Premier League ‘ready to DITCH Sky Sports and BT Sport and show football in new way in dramatic shake-up’
THE Premier League are ready to ditch Sky Sports and BT Sport in a huge shake-up to football broadcasting, reports claim.
Sky Sports have been at the centre of the Premier League since its inception in 1992 and have helped fuel the huge financial boom that has made England’s top-flight the richest division in the world.
While BT have become an increasingly bigger player in recent years and boast Champions League football among plenty of other packages.
But when it comes to domestic football, the broadcasting world could be on the brink of change.
The Mirror report that the Premier League are prepared to leave behind their traditional broadcasters and show games on their own platform.
If this change were to happen, it would not be immediate.
The current TV deal runs until 2025 after a £5.1bn deal was signed in 2021.
The Mirror claim that only one more multi-year deal might be signed before the Prem “cut out the middle men”.
It would be a radical change to broadcasting with fans currently having to fork out on multiple subscriptions to follow all the live games.
Sky normally show four or five games across a weekend while BT Sport have Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off.
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Meanwhile Amazon in recent years have had one or two full rounds of fixtures during the Christmas period where they show every game live.
Reports have also suggested that channels like Disney and DAZN could try and get involved in Premier League broadcasting.
Broadcasters still have to fit their scheduling around England’s 3pm blackout and the Premier League would also have to do this unless rule changes were introduced.
If the league were to take control of the broadcast deal, it would also give them more control over kick-off times.
Fans have expressed frustration in recent years over asocial kick off times that supporters have had to put up with to satisfy TV schedules.
And Kevin Miles, chief executive of the Football Supporters Association, said footy followers are also under the cosh over the money paid to watch football on TV.
He told the Mirror: “There’s no question that supporters are increasingly feeling the financial strain.
“We’re not untouched by the general cost of living crisis but the more platforms there are, the more subscriptions we have to find.
“For those fans who want to watch everyone of the club’s televised games the costs are really starting to mount.”
The reports come as Sky Sports make huge cutbacks on their output with iconic shows like Soccer AM getting the axe.
Meanwhile, BT Sport have also been making changes with their Saturday Score programme set to be scrapped.
The channel is also set to get rebranded next season.