Amazon Set to Break Sky & BT's Long-Standing Premier League TV Rights Duopoly
Amazon are believed to have bought one of the remaining Premier League TV rights packages ahead of the coming season. Until now, there had been two left to take, with Sky and BT owning the others, but now reports indicate there's only one package left.
The news broke back in February that Sky had managed to buy up the large majority of TV deals being sold by the Premier League for the upcoming three years. Of the seven available, the BBC show that BT bought only one package (32 Premier League games, all of which are early kick-offs on Saturdays), and Sky bought up four - leaving two without ownership.
That was, until now, as Deputy Business Editor at the Telegraph Chris Williams has claimed that one of the remaining packages has been bought by Amazon.
Amazon Prime subscribers rejoice! Or do they?
Other than the fact that there's no official announcement from Amazon regarding their latest purchase, there's no word as of yet if people with Prime accounts will be able to watch the English top flight with no additional cost.
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The packages on offer to Amazon aren't exactly the greatest. From what's available, the tech giants have either bought package F: 20 matches from one Bank Holiday and one midweek fixture programme; or package G: 20 matches from two midweek fixture programmes.
If Amazon's venture is the case, the duopoly of Sky and BT has finally been broken, and the move (if successful) may well lead to other companies getting involved in future endeavours.
While Sky have given no indication of whether they are willing to buy more or not (legally, they're only allowed to purchase one more package), BT have mentioned that they are willing to negotiate a deal to buy another package.
