New Premier League TV rights deal explained | OneFootball

Highlights

TV and football have a long-standing relationship in the U.K. Back in 1937, the first-ever live broadcast of a football match took place; the game was between Arsenal and their reserve team. Just a year later, the first international match was televised live across the nation, with the fierce rivalry between Scotland and England playing out on TV screens for the first time. The FA Cup final was aired live for the first time as well, in the same month as the aforementioned international match. Mere months before the start of the Second World War, a TV-only commentator could be heard on a broadcast, as the legendary George Allison talked viewers through the 1939 FA Cup final.

Over the many decades that have followed, coverage of games in this country would continue to evolve. International tournaments started to be broadcast, and, in the same year that England won their one and only World Cup, a colour-filled picture became available for football lovers across Britain. From that to the birth of Ceefax in 1974 - the iconic Teletext informational service that would tell you the scores from across the country - and then the eventual switch to more of what we know nowadays, like the BBC Sport website which debuted in the first July of the new millennium.

To think that we, as a population, have gone from packed houses, crowded around one small, fuzzy TV, to the point now where you can watch almost every single Premier League match, and now more and more EFL games, from a little device that slips into our pocket, during the lifespan of many grandparents, is staggering. It's spread the reach of the beautiful game even further, allowing more and more people to watch their sporting icons, almost whenever they want. Not only has even more televising of the sport benefited football, in terms of growing it, but it's also further boosted the wealth that comes with the game.

There's a pretty consistent debate in British football about how games should be broadcast. These questions often pertain to the regularity of games - i.e. are we getting too many, or too few? But there are also concerns about why certain time slots don't allow for matches to be shown live on television. Issues like this get brought up, and often changed, when the TV rights deal for the Premier League comes up for renewal. Broadcasters battle it out on the financial playing field to decide who's going to have the rights to show certain games and own certain broadcasting time slots, and the fees paid are mind-blowing.

With the new, record-breaking deal being announced at the start of December, we thought that we would break it down to cover all those questions and queries above.

How much the new Premier League TV rights deal is worth

The new deal struck between the Premier League and the British broadcasters of the league is worth a mind-boggling £6.7bn, according to The Athletic. It's hard to wrap your head around the fact that this collective deal will end up being a profitable venture for these media companies, but they will, somehow.

This new deal means that the broadcasters have collectively committed to paying over £1.5bn more than they ever have done to show the Premier League on their channels, as per The Athletic. That £1.5bn jump from the current deal to the new one is not the biggest in price for the rights deal. The 2013-16 deal was worth £3.02bn, and the next deal (2016-19) was worth £5.14bn; at an increased worth of £2.12bn.

This deal only covers domestic broadcasting rights. Rights to show the Premier League overseas are negotiated separately from the domestic rights. The overseas rights to televise the Premier League and the EFL (The three professional leagues below the Premier League) will be combined in a new deal that kicks in in 2028, according to SportsPro Media. This should mean that the growth of the clubs in the EFL from then on should be a lot closer aligned to the growth of the top-flight teams. It was also revealed in the same report that the Premier League's overseas revenue generates from television rights is £5bn.

The Athletic reported that the previous deal, which spans from the 2022/23 season to the 2024/25 season, was worth £5.1bn; a starter in comparison to the relative buffet that the broadcasters have just served up to the Premier League.

When the new Premier League TV rights deal comes into effect

With the current deal ending after the 2024/25 Premier League season, the new agreement will come into effect from the next season (2025/26) and last until the end of the 2028/29 campaign. This is one of the few times in the history of England's top football league that a TV rights deal spans more than three years. Previously, only the first two deals that were made after the creation of the Premier League, from 1992-97 and 1997-2001, have lasted more than a three-year cycle. This means that fans will get to see more great top-tier English football for the foreseeable future.

The 3pm blackout

The 3pm blackout has been a source of annoyance and frustration for many football fans over the years. It's a rule that was implemented over 60 years ago that prevents football matches from being broadcast at 3pm on a Saturday in the UK. If you just so happened to live in a house on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and you also, coincidentally, happened to have a TV on either side of the border, you would be able to watch football matches on TV at 3pm on a Saturday in the part of your home that's in the Republic of Ireland, but not the one that is in Northern Ireland. It's not the most logical of scenarios, but it is technically true.

