Premier League non televised matches to be streamed as PPV

[The Lone Gunman]

Am I the only one who feels it may set a dangerous precedent? Commercially if this is a success or becomes viable in the future you can guarantee the big clubs will start wondering why don’t they bin off the wider tv deals for their own enterprises this reducing the amount of shared monies more.

Can't see it myself. The Premier League itself is a bigger 'product' than any of its individual clubs and the clubs themselves know that. It's not something that's beyond the realms of possibility, but I just can't see it.

[Jordi Culé]

Can't see it myself. The Premier League itself is a bigger 'product' than any of its individual clubs and the clubs themselves know that. It's not something that's beyond the realms of possibility, but I just can't see it.

That's a more than relevant point at this moment. The Premier League is a fantastic product/cash cow for them.

I'm still thinking that in the future if proven to be financially beneficial lone clubs would like to negotiate their own tv deals or promote their own tv live match products thus cutting out the middle man tv companies? Its commercialisation and capitalism at work. It's the modern day game.

[Pearcey3]

The fans who aren't happy are the ones who have already forked out a big wodge of cash for their season tickets. Now they're being asked to pay again, and that's what they're unhappy about. And to be honest, I would be too, if it was me.
It'll be sorted out. My guess is that they'll end up getting some sort of refund, or like Cardiff season ticket holders, they will get some sort of free pass. I don't think this story has finished yet.

Yep if they have paid in full for their ST it should be free or the club should be refunding a proportion of the ST for the games they cannot attend because of the pandemic. It’s a lot to fork out.

[J R Hartley]

Is the same true of the Championship? If not, what's the difference in terms of morals?

To a lesser degree. Championship clubs don’t have tv deals worth over a billion pounds. I would hazard a guess the match day revenue is a much smaller percentage of a clubs turnover at PL level compared to Championship.

[J R Hartley]

My concern as a sky sports subscriber will be they are going to make the best games PPV. The ones that they would normally show as part of their subscription they will make them PPV and the ones that wouldn’t have been shown live will be the subscription games. Hope to be proven wrong.

[Hilts]

My concern as a sky sports subscriber will be they are going to make the best games PPV. The ones that they would normally show as part of their subscription they will make them PPV and the ones that wouldn’t have been shown live will be the subscription games. Hope to be proven wrong.

In the pub at the moment and thats the conversation.

[Whisperer]

My concern as a sky sports subscriber will be they are going to make the best games PPV. The ones that they would normally show as part of their subscription they will make them PPV and the ones that wouldn’t have been shown live will be the subscription games. Hope to be proven wrong.

Personally if that’s where it’s heading I won’t be a sky customer after that, much the same as I never PPV for the Boxing I can live without it.

[Monster munch]

https://www.live-footballontv.com/li...all-on-tv.html

Seems to be a mixed bag of the live games with some of the popular games still on sky sports. (City v Arsenal, Utd v chelsea, Utd v Arsenal, etc). This pay per view lark is going direct to the clubs which aren’t covered so sky and bt still have of their normal Saturday and Sunday slots and what looks like the big games.
Will wait and see beyond that I guess.

[Monster munch]

https://www.live-footballontv.com/ca...ity-on-tv.html

A lot of championship games (Inc ours) live on sky aswell through October.

[The Lone Gunman]

To a lesser degree. Championship clubs don’t have tv deals worth over a billion pounds. I would hazard a guess the match day revenue is a much smaller percentage of a clubs turnover at PL level compared to Championship.

We all know football is a business. Fans often talk in terms of player purchases or sales as being 'good business' for their clubs. But then the very same fans (and I'm not accusing you of this specifically, by the way) complain about the finances involved in the morally-bankrupt Premier League, which is by all accounts a very successful business.

The current situation is unprecedented. Nothing like it has ever happened before and nobody was prepared for it. From where I'm sitting, it appears that fans of most, if not all Premier League clubs are getting a much better deal than the fans of Championship clubs. I did a quick bit of poking around earlier and it seems that some Premier League clubs didn't put season tickets on sale at all this season, while some that did are giving pro-rata credits to season ticket holders for all games played behind closed and others are giving full automatic refunds for all such games. Meanwhile, all of their games so far have been available to watch on Sky, BT Sport, Amazon or the BBC and future matches than aren't already scheduled to be televised will be available on a PPV basis at a cost of £15, and the coverage will undoubtedly be first class.

