The Premier League have revealed plans to officially broadcast football games through their own streaming platform. Chief executive Richard Masters has spoken out, confirming the first steps.
The cost of watching football in England has long been a thorny subject for fans. Fans can spend over £1000 per season in the UK if they want to watch league and cup action across platforms such as Sky Sports, TNT Sports, Amazon and beyond. And even then, 3pm kick-offs are not televised due to the blackout rule.
As such, many use illegal Fire Sticks, which have become a popular way for Premier League fans to watch the action without having to pay huge subscription fees. However, this carries a risk as police can get involved, with supporters facing possible 12-month prison sentences if caught, while more serious offences can even carry a five-year maximum.
With all that in mind, some have been calling out for the Premier League to create their own broadcasting platform, with a single subscription fee to cover all the action.
Premier League to Launch New Streaming Platform
gary neville jamie carragher sky sports
According to reports, via the Sun, the league's new in-house broadcast studios in Olympia are due to open next season. Speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit in London, Premier League chief Richard Masters has now confirmed that a 24-hour-a-day service in Singapore is the first step, explaining:
“For the first time we’re going direct to consumer, in Singapore. It’s a very long considered process, carefully chosen.
“So from next season onwards, from August, Premier League +, rather than Prem-Flix, we’ve rebranded it finally.
“It’s going to happen. For the first time the Premier League is going to have its own customers, it’s going to have to deal with promotion, pricing, churn, distribution, all of those things.
“We’re looking to build a business, we’re also looking to learn to see how that might be replicable around the world.”
Richard Masters Speaks About Future of Premier League Plus
Richard Masters with the Premier League trophy
Having confirmed that Premier League Plus will first be trialled in Singapore, Masters did explain that he couldn't confirm that it will definitely be replicable in the UK.
“It gives us more optionality," he continued. “We spent two days with the clubs very recently. The first day was spent looking into the future, looking at growth, looking at opportunities.
“Half of that discussion was about our approach to media rights sales. We’re aligned with the clubs and what we want to do in that respect.
“What we’re doing with Premier League Plus in Singapore is really about learning as well as building a business.
“If it goes well, it may be replicable but you don’t want to predict further than that at this stage.”
He concluded: “With Premier League Studios, we’ve now taken control of our content. We have to absolutely ensure that all of the decisions that are taken in the future are in the best interests of our brilliant broadcasting partners around the world and provide a first-class production service.
“It allows us to look at different ways of developing our content for different audiences, to look differently into the future and it may become a business centre in its own right. “It does make all of those different developments and options we have in front of us easier to execute.”