Premier League rules out PPV for non-televised matches

Clubs in the English Premier League will not be allowed to sell non-televised matches on pay-per-view (PPV), a new report claims.

The EPL and clubs are scrambling to find a solution for accessing matches with fans still not allowed in stadiums across the country. The league initially made all matches in September and the beginning of October available for domestic broadcast, but has made it clear that this practice is not preferred beyond the current international break.

One previously suggested alternative to showing all of the league’s matches was to allow clubs to stream non-televised matches directly to fans in an effort to help them make up for a projected shortfall of £540 million in lost matchday revenue.

However, a new report from the Daily Mail has said that the club’s lobbying efforts to make this a reality have been futile, with primary rights holder BT Sport and Sky Sports being strongly opposed to this.

Sky’s average viewership of the league has reportedly dropped, with the novelty of blanket coverage seemingly wearing off for audiences. This new report says that the broadcaster would prefer to carry on the practice of showing all matches even if audiences are down.

The EPL and clubs will meet in the coming days to discuss broadcast plans until fans can get back into grounds.

A separate report from Enders Analysis has also warned that the next domestic rights tender in 2021 could drop by as much as 10%. The analyst said: “Sky and BT overpaid for rights in the past and BT has suffered a decline in its value.Now the UK sports broadcasters are trying to think about reducing their rights costs.