The Premier League’s venture into Amazon Prime streaming could change the game for good – if it works

The Premier League is entering a new dawn this week with the introduction of live-streamed games.

There is certainly trepidation among fans, who will be tasked with signing up to Amazon Prime to watch this week’s mid-week round of games and those spread over Boxing Day and 27 December.

Beyond the extra cost to fans (an additional £7.99 per month on top of an initial £30 for a Fire Stick), there is the possibility that the quality of the viewing experience is in jeopardy too.

European football fans have seen this before in the form of the disastrous, short-lived period of Serie A and La Liga being streamed by Eleven Sports last season. After buffering, lengthy delays, blackouts and viewers being regularly logged out, the service ended mid-season with widespread refunds.

From a journalistic point of view too, the lag on streaming could affect the ability to deliver news quickly. Twitter and those watching on regular television in other territories may offer faster updates. It will be fascinating therefore to see whether Prime can survive this first round without a similar disaster, although the early signs are good with a star-studded line-up of pundits and presenters including the likes of Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer.

There were complaints about Amazon’s coverage of the US Open this year, with a delay of 45 seconds during matches. And what about fans at the pub? Well, there is a deal in place for BT Sport to access the games, though confusion remains among most fans there too. Moreover, it’s likely viewing figures will dwindle further, pushing fans to other, more accessible sports. The impact of which, while the Premier League’s pockets are lined in the meantime, might not be felt for years to come.

This is not to suggest that Amazon’s first foray into football is doomed to failure – the NFL’s Redzone product on Prime has already raised the bar for what is possible in this new era of broadcasting. There’s no doubt that sport streamed live is the future, but in the short-term at least, it is still out of reach for many and scepticism will remain until that changes.

Yours

Jack Rathborn

Sports journalist