The Premier League has secured approval in principle for a three-year renewal of its multi-billion pound TV rights deal with its four current UK broadcast partners – Sky Sports, BT Sport, Prime Video and BBC Sport.
The deal, which would extend the current rights agreement for live match coverage and free-to-air highlights through to the end of the 2024/25 season, is subject to parliamentary approval and any opposition to the proposed plans needs to be made by 28 May.
Under normal circumstances the rights would have been contested in an open tender, but the Premier League successfully argued to the UK Government of “exceptional and compelling reasons” to go ahead with a private sale this time, given the ongoing global pandemic and its damaging impact throughout the English football pyramid.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng are “minded to” approve the new deal, which could be agreed by early autumn at the latest and approved by secondary legislation with no vote in Parliament required.
The renewal of the £5 billion deal with Sky, BT, Amazon and the BBC will be a huge boost to the Premier League, at a time when the value of TV rights globally has generally been in decline, as well as providing greater financial certainty to clubs at all levels amid the coronavirus pandemic.
As a result of the new deal, the Premier League says it will be able to maintain its current commitment of £1.5 billion to the football pyramid over the three years of the next rights cycle, with an additional £100m to be distributed over the next four years.
Every Premier League match during the 2020/21 season has been broadcast live on UK TV, due to the pandemic with fans unable to attend matches, but it is expected that the usual broadcast arrangements will be returned too once a significant proportion of fans can return to stadia.
In these circumstances, 200 of 380 matches are set for live broadcast each season – 128 games on Sky Sports, 52 on BT Sport and a further 20 on Prime Video. The BBC will continue to screen free-to-air highlights via its flagship football programme Match of the Day.
One significant change from the previous agreement, in order to ease fixture congestion, is that if a team due to be involved in a 12.30pm Saturday match on BT Sport, but is involved in a UEFA Champions League match on the Wednesday before, the Premier League match will move to a 7.45pm Saturday slot instead.
Richard Masters, Premier League Chief Executive, said:
“The Premier League would like to express our gratitude to our broadcast partners for their continued commitment to the Premier League and support for the football pyramid.
“We are hugely appreciative of the Government agreeing in principle to allow this arrangement and for their continued support for the Premier League and the English game. COVID-19 has had a significant impact on football, and renewals with our UK broadcast partners will reduce uncertainty, generate stability and promote confidence within the football pyramid.
“We know that, once concluded, this will have a positive impact on the wider industry, jobs and tax revenues and will enable us to maintain and increase our existing solidarity and community financial commitments to the football pyramid for the next four years, even though we are yet to understand the full impact of the pandemic.
“It comes at an important time and will enable us to plan ahead with increased certainty against a more stable economic backdrop.
“Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon Prime Video and BBC Sport are excellent partners and provide fantastic coverage and programming to bring our competition to fans in the UK.”
In a statement, Sky Sports welcomed the opportunity to continue its long-term partnership with the Premier League, having been the English top flight’s main broadcast partner since it was launched in 1992.
Stephen van Rooyen, Sky’s chief executive officer for UK and Europe, said:
“We are proud to have been part of the success of the Premier League from the very beginning and we have worked hard this year to provide support through the challenges of the pandemic and prove the enduring strength and depth of our partnership.
“As well as being great news for our customers, the proposed renewal will support the whole football pyramid and give much needed stability and certainty.”
Marc Allera, CEO Consumer at BT, said:
“Throughout this difficult year the Premier League and broadcasters have all worked together to find pro-active solutions to ensure the Premier League, and the lower leagues, have a safe and secure way out of the pandemic. This in principle renewal of our broadcast rights is great for our viewers, but also helps to provide vital support for the broader football community that relies on the Premier League.”
“The fantastic news for our viewers is that, once the deal is concluded, they will be able to continue to enjoy the Premier League alongside the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League exclusively live on BT Sport.”
Despite potential interest from global media giants such as Disney and Discovery, as well as online sports broadcaster DAZN, there were concerns that holding a open rights auction might have led to a drop in the overall value of the rights, at a time when the value of sports rights deals globally is dropping off.
For a full list of all forthcoming major football matches on the box, visit SOTB’s dedicated football TV listings page.
BT statement in response to Premier League announcement. pic.twitter.com/jNP9FQFswU
— BT Sport (@btsport) May 13, 2021
–
–
