The English Premier League is a 9 month long spectacle that draws a large audience worldwide. That is why traditional media outlets pay billions of dollars to stream these matches to the eager consumers who in turn pay a premium to watch.
However, we are living in an age where Internet streaming has become the norm rather than the exception. Internet companies have bolstered their streaming capabilities and are looking for more ways to keep their audiences happy or attract new ones.
According to a report by Straits Times, Amazon and Facebook are likely to bid for the English Premier League streaming rights.
The sentiments were apparently mentioned by Manchester United’s vice chairman, Ed Woodward during a quarterly call with bank executives in New York. Ed said that tech companies were very interested in rights deals for the 2016-2019 seasons.
“We are hearing that around the Premier League table, and we are also hearing that from an European perspective in terms of interest in the Champions League and Europa league rights. I do think we are going to see an increasing engagement from these, and we would welcome the interest.”
It is not a surprise that Amazon and Facebook want a piece of the streaming pie the English Premier League has to offer. Amazon streams the National Football League action on Thursdays in the United States. Facebook has a deal to stream 22 Major League Soccer games in the United States as well as stream Champions League football next season.
If Amazon and Facebook are successful in bidding for streaming rights for the Premier League, they may offer a lot of people out there an option to subscribe to their services. Amazon may tie this with their Amazon Prime video platform and Facebook might decide to stream this content on Facebook Watch.
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