Fans of The Premier League (TPL) may soon have more affordable way to watch their favourite teams. The league’s new CEO Richard Masters has indicated the launch of a streaming service is on the table.
While it seems unlikely the service will be operational for the 2019-2022 seasons, it is being planned for the 2022-2025 seasons of The Premier League.
During the last (rights bidding) process (for the 2019-22 seasons) we spent quite a lot of time and invested a lot of resources in building our expertise and capacity in ‘direct-to-consumer’,
TPL CEO Richard Masters
The Premier League currently rakes in £3 billion annually from TV rights and £1.4 billion (around a third of its revenue) comes from foreign buyers.
While £3 billion seems like a mouth watering sum, TPL believe the implementation of a streaming service will skyrocket their revenue.
We considered whether strategically it would be the right time to test a few markets then and decided not to. We were ready last time and we will be ready next time should the opportunity arise. Eventually, the Premier League will move to a mix of direct-to-consumer and [traditional] media rights sales.
TPL CEO Richard Masters
TPL currently has roughly 200 million customers across 180 countries all viewing matches through TV rights access. However, if TPL decides to go down the streaming route and charge those 200 million customers £10 as a fee, their revenue would soar.
This is exciting news for TPL fans as they’re currently paying up to £80 a month for a subscription to TV providers like Sky and BT Sport.
There’s still a while to go before fans can buy a subscription. However, a ‘Premflix’ style service would make it much more affordable to be a Premier League fan.
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