The Premier League is the most exciting soccer league in the world. It is home to some of the biggest names in the soccer world, who are employed by the most prestigious clubs in England. Commercially, there is no match for England’s first division.
The Premier League has agreed to a new four-year deal with Sky Sports and TNT Sports. This deal will see the League earning $8.4 billion over four years. Sky Sports have bought the rights to 4 out of the 5 packages. This will allow the UK-based TV channel to televise at least 215 live games. The 4-year deal will commence at the start of the 2025/26 PL season.
TNT Sports has brought one package, which will allow them to broadcast 52 live games. The BBC secured the Match of the Day weekly highlights package.
🚨 Sky Sports have secured four of the five packages for the new Premier League TV deal with TNT Sports securing the other.
Amazon will not show any Premier League football.
The deal is worth £6.7 billion, an increase of £1.5 billion.
(📷 Sky Sports) pic.twitter.com/jL6ZP9OLi6
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) December 4, 2023
For the first time, England will televise all matches outside of Saturday’s 3 P.M kickoffs live. The deal would cater to the expanded audience of the Premier League. The deal is worth $1.5 more than the current deal from 2022-2025. The Premier has hailed the deal as the largest sports deal ever concluded in the UK.
Premier League CEO Richard Master has announced, “We are delighted to extend our partnership for a further four years with Sky Sports and TNT Sports, showing more Premier League matches than ever before live from 2025/26 onwards”
“As longstanding and valued partners, Sky Sports and TNT Sports are renowned for consistently delivering world-class coverage and programming. We have enjoyed record audiences and attendances in recent seasons, and we know that their continued innovation will drive more people to watch and follow the Premier League.”
Sky Sports outbid TNT Sports to secure most of the festive season fixtures, including the all-important Boxing Day fixtures. The TV channel, for the first time in its history, would televise all 10 of the final day fixtures. Sky Sports also gets to screen 3 mid-week rounds exclusively.
IT’S OFFICIAL ✍️
TNT Sports will continue to show 52 live and exclusive Premier League matches per season from 2025/26 to 2028/29 🙌😍
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 4, 2023
The CEO of Sky Group had this to say after the completion of the deal, “We are proud of our long history with the Premier League and look forward to delivering more engagement, entertainment, and innovation to the end of the decade. Sky is the undisputed home for sports fans in the UK.”
TNT Sports has won the rights to package A, which means they have exclusive rights to televise two-midweek matchday rounds. The TV channel has also acquired the exclusive coverage of matches played on Saturdays at 12:30 P.M.
Sky Sports has had a monopoly in Premier League broadcasting
Sky Sports had a monopoly on the broadcasting of Premier League games from 1992 until 2007. This period covered four agreements and included 1,284 games spread over 15 seasons. In 2006, Setanta Sports, an Irish TV channel, broke the monopoly.
ESPN, the US TV channel, bought Setanta Sports’ packages for the 2009-10 season. This package included the broadcasting rights for 46 live games but Sky regained control in 2010 by purchasing five out of the six broadcasting packages.
Competition has arrived from BT Sports, but this has in turn profited the Premier League. Analysts expect that the league will experience more profitable deals in the future. The anticipation is that the duopoly of BT Sports and Sky Sports will drive up the valuation.