Premier League’s pay-TV model is on borrowed time

this week there were five men Found guilty Illegally streaming live Premier League games and jailed for over 30 years. The UK-based fraud had over 50,000 customers and generated £7 million over five years.

The Premier League, which brought the matter as an unusual private prosecution, takes these matters seriously. Piracy is a significant threat to the lucrative pay-TV model that funnels billions of pounds into European football every year. English football’s top competition receives more revenue from broadcasters than any other league, enabling even smaller clubs to bring in elite players and coaches.

But the case is also a reminder that criminal enterprises see plenty of opportunities to exploit a fragmented TV market, which has raised costs for consumers while offering limited access to a core product.

Premier League fans wanting to watch all the live matches made available for TV this season in the UK will now have to pay for not one but three subscriptions. The combined cost for the login required for Sky Sport, BT Sport and Amazon Prime is upwards of £800 this year. In a survival crunch, watching live football on TV is a luxury.

Yet only 200 of the 380 games in a Premier League season are broadcast domestically – the result of so-called 3pm blackouts designed to keep people from watching top-tier matches from the sofa rather than going to games in lower leagues.

The debate over how the broadcasting rights for the Premier League are sold in the UK has been going on for more than 20 years. The current set-up is the result of a European Commission decision which forced the league to split its rights into bundles to be auctioned separately, thus depriving Sky of an effective monopoly.

It was expected that competition would increase for the benefit of customers, but the opposite happened. Costs have gone up for broadcasters, which are then fed through higher subscription fees.

International fans get a lot for their money. For example, in Hong Kong, £50 a month will get you every single Premier League match as well as Spanish, French, Italian league games – as well as all European club competitions.

As an industry, football TV hinges on money. Clubs require larger lump sums from traditional broadcasters to pay transfer fees and players’ wages than they have become accustomed to. Pay TV relies on live sport to justify high monthly bills.

But this business model seems to be on borrowed time. A recent poll by YouGov showed that 75 per cent of sports fans aged 55+ watch live matches on TV, this number drops to 36 per cent for those aged 24-35, and younger viewers becomes even less for .

While the overall value of football’s media rights has recently been relatively stable after years of strong growth, AndersAnalysis warns that the true picture has been obscured by inflation. “The net value of European football rights is in significant decline,” it said in a recent report. Club owners across the continent are already sounding the alarm.

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Rivals in football and other sports are beginning to look for alternatives. Germany’s Bundesliga and Serie A in Italy have both raised the prospect of launching their own streaming services to deliver games directly to consumers, something Spain’s La Liga already does for UK-based viewers. Indian fans of Formula One can get direct access to live races through the F1 app for around $30 per year.

Where things stand will be a big test later this year, when the Premier League tenders for domestic broadcasting rights for the first time in six years. Ligue 1 and Serie A in France will also have TV auctions.

There is hope that Silicon Valley’s streaming platforms will come to the rescue with big proposals that are cut short by the realities of a harsh tech industry. Pay TV companies are in the mood for retrenchment.

The captains of the football industry need to think big if the Pirates are to be kept away.

this week there were five men Found guilty Illegally streaming live Premier League games and jailed for over 30 years. The UK-based fraud had over 50,000 customers and generated £7 million over five years.

The Premier League, which brought the matter as an unusual private prosecution, takes these matters seriously. Piracy is a significant threat to the lucrative pay-TV model that funnels billions of pounds into European football every year. English football’s top competition receives more revenue from broadcasters than any other league, enabling even smaller clubs to bring in elite players and coaches.

But the case is also a reminder that criminal enterprises see plenty of opportunities to exploit a fragmented TV market, which has raised costs for consumers while offering limited access to a core product.

Premier League fans wanting to watch all the live matches made available for TV this season in the UK will now have to pay for not one but three subscriptions. The combined cost for the login required for Sky Sport, BT Sport and Amazon Prime is upwards of £800 this year. In a survival crunch, watching live football on TV is a luxury.

Yet only 200 of the 380 games in a Premier League season are broadcast domestