Fans fury as Premier League to charge £15 for each non-televised game
Football fans have reacted furiously to the Premier League’s newly-announced plans to charge £14.95 to watch games that aren’t part of the normal television schedule.
For the last few months, broadcasters like Sky Sports and BT Sport have been showing every Premier League game due to fans being barred from stadiums as a result of continuing coronavirus restrictions.
However, that changes when fixtures resume next weekend, following the current international break. Five of the 10 games will be placed behind a new paywall and only available via the BT Sport Box Office and Sky Sports Box Office platforms.
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The new arrangement will be in place until at least the end of October, but it seems this will be the new normal until the fans are allowed back into stadiums once again – which seems unlikely before the end of this year.
Fans and journalists have responded with outrage over the perceived greed that’s likely to push supporters back towards illegitimate IPTV streams, or the use of VPNs to access foreign coverage. Indeed, at the time of writing, IPTV is trending on Twitter.
Here’s some of the reaction from leading figures and fans’ groups inside game, many of them calling on the Premier League to reconsider:
The @premierleague needs to be very careful here. I'm lucky to go to games behind closed doors – and full respect to players for giving everything – but games soulless without fans. PL risks alienating fans with its blatant greed. When fans can return in 6 months, will they all?
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) October 9, 2020
This is a really bad move by the @premierleague to charge £14.95 for single matches that have been shown free for 6 months !
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) October 9, 2020
Premier League pay-per-view service to stream "non-televised" matches — £14.95 per match in addition to what we already pay in subscriptions — is an insult. Terrible PR move, serious misjudgement of the public mood and, I suspect, the appetite to pay https://t.co/modo1wGa41
— Oliver Kay (@OliverKay) October 9, 2020
"We’ve heard from many supporters and FSA members who are concerned about the £15 per game being charged and we’d urge BT Sport and Sky Sports to reconsider their pricing for these games.”
FSA statement on Premier League PPV arrangements: https://t.co/loL6cdD3ok
— The FSA (@WeAreTheFSA) October 9, 2020
Today’s poll. Are you willing to pay £14.95 to watch pay per view premier league games
— Matt Le Tissier (@mattletiss7) October 9, 2020
At a time when people are losing jobs and facing financial uncertainty, £14.95 to watch a match is too expensive.
Football fans are sick of being exploited. We challenge @premierleague and TV broadcasters to set more realistic and affordable prices.
— Spirit of Shankly (@spiritofshankly) October 9, 2020
Liverpool v Sheffield United will now kick-off at 8pm on Saturday October 24 live on Sky Sports Box Office.
£15 extra for fans on top of Sky/BT subscriptions to watch on TV a game played in an empty stadium. Ridiculous. #LFC— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) October 9, 2020
Reports suggest Leicester City were the only club to vote against the proposals, while it is believed Manchester United pushed for free access for clubs’ season ticket holders. Both were outnumbered.
The pay-per-view option arrives with many fans struggling to make ends meet and with the Premier League facing a shortfall in match day income. Those same clubs just spent over £1 billion in during the summer transfer window.
Until now, if fans subscribed to BT Sport and Sky Sports they were able to watch all games from each round of fixtures. Now, that will cost fans an extra £75 per weekend.
While BT and Sky Sports are copping plenty of flack for this on social media, it doesn’t appear to be advantageous to them at all. All proceeds are set to go to clubs to make up for the income deficit. Apparently, BT and Sky won’t make any money from this and it probably would have been far more beneficial for the broadcasters to continue showing all games to subscribers for no extra cost.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
