GlobalData: “Real-term loss for EPL with Sky, TNT dominance”
December 5, 2023
Following the news that the Premier League has sold the UK broadcast rights to Sky and TNT Sports for £6.7 billion (€6.19bn), Conrad Wiacek, Head of Sport Analysis at GlobalData, the data and analytics company, has offered his view, commenting:
“The Premier League will rightly be delighted to have secured a new media rights deal with Sky and TNT in the UK market. On the surface, the deal is a success and an increase for the Premier League on its previous deal, guaranteeing the league £6.7 billion in revenue over the next four years.”
“However, in real terms the deal is a loss for the Premier League. More games are available in the packages, and the term is over four years as opposed to the three year cycles the Premier League has previously operated in simply meaning a lower cost per game, which is great for consumers but less so for the Premier League.”
“There was an expectation the Amazon, Apple and DAZN would be in the running for rights yet none of have challenged the incumbents in Comcast owned Sky and Warner Bros Discovery owned TNT. In fact, with Amazon losing rights for the ‘Christmas’ package, its suggests that the streaming services have no interest in attempting to take on the UK market. With Amazon and Apple positioning themselves effectively in the US market, and DAZN having rights in several key European markets, the UK sports rights market is still dominated by Sky and will be for the foreseeable future,” concluded Wiacek