At the same time, season ticket holders at clubs like City seem to be getting the rough end of the stick, with poor-quality TV streams at £10 a shot, an unreliable service and confusing arrangements regarding refunds or credits for matches played behind closed doors.

I honestly don't know too much about the sort of service Championship fans are currently getting. I'm only basing my opinion on what people have been saying on this board. However, I'm pretty sure most would prefer straightforward refunds or credits for matches played behind closed doors with an uncomplicated PPV option for high-quality coverage of the matches they have to miss.

[delmbox]

This is going to lead to a rocket in the amount of people watching illegal streams/using iptv

[LeningradCowboy]

This is going to lead to a rocket in the amount of people watching illegal streams/using iptv

Why?

[Eric the Half a Bee]

We all know football is a business. Fans often talk in terms of player purchases or sales as being 'good business' for their clubs. But then the very same fans (and I'm not accusing you of this specifically, by the way) complain about the finances involved in the morally-bankrupt Premier League, which is by all accounts a very successful business.

The current situation is unprecedented. Nothing like it has ever happened before and nobody was prepared for it. From where I'm sitting, it appears that fans of most, if not all Premier League clubs are getting a much better deal than the fans of Championship clubs. I did a quick bit of poking around earlier and it seems that some Premier League clubs didn't put season tickets on sale at all this season, while some that did are giving pro-rata credits to season ticket holders for all games played behind closed and others are giving full automatic refunds for all such games. Meanwhile, all of their games so far have been available to watch on Sky, BT Sport, Amazon or the BBC and future matches than aren't already scheduled to be televised will be available on a PPV basis at a cost of £15, and the coverage will undoubtedly be first class.

At the same time, season ticket holders at clubs like City seem to be getting the rough end of the stick, with poor-quality TV streams at £10 a shot, an unreliable service and confusing arrangements regarding refunds or credits for matches played behind closed doors.

I honestly don't know too much about the sort of service Championship fans are currently getting. I'm only basing my opinion on what people have been saying on this board. However, I'm pretty sure most would prefer straightforward refunds or credits for matches played behind closed doors with an uncomplicated PPV option for high-quality coverage of the matches they have to miss.

You're absolutely right.

I decided against renewing season tickets for me and my boy this season as I didn't expect us to be allowed to attend until next Spring, fully expecting a second Covid wave. My lad also fancied going around a few Welsh league grounds instead for a year as he likes travelling, though that's obviously not happened so far.

I have no objections to paying to watch our games. However, I'd much rather good coverage and analysis of a game than the average offering the club provides and would happily pay a few quid more for that.

If social media is somehow representative of some of society, I have a hunch that many who are moaning about PPV are those armchair fans who would never consider paying to go to watch their team, but think it's a divine right to be able to watch them for free (or as part of a subscription to a sports channel). These games would never have been covered had crowds been allowed in, so I don't see why, because crowds are still not permitted, everyone should have the opportunity to watch them. We never had that last season in the Championship. I think I'm also right in saying that midweek games are no longer available on the red button.

[Hilts]

Id be quite happy to pay nothing for Sky Sports and pay for what I want to watch.

They will never allow that though.

I should cancel my subscription.

[delmbox]

Why?

Because whereas before say Liverpool vs Man Utd would have been picked for tv coverage, eventually with this model the big ones will probably go to PPV so more people will stream them illegally

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Because whereas before say Liverpool vs Man Utd would have been picked for tv coverage, eventually with this model the big ones will probably go to PPV so more people will stream them illegally

Why do you think that would happen? Sky have never given any indication of a desire to move to PPV. This is only happening to allow fans who would have gone to games the opportunity to see them. Once crowds are back at games, PPV will go again.

