Amazon elbows onto UK football broadcast rights scene with Premier League win

Amazon has elbowed its way into the UK football broadcast market as it and BT Group both won rights to show 20 matches per season in a final round of the Premier League TV rights auction.

Amazon will show 20 Premier League matches for three years from 2019, after securing one of the two final broadcast packages. The tech giant will stream the games online for Prime members in the UK in the 2019/20 season.

Additionally, Amazon Prime members will be able to watch weekly highlights of all Premier League matches throughout the season, a significant first entry into UK top-flight football live broadcasting for an online streaming specialist.

BT Group paid £90 to add 20 more games per season to rights in won in February. BT Sport will show 52 EPL football matches per season for three years for a total cost for 52 games to £975m over three years.

As they bulk up on video content, an entry into the market for Premier League rights by the US tech giants has been on the cards for some time, with Amazon recently entering the UK market by outbidding Sky for ATP Tour tennis rights; Facebook last year launching broadcasts of UEFA Champions League matches in the US via a deal with Fox; Twitter already streaming some NFL matches and golf tournaments; while Google and HBO are also seen to be looking at the sports broadcasting rights arena.

Premier League executive chairman Richard Scudamore said: “Amazon is an exciting new partner for the Premier League and we are very pleased they have chosen to invest in these rights.

“Prime Video will be an excellent service on which fans can consume live Premier League football – including for the first time in the UK a full round of matches – and we look forward to working with them from season 2019/20 onwards.”

BT shares fell 1% to 203.25p on Thursday afternoon, while Sky was little moved at 1,358.5p as its shareholders have more on their mind.

With today’s announcement about Amazon dipping their toes into the EPL water, financial analyst Joshua Mahony at IG said: "BT and Sky may not be too threatened by the size of Amazon’s initial level of competition, yet they will be acutely aware of the company’s ability to scale-up their operations should they perceive the venture to be highly profitable.

"Sky would almost certainly represent the most vulnerable firm given their reliance upon Premier League football as a driver of accounts. With their TV offering looking increasingly unimpressive in the age of Netflix and Amazon Prime, a future all-out attack from Amazon for Premier League rights is a real and hugely threatening possibility for Sky."