Sky Sports wins live Premier League rights to end of 2018-19 season

[joe516]

Sky has strengthened its position as the home of sport and unrivalled choice for sports fans by winning the UK rights to 126 live Premier League matches a season from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

In a successful outcome to the Premier League’s tender process, Sky Sports was awarded five packs of live rights.

The new deal ensures that Sky Sports will be the only place to follow the biggest matches and stories throughout the Premier League season. Viewers will be able to rely on Sky Sports to bring them three times as many live matches as any other broadcaster, including the best match picks and the most-watched slots in the schedule.

By securing the rights to matches on Friday evenings for the first time, Sky Sports will also bring viewers an entirely new way to start the weekend with live Premier League football.


The expanded schedule of live Premier League matches will be a key part of the unrivalled breadth of coverage offered by Sky Sports across seven channels.

The key points of the new Premier League rights deal include:

* More live matches than ever before, with 126 fixtures a season versus 116 under the existing contract

* Live coverage on more days of the week, with matches on Friday evenings for the first time as well as Saturday afternoons, Sunday afternoons and Monday evenings

* The best match picks, including 26 first picks and 31 second picks, meaning that Sky Sports will offer more of the biggest matches

* Live coverage of every Premier League club at least four times a season

* Rights to offer live coverage across a range of platforms, including online and mobile

* Access to all 126 matches a season through the Sky Sports day pass and week pass on NOW TV

Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s Group Chief Executive, said: “This is a good result and confirms that Sky is the unrivalled choice for sports fans. We went into the Premier League auction with a clear objective and are pleased to have secured the rights that we wanted."

Barney Francis, Managing Director of Sky Sports, added: “We are looking forward to bringing even more live Premier League football to viewers. Only Sky Sports will have the best match picks and the best slots so our viewers will be able to follow the biggest matches, the key head to heads and every club at least four times. No other broadcaster comes close.

“The best Premier League coverage is part of an unrivalled range of sport across our seven channels and digital platforms. This new deal follows our recent success in the rights market, ensuring Sky Sports will be the first choice for years to come

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[sneaker]

That's another £5 rise on the cable bill next year then, best of luck with that Virgin, and I wouldn't like to think what Sly will be trying to get for the Sports package next Year.

It's probably going to kill the free carling sports codes.

 

[ben1971]

garantee price increase

 

[alimac]

i predict £ 80 notes for full package

 

[rawsy]

i predict £ 80 notes for full package

Isn't it already around that mark?

 

[alimac]

for me its £71.25 @ minute not including broadband

 

[nara]

It's because people are willing to pay these batshit crazy subscription prices that this whole moneygrabbing bandwagon is spiralling out of control. : grim :

 

[joe516]

The results of the auction means it will cost the two broadcasters an average of £10.19m per game to show a single Premier League match

 

[alimac]

if wasnt for the hobby i would do without it

i dont even watch much of its bloated crap lol

 

[rawsy]

i just wish they would have sky sports premier league and allow the people who want it to pay for it. i like many sports but would rather not pay for or watch football or have the choice of paying for it if i like other sports.

 

[kopernikus]

I reckon all the new cash will go to the top professionals. Nothing will leech down to the local teams in the way of pitch/facilities improvements. The ground staff and the security employees will still be on the minimum or "living wage". The pubs and the punters will be asked to foot the bill, which means more expensive drinks, higher subscriptions and more pub closures. Just what we all need at this time !

 

[DrMabuse]

Agreed, the money will float around the top and likely not filter down to the grass roots...where its badly needed.

 

[audiobookman]

i agree whats being said,
Sky originally came into the game and overnight my season ticket nearly tripled in cost, pushing me away from attending games (i was a apprentice at the time).
Thier tv rights are a joke now, i wont pay full subs anymore for the very little footie thats shown on the tv box.
Sky say that they wont show 3pm sat kick offs because this will stop people going to the games, i call bs as i stopped attending because the clubs inflated the season ticket prices beyond working mans acceptable cost, the value is too low - besides when a game is showed live do gate receipts really drop i very much doubt it.
The clubs raise the cost of the tickets as sky wants people to sub to their channels and it makes it look good value in comparison. Which we all sadly know isn't the case.
If they had every game on live then sky would be onto a winner - i would sub, but the current set up only pushes people like me to what they call illegal streams from the net.
I think the now tv cost of a 24 hr pass will also raise, they done it with the movies last year for no apparent reason, and this give them a excellent excuse to raise it back to a tenner a day...

 

[McrRed]

i agree whats being said,
Sky originally came into the game and overnight my season ticket nearly tripled in cost, pushing me away from attending games (i was a apprentice at the time).
Thier tv rights are a joke now, i wont pay full subs anymore for the very little footie thats shown on the tv box.
Sky say that they wont show 3pm sat kick offs because this will stop people going to the games, i call bs as i stopped attending because the clubs inflated the season ticket prices beyond working mans acceptable cost, the value is too low - besides when a game is showed live do gate receipts really drop i very much doubt it.
The clubs raise the cost of the tickets as sky wants people to sub to their channels and it makes it look good value in comparison. Which we all sadly know isn't the case.
If they had every game on live then sky would be onto a winner - i would sub, but the current set up only pushes people like me to what they call illegal streams from the net.
I think the now tv cost of a 24 hr pass will also raise, they done it with the movies last year for no apparent reason, and this give them a excellent excuse to raise it back to a tenner a day...

Competition was supposed to improve things for the consumer. Now you have to have BT and Sky to get all the matches. Packages cost a fortune and are going to get dearer to pay for this travesty.

This is very bad news for the footy fan. And it's like we're supposed to be celebrating or something.

As said above I can't go to matches anymore since I got made redundant a few years ago. Without the hobby I wouldn't see any of it (apart from FA Cup on the beeb!)

I keep waiting for the bubble to burst like it did in Serie A in the nineties. But the Premiership freight train keeps rumbling on - only somewhere up ahead there's a bit of track missing...

 

[alimac]

sadly will continue for a while yet

in a way clubs dont give a hoot for the working man corporate all they are interested in

only when fans decide enough is enough & realise the actual games are pretty poor & overpriced & decide to stop going to games

thats when the clubs will listen when stadiums are full of empty seats until that happens the bandwagon will continue sadly

 

[kopernikus]

FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) are now acting on behalf of Sly and EPL to put more pressure on your local pubs to take out a commercial sub. Warning letters are now flowing freely here in Central Scotland. If the TV picture shows a Premier League Logo (lion) on any of the players/referees shirt sleeves, on the score logo or anywhere on the advertising media around the ground then the user is in breach of copyright unless the TV picture is provided by a legitimate commercial subscription to Sly UK. It does not matter how or whether the picture is received from a foreign satellite, cable, streaming or IPTV, if the logo is there then a prosecution will follow. I think most of the pubs will either stop or go with a sly sub as the fines if they ignore the first warning are being increased to include FACT prosecution court costs. I also think golf will follow this trend of copyright infringement when sly start their contract with the R&A in 2017

 

[alimac]

yip seen a few

threats & counter threats will be the brave that takes them on

that lot wont stop till only way to watch is with legit sub either commercial or not

streams will deffo get hit