In the 1960s, football clubs thought that if games from across the country were to be broadcast on television, then people would be less likely to come and watch matches in person, therefore reducing attendance and revenue from ticket sales for the clubs as well. Many Premier League teams not only sell out their stadiums every week, but they could probably do it twice over. There is a huge demand for these Premier League teams, and they are aware that not all the fans can come and watch the games in person; it's just not physically feasible. So this blackout, where games could be broadcast but aren't, means that they are losing out on even more that could be made by selling off the rights to televise these matches.

Ultimately, it looks unlikely to change, and it's almost certainly not going to change before the end of the 2020s. Part of the UEFA Statutes (Article 48) allows leagues to designate a specific: "closed window," for broadcasting, according to The Mirror. The blackout isn't in place to benefit the biggest clubs in the country, but those lower down the English football pyramid.

“It is important to create a balance between live football on television whilst also protecting attendance figures at matches and participation levels in the grassroots game,” is what a spokesperson for the Football Association (FA) previously told The Mirror. The governing bodies don't want people sitting at home in front of a TV when they could be attending a game in person, and that's what the blackout encourages. But, who knows, the power of the biggest might outweigh the morality of the blackout when they realise just how much money could be made from removing the rule.

Watchers of the beautiful game in the U.K. will understand the frustration that is sometimes felt on a Sunday because of the current 2pm rule where only one game is shown at that time. You check which games are on that day, you see that there are some good games that you'd like to watch, and maybe some that aren't quite so appealing.

Many teams who play midweek matches in Europe, who tend to be the better and more popular sides, play at this time to give them a proper rest between their Wednesday/Thursday match and their weekend fixture. Yet, it feels like, more times than not, those less appealing games are the ones that get chosen to be shown, and you just have to follow the other, more intriguing, matches through updates on X.

Now though, that's all about to change. All the games that are scheduled to be played at this time, on a Sunday, will be broadcast live on television.

The current setup for this season, and the next, sees three companies televise Premier League matches in the U.K. They are Sky Sports, TNT Sports (formerly known as BT Sports), and Amazon Prime TV. Sky Sports show the majority of games at the regular time slots - 5:30pm on a Saturday, 2pm and 4:30pm on a Sunday, as well as Friday and Monday night games - whereas TNT tend to show the 12:30pm and 8pm Saturday games. Amazon Prime has a few weeks a season in which they broadcast every midweek match. The new deal is about to shake things up though.

Sky Sports

With this new deal, Sky are set to televise 70% more games than they do in the current deal, without having to pay too much extra for it, according to The Athletic. They will now show a minimum of 215 games, which is up from the 128 that they have in the current deal, according to talkSPORT. Their total coverage will span 140 weekend games, the Monday and Friday night matches, and outright coverage of three rounds of midweek fixtures.

The major sports broadcaster will also show every single game on the final day of the Premier League season for the first time. Usually, fans aren't able to watch these games, legally, unless they are in attendance, which is becoming increasingly harder to do. But that curtain of the potential final day of the season drama will be lifted in the 2025/26 season.

There has been no change to the number of matches that the newly named broadcaster will show. They will have the right to televise 52 games per season from 2025-29. These will include their regular slot of 12:30 kick-offs on a Saturday, as well as exclusively showing two lots of midweek matches. As well as football, TNT Sports is now the home of the NBA for its British fanbase. It also has an exclusive deal to show wrestling promotion AEW's free-to-air shows and pay-per-views.

After the deal was announced, The Premier League Chief Executive, Richard Masters, said: "We are delighted to announce new deals with Sky Sports and TNT Sports that will extend our partnership for a further four years and see more Premier League matches than ever before shown live from 2025/26 onwards." He added: "As long-standing and valued partners, Sky Sports and TNT Sports are renowned for consistently delivering world-class coverage and programming. We have enjoyed record audiences and attendances in recent seasons, and we know that their continued innovation will drive more people to watch and follow the Premier League."

