Is the New Amazon Premier League TV Deal a Step Too Far for Players & Fans?
The beginning of December sees the new Amazon Premier League coverage launch, with 20 games being covered on their Amazon Prime service. This brings football into the live streaming sector for the very first time, and possibly hints at where the Premier League wants to go in the future. However, with the multitude of other deals already in place, is this new TV deal one step too far, both for fans of the game and players?
During the week 3rd – 5th December, the Amazon Premier League coverage will broadcast 10 games, with many of those kicking off at the same time on Wednesday 4th December. Those watching can choose which game they would like to stream from those available at the times when we have more than one taking place.
A further 9 games will be broadcast by Amazon on Boxing Day with one more the following day to round off the 20 fixtures that they are allowed to show.
The Amazon Premier League service will stream six 3pm kick offs on Boxing Day as part of their coverage, a day that looks to be perfect for those wishing to do nothing, and a potential nightmare for those trying to make family plans!
Having every game available, including those that kick off at 3pm, even if it is a midweek day, is a big change for the Premier League, but actually what they are doing is moving with the times and putting together the same type of offering that many other sports already have in place for fans.
How Will The Amazon Premier League Deal Affect Fans?
There are positive and negative parts of this deal, but it is fair to say that fans are going to be affected in quite a big way by this Amazon deal.
The Positives
Those looking at the bigger picture will see one really important positive to this deal, and that is the way in which the Premier League wants to move forward. If you take a look at this deal and what is brings both in terms of coverage and choice then it is far superior to anything else we have available right now.
Sky Sports and BT Sport choose the games we watch, and fans of the smaller Premier League teams will often feel like they are missing out, usually making the odd appearance when they play someone in the top six, or for a local derby. This deal gives you the chance to watch exactly what you want to, so if you want to watch Sheffield United vs Watford on Boxing Day you can, a game that would have almost certainly been overlooked for TV coverage.
Amazon Prime is £7.99 per month, with no contract, so those who wish to watch in December will be paying £7.99 for the privilege.
We have worked out you could watch a total of eight full games based on kick-off times, with four of those being instances where you can watch the only game on, and four being a time when more than one game is available so you can choose what you watch. That is £1 per game if you watch them all, the guarantee that you will see your own team twice and the ability to choose what game you watch on other occasions too, this is a fantastic stand alone deal for Premier League fans, reasonably priced and offering the type of flexibility we have never seen from the English top flight before. You will also be able to catch parts of other games due to the different kick off times that Amazon have brought in, so if you want to watch as much as possible then you will get far more than eight games.
The bulk of midweek games will kick off at 7:30pm, while we will also have one kick off at 8:15pm, which coincides with half time in the first games, allowing people to watch the first half of one game before the second begins. They can then either watch the second game during the half time break before going back to their original game, or stick with the late kick off and watch all of that.
The change also means you can watch the full first game before joining in and watching the entire second half of the second game, the first game should have a 9:15pm finish time while the second will be kicking off the second half then, and finishing at 10pm.
This may seem a little confusing, but it will all play out perfectly for Amazon, assuming no long delays, and fans will be able to watch full coverage of the first kick offs as well as one hour’s worth of action from the second game, so despite a crossover you are not actually missing too much of a game that is being played on the same night as another you are watching.
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December 3rd, 2019 by Simon A
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