The Premier League is set to introduce a third party to broadcast its games from 2019 alongside Sky and BT. Amazon beat its rivals to claim one of the final packages offered by the Premier League – including 20 matches which will be available to all Amazon Prime viewers. The deal comes just months after they bought the UK rights to the US Open tennis and began to a build a live streaming sports portfolio.
#Amazon secures #PremierLeague package, the first UK platform to exclusively stream matches https://t.co/S0n2mzZdYL pic.twitter.com/XTsI33Umi8
— The Drum (@TheDrum) June 7, 2018
The Premier League may have gained a new 2019 broadcaster this week but it also announced that the longstanding CEO, Richard Scudamore, will be stepping down at the end of the year. In a week where Liverpool owner, John Henry, questioned the subsidising of lower ranked teams in the league it seems as good a time as any for the ‘big six’ to really make a noise – but it will only make the challenge of ensuring the Premier League remains competitive even more difficult.
Premier League boss Richard Scudamore to step down before the end of the year: https://t.co/3AJChpT91u
— Sport Industry Group (@SportIndustry) June 7, 2018
The start of this week saw Discovery pay an incredible $2 billion for the international rights to broadcast golf’s PGA Tour. The 12-year deal seems to suggest a shift in attitude from the PGA as a rights holder with an emphasis on connecting to more viewers on every available platform. Sky Sports’ contract to broadcast the US PGA tour will run until 2022 but after the loss of the US PGA Championship last year, the future of golf on Sky hangs in the balance.
US media giant Discovery has paid an eye-watering US$2bn for international rights to golf’s PGA Tour and plans to create a multi-platform Netflix-style video service to house the coverage https://t.co/cg7WYziWgl #PGATour #OTT #SportsBiz pic.twitter.com/qxk2CeIRvi
— SportsPro (@SportsPro) June 4, 2018
More and more football teams are beginning to produce their own content on a daily basis. Whether it be the announcement of a new signing or an update on a player, the increased social interaction gives fans an insight into the players and the clubs as a whole.
.@LFC @ManCity and @ASRomaEN show how football clubs are embracing a wealth of their own content across all platforms
— Digital Sport (@DigitalSportUK) June 7, 2018
