow the Women’s Super League to broadcast live matches at that time.
Premier League agrees new £6.7bn TV rights deal with Sky and TNT Sports
The Premier League has agreed a new deal with Sky and TNT Sports in which the competition will receive £6.7bn over four years for its UK TV rights
www.theguardian.com
The Premier League has agreed a new record £6.7bn domestic television deal for Sky and TNT to show up to 270 live games a season. The Saturday 3pm blackout will remain in place, but every 2pm Sunday kick-off will be televised. Sky has been awarded four of the five packages and will show a minimum of 215 matches a season including Saturday 5.30pm kick-offs, Sunday 2pm and 4.30pm kick-offs, plus evening games on Mondays and Fridays and three midweek rounds. TNT will show a minimum of 52 matches a season including all 12.30pm kick-offs on Saturdays and two midweek match rounds. Sky Sports will also broadcast all 10 matches on the final day of each season. Amazon, which shows 20 matches per season under the league's current deal, has not secured rights in the new agreement.
For the first time, all matches outside of Saturday 3pm kick-offs will be broadcast live in the UK. There will also be more midweek matchdays where games are shown simultaneously and fans can choose which to watch. This expansion of available content, and extension of the terms of the contract (with deals previously agreed over three-year periods) have enabled the Premier League to achieve what it calls “the largest sports media rights deal ever concluded in the UK”. The deal will be seen as reinforcing the Premier League’s status as the world’s most successful domestic football competition. Despite securing growth in its annual revenue from domestic rights of just 4%, below the current levels of inflation, the deal is more than double the value of the agreement struck recently by Italy’s Serie A.
One other consequence of the expanded Premier League deal may be on the Saturday 3pm blackout. One of the longstanding arguments against televising games at this time has been the need to maintain scarcity to keep up demand for the live product. A growth in live matches of more than 25% is likely to test that argument and comes at a time when the UK government has got behind proposals to allow the Women’s Super League to broadcast live matches at that time.
