Amazon and BT secure Premier League packages

AMAZON and BT have bought the two remaining packages of domestic Premier League rights, with the online giant able to stream two full rounds of top-tier games a season from 2019/20.

These two three-year lots of 20 games a season failed to reach their reserve price in the auction in February, when BT and Sky spent £4.5 billion between them on 160 games.

The league had hoped that these innovative packages – two chances to show all 10 games of a bank holiday or midweek fixture programme – would tempt the likes of Amazon, Facebook and Google into the market for live rights.

That hope has now been delivered, although there is no confirmation yet on how much Amazon has paid for its games, while BT has revealed it has paid only £90 million for the additional 60 games, bringing its total outlay to £975m.

Amazon will stream the first round of midweek games in December and all 10 games on Boxing Day via its Amazon Prime Video service, which currently costs £7.99 a month or £79 for an annual subscription.

Amazon has pledged that this rights purchase will not affect the price of Prime membership.

“We are always looking to add more value to Prime, and we’re delighted to now offer, for the first time, live Premier League matches to Prime members at no extra cost to their membership,” said Jay Marine, vice president of Prime Video in Europe.

“The Premier League is the most watched sports league in the world. Over these two December fixture rounds Prime members will be able to watch every team, every game, so no matter which Premier League team you support, you’re guaranteed to see them play live on Prime Video.”