Amazon joins up with BT Sport to offer pubs cheaper Premier League football

Amazon has teamed up with BT Sport to offer UK pubs access to its 20 Premier League games a season at a significant discount to the amount Sky Sports charges, it is understood.

The American internet giant acquired the rights for two entire 10-game ‘rounds’ of Premier League football in last year’s auction for the 2019-22 seasons, and last month confirmed that it will show 10 games over three nights in the first week of December and the 10 ‘Boxing Day’ games on December 26 and 27.

Having already confirmed that fans will be able to stream these games at home or on their mobile devices with an Amazon Prime Video subscription of £7.99 a month – or an annual payment of £79 – the company is now ready to announce its plan for pubs.

It is understood that they will be offered an ‘Amazon Premier League pass’ for between £100 and £600, depending on the pub’s size and turnover.

This is a similar model to the one used by BT Sport and Sky Sports in recent years, although large, city-based pubs have been paying more than £20,000 a year to the more established Premier League broadcasters – a price they have justified by saying live football can boost annual drink sales by £30,000.

Amazon’s cheaper offer to licensed premises will be marketed and sold by BT Sport, and clubs and pubs will be able to access the games using their current set-top box equipment and satellite dish without needing to be a BT Sport customer.

This will come as a relief to campaigners and landlords, who have been complaining about the fact that they are expected to pay about 15 times as much as the typical household subscription for the right to televise live games.

Speaking to PA last month, Greg Mulholland, the chairman of the British Pub Confederation, said: “The way people watch sport is evolving and it’s time broadcasters accepted this.

“The cost of subscriptions to Sky Sports is now utterly unaffordable to most pubs and the value they get is nowhere near the cost.

“So I hope the addition of Amazon will finally shake up this market and bring down the cost of showing sport in pubs – otherwise fewer pubs will be able to afford it, which means people will instead watch sport at home, losing custom for the pub.”

Brigid Simmonds, the chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, agreed, telling PA she “hopes Amazon’s offer of Premier League football will benefit pubs”.

Sky Sports, as before, picked up the most games in last year’s auction and will televise 128 live games a season over the next three years, with BT Sport showing 52 games a season. The three companies combined shelled out £5billion on the league’s domestic rights, with overseas broadcasters paying another £4.2billion for the rights in their markets.

Amazon’s decision to appoint BT Sport to handle its pub trade is not a huge surprise given the fact that it had already appointed the British telecoms and media company to produce its Premier League coverage.

The first round of games streamed by the company include the first Merseyside derby of the season, while the Boxing Day round includes Manchester City’s trip to Wolves, Liverpool at Leicester and Manchester United hosting Newcastle.