Premier League TV revolution as Amazon buys package of matches to launch threat against Sky Sports and BT Sport – meaning fans will have to pay a minimum of £56 a month to see all games
- Amazon are set to purchase their first Premier League television rights package
- The online giant is set to buy one of the remaining packages for 2019 to 2022
- This would allow Amazon to show 20 domestic matches across two match days
- A membership for Amazon Prime will set supporters back £79.00 per year
- Access to Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon Prime will cost around £60 a month
Amazon is on the cusp of purchasing its first Premier League television rights package as the online giant launches a threat against Sky Sports and BT Sport.
In the division of Premier League TV rights for the 2019 to 2022 period two packages were still to be purchased following the initial bidding phase in February.
Amazon has now purchased one of the remaining packages with BT Sport taking the other one.
The Premier League have announced the winners of five out of seven packages for TV rights
Amazon have long been in the running to snap up one of the remaining two packages on offer
Buying one of these will entitle Amazon to broadcast either 20 matches from one Bank Holiday and one midweek fixture programme or 20 matches from two midweek sets of fixtures.
The Premier League sold five of their seven packages for 2019 to 2022 for £4.464billion to Sky and BT in February.
Sky won four packages – worth 128 matches – while BT now has two – worth 52.
The 20 additional fixtures have cost BT Sport £90m, bringing the total cost for 52 games to £975m.
In a statement, BT revealed their deal will include ‘several fixtures in the split weekend which will create an opportunity for a mid-season player break.’
It will be a bitter blow for armchair fans who will now have to fork out for an Amazon Prime subscription to watch their team play on top of their Sky and BT fees. A membership for Amazon Prime will set supporters back £7.99 a month.
Access to Sky Sports is already an additional £20 a month supplement while BT Sport can be purchased for just £6 a month.
Existing Sky Sports customers have to pay £27.99 a month for access to BT Sport. Currently, BT TV customers can only buy Sky Sports Main Event as a bolt-on to their service for £27.50 per month and are not able to choose from the full range of Sky Sports channels.
This will mean having access to all three services will cost fans just under £60 a month
Amazon are becoming an increasing force in sport broadcasting and already have the rights for ATP and US Open tennis.
American Football is also broadcast on the website with the NFL renewing its deal to broadcast its Thursday night matches for two more seasons in April.
Amazon also produces a sporting documentary series titled ‘All or Nothing’.
The programme takes viewers behind the scenes of three major American sports teams. Series have been focused on the Arizona Cardinals, the Los Angeles Rams and the Dallas Cowboys.
Said to be worth a staggering £521.98billion in February, Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos claimed in April it’s Prime streaming service has more than 100 million subscribers worldwide.
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