[delmbox]

Why do you think that would happen? Sky have never given any indication of a desire to move to PPV. This is only happening to allow fans who would have gone to games the opportunity to see them. Once crowds are back at games, PPV will go again.

Hopefully you're right but usually when the opportunity to make money presents itself big businesses take it, especially once the consumer will be used to the idea of paying £15 per match. Then it's just a question of which matches

[Jordi Culé]

Why do you think that would happen? Sky have never given any indication of a desire to move to PPV. This is only happening to allow fans who would have gone to games the opportunity to see them. Once crowds are back at games, PPV will go again.

I’m not 100% about your last sentence. I’m sure if there are large enough viewing figures for the bigger clubs somebody, somewhere will be thinking ‘Hmmm. Hello...’

[Eric the Half a Bee]

I’m not 100% about your last sentence. I’m sure if there are large enough viewing figures for the bigger clubs somebody, somewhere will be thinking ‘Hmmm. Hello...’

The Premier League have instigated this, not any of the broadcasters. The clubs are keeping the profits, all the broadcasters get are costs.

We had Premiership Plus for a few seasons. That never particularly had great viewing figures as people were less than willing to spend extra on top of their subscription for less-than-glamorous fixtures. Sky axed it because it never performed as well as they had hoped. Viewing figures during lockdown will probably be decent, mainly from fans of both sides of a fixture who are unable to attend but broadcasters will know that once fans are allowed back into grounds, those figures will plummet drastically.

The only possible way PPV could be successful is for the very biggest games. As these are already part of a package offered by the PL, and the PL, Sky and BT know PPV could be successful, but haven't bothered, I don't see any possibility of PPV being introduced any time within many years.

[Hilts]

The Premier League have instigated this, not any of the broadcasters. The clubs are keeping the profits, all the broadcasters get are costs.

We had Premiership Plus for a few seasons. That never particularly had great viewing figures as people were less than willing to spend extra on top of their subscription for less-than-glamorous fixtures. Sky axed it because it never performed as well as they had hoped. Viewing figures during lockdown will probably be decent, mainly from fans of both sides of a fixture who are unable to attend but broadcasters will know that once fans are allowed back into grounds, those figures will plummet drastically.

The only possible way PPV could be successful is for the very biggest games. As these are already part of a package offered by the PL, and the PL, Sky and BT know PPV could be successful, but haven't bothered, I don't see any possibility of PPV being introduced any time within many years.

If Sky can sell Whyte v Povetkin then they can sell Everton v Wolves.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

If Sky can sell Whyte v Povetkin then they can sell Everton v Wolves.

They never used to be able to. What has changed?

[Jordi Culé]

The Premier League have instigated this, not any of the broadcasters. The clubs are keeping the profits, all the broadcasters get are costs.

We had Premiership Plus for a few seasons. That never particularly had great viewing figures as people were less than willing to spend extra on top of their subscription for less-than-glamorous fixtures. Sky axed it because it never performed as well as they had hoped. Viewing figures during lockdown will probably be decent, mainly from fans of both sides of a fixture who are unable to attend but broadcasters will know that once fans are allowed back into grounds, those figures will plummet drastically.

The only possible way PPV could be successful is for the very biggest games. As these are already part of a package offered by the PL, and the PL, Sky and BT know PPV could be successful, but haven't bothered, I don't see any possibility of PPV being introduced any time within many years.

Fully agree with your last sentence, the current commercial benefits of their current tv deal and marketing of the Premier League will sustain the current format for a good while yet but...

Theoretically (and it’s a very loose theory) could a club like Liverpool, Man United in the future host their own TV matches via whatever platform, making it globally available and charge for viewing? Would it be profitable for them? I wonder how many global viewers could a Man United v Liverpool match could attract? My initial post wondered if the PPV model is a dangerous precedent? It’s obviously being done to supplement falling income. It would be interesting if some clubs feel it could generate more income for themselves individually rather than the collective TV deal they have now? Perhaps some clubs would market games jointly?

My initial post was wondering out aloud about allowing PPV for individual matches and clubs and the impact this could have on smaller leagues and clubs in the future.

All the above mind could be absolute drivel