EPL CEO: Netflix-style live football could be coming soon

The newly-appointed chief executive of the English Premier League, Richard Masters, has teased a Netflix-style digital service soon. Currently, the Premier League makes GBP3.1 billion annually by selling TV rights, with that figure expected to significantly increase if they decide to go direct-to-consumer.

The CEO shared that the Premier League has already considered launching a standalone digital service that would stream live EPL/BPL games, along with other relevant content. The concept was first mooted during the bidding process for TV rights for the 2019–2022 seasons, and Masters says that the idea could still come to fruition for 2022–2025 cycle of seasons.

This would fall in line with the general direction that content is moving towards. Major broadcasters such as Sky and BBC have already been putting more focus into their digital assets (website, social media), and on-demand content appears to be the future. On the local side of things, Astro has also updated its platform to include on-demand content, with mobile applications supported as well.

And despite the huge revenue that the Premier League makes from TV rights, cutting out distributors and other middle men is a potentially lucrative low-hanging fruit for the self-styled “best league in the world”. According to The Guardian, the Premier League receives GBP70 million (about RM375 million) a year from Singaporean distributors, who then earn GBP175 million (about RM936 million) from subscribers.

Multiply that number (profit) by x amount of countries that have a large enough fan base to tap into—with the Premier League’s commercial power, that’s hardly scarce—and you understand why Masters is pushing the concept.

Still, it’s not certain to happen soon. A “Premflix” channel is an enticing idea, but TV rights are a lucrative, usually long-standing, arrangement once bidding has been completed. Sky Sports has roughly 6 million subscribers and BT Sport has around 2 million users, so there’s bound to be some push-back.

But Masters thinks that a “two-tiered” system is inevitable:

“I’m not saying it will happen in the next cycle or when it will happen but eventually the Premier League will move to a mix of direct consumer and media rights sales. It is impossible to say when that will be.”

For now, we’ll have to wait and see if anything concrete materialises.

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