BBC Sport

Whilst the BBC don't have any rights to televise any Premier League game, they do have retained the rights to the highlights of all 360 games played in the Premier League, in the new deal. This will ensure the continuation of their 'Match of the Day' programmes. Match of the Day first aired back in 1964, on BBC Two. But, since 1966, the host channel of the iconic show, which is now hosted by former England international Gary Lineker, is BBC One. There have been over 5000 episodes since its first airing in the '60s.

The only time that the programme hasn't followed its traditional format was back in March 2023. Lineker had put out a tweet which criticised the British government, and, therefore, was suspended by the BBC for breaching impartiality guidelines, as per The Guardian. In a stand of solidarity, as per The National, pundits like former Arsenal striker Ian Wright and all-time Premier League top scorer Alan Shearer, and the rest of the commentators who usually help put together the show, refused to do the show. What followed was 20 minutes of highlights with no commentary, and it was a grim watch.

Masters said, on the deal with the BBC: "We are also extremely pleased to extend our partnership with BBC Sport, which will continue to bring weekly highlights of all Premier League matches to the widest possible audience in the UK. Match of the Day has been an institution for generations of football fans in this country and remains incredibly popular with fans of all ages."

Jeff Bezos' televising of the Premier League in the U.K. will end at the end of the next season. The Athletic said that they didn't even attempt to bid for their previous 20 games per season. But they will show some Champions League games from next season onwards, as per The Athletic. Since 2015, TNT Sports/BT Sports has been the sole provider of televised Champions League football. But a deal that was announced in February 2023 means that they will be sharing those rights with Amazon Prime from the start of next season's European campaign. The Tuesday night fixtures will be handled by the streaming service, according to the Manchester Evening News, whilst Wednesday nights, and Thursday night's Europa and Conference League action, will stay as they are.

Potential future rights holders

With Amazon dropping out, and Sky and TNT holding all the broadcasting cards, it might be harder for them to get back into the realm after deciding it wasn't for them because it's only going to get more and more expensive. Other streaming services could have a say in the future of where we all watch our Premier League football.

There have been unofficial talks in the media about a 'Netflix of football' concept - one central place where you could watch all the televised games. The Daily Mail suggested that this is what the Premier League should do; stop auctioning off the rights, do it themselves, and get the money from the consumers of their league directly. One company that could be poised to do that anyway is Apple. They already own the rights to stream the global streaming of the MLS, so there's every possibility that a company that's worth close to $3trn, according to Sky News, could well have the capital to centralise the viewing of the beautiful game's most popular league. Either them, or Netflix themselves, but they haven't been convinced to venture into sports broadcasting yet.

Other streaming platform names that have been chucked into the conversation are the likes of DAZN and Viaplay, as per The Athletic. DAZN already streams Premier League games, in Spain, but they don't seem to have the financial power to jump into bed with Sky and TNT. Viaplay had plans for international expansion of its product, but the proverbial plug has been pulled on that, according to The Athletic.

When the TV rights deal will be re-negotiated

The deal for the 2029 and onwards broadcasting rights will be re-negotiated towards the back end of the 2025-29 deal. One thing is almost certain though, that record-breaking figure will more than likely be broken again the next time around. Sky Sports reported a 40% increase in viewing figures on the opening weekend of the Premier League season, compared to the 2022/23 campaign.

Interest in England's top flight has never been so high, and it's a stark comparison when you put its figures alongside those of the other top leagues in Europe. France's Ligue 1 has scrapped its auction for domestic broadcasting rights, as per The Athletic. The league received no bids that met the minimum prices for the two main Ligue 1 live packages from 2024 to 2029. They're now reportedly desperate for someone like Amazon or beIN Sports to up their original proposals.

Italy's top league, Serie A, is in better shape than their French counterpart. The Serie A announced in October that they had agreed a deal worth €4.5bn (£3.9bn) for a five-year deal, as per The Athletic. That works out to be €900m (£774m) per year. When you put that side by side with the £1.675bn that the Premier League are going to be receiving from TNT and Sky between 2025 and 2029. England's top division will be receiving more than double, per year, of what Serie A will be.