amazon prem

FURY AS WEB GIANT SNAPS UP TV FOOTIE

FOOTBALL fans face bigger bills after streaming service Amazon Prime bought the rights to show 20 live Premier League games a season.

It will now cost up to £966 to watch every telly match across Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon Prime, say experts.

FOOTBALL fans face shelling out even more after Amazon snapped up the rights to screen live Premier League matches.

The deal means there will be 20 games each season on Amazon Prime from 2019 to 2022, including Boxing Day matches.

BT Sport won the rights to a further 20 matches, taking their tally to 52. Sky has the rights to 128 fixtures.

Many supporters blasted the Amazon deal as they will now have to pay for three subscriptions to watch all the telly games.

Experts say it will cost at least £966 a year to watch every televised game across

Sky Sports, BT Sport and

Amazon Prime.

One fan said it was

“another loss for the consumer”.

Another said: “It’s an absolute joke how many subscriptions you now need to watch football.”

Dani Warner, telly expert at uSwitch.com, said the

Amazon deal was a “major turning point and a first for the Premier League” because broadcasting rights “now include an online competitor”.

Amazon has come under fire in the past for its financial arrangements.

In 2016, the firm made £1.4billion from its UK delivery business but halved its corporation tax bill to just £7.4m.

AS usual it is fans who will pay the price for football’s latest financial explosion.

From next year Amazon’s streaming service will broadcast Premier League games for the first time.

The tax-avoiding web giants have been able to fork out an astronomical fee to show 20 matches a season.

But it means loyal supporters must add another costly third subscription to catch all the games.

Many viewers already pay more than £100 for their Sky and BT packages combined.

Match tickets at almost every ground are through the roof.

So watching on telly has become the most cost-effective way for many to catch the action.

This, then, is another sign of the disdain with which the Premier League – and the money-grabbing clubs – treat fans.

And in a week when top-flight clubs announced record revenues because of the last eye-watering telly deal, the timing stinks.

Fans are the lifeblood of the game. How much more do these greedy moneymen need to squeeze out of them?