Sky Sports and BT Sport face LOSING Premier League TV rights as streaming giants consider bid
APPLE is reportedly poised to make a move for the Premier League TV rights when bidding on the next packages begins.
Their interest could pose a major threat to Sky Sports and BT Sport’s Prem deals.
Apple TV has already dipped into the football market.
They produced a four-part original documentary about the Super League that was released earlier this year.
They’ve also inked a ten-year deal to broadcast MLS worldwide, worth a staggering £200million a season.
The current rights packages from Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon Prime Video expire at the end of the 2024/25 season.
SunSports anticipates that the bidding process will begin towards the end of this year.
And the new rights come into effect at the start of the 2025-26 Premier League season.
Sky Sports shows around 140 Prem games per season, with BT Sport owning the rights to 50 and Amazon Prime Video showing two full game weeks, including Boxing Day games.
American owners of Premier League clubs, including Chelsea’s Todd Boehly, believe the £5.1 billion earned over three years on global TV rights is below market value.
Last year, Boehly admitted he hopes the Prem can “learn from US esports” when it comes to earning more revenue — even introducing the idea of an All-Star Game like the one on the other side of the big pond looks.
He said: “Ultimately, I hope the Premier League takes a little lesson from American sport.
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“And really starting to figure out why we don’t have a bottom four sports team tournament, why isn’t there an all-star game?
“People are talking about more money for the pyramid; in the MLB All-Star game this year we made $200m (£160m) on a Monday and a Tuesday.
“So we think we could do a North vs South All Star game for the Premier League for everything the pyramid needs quite simply.”
Sky Sports has owned the bulk of the Prem TV rights since the league started in 1992 – but now their dominance is under serious threat.
They have revolutionized coverage in the UK and have become a huge part of homes across the country.
BT Sport, on the other hand, will be renamed TNT Sports following a merger with Warner Bros Discovery [WBD].
WBD Sports Europe Managing Director Andrew Georgiou said: “At the next rights auction this is a premium service and we intend to remain a premium service.
“Our approach to any rights auction is to ensure we maintain that position in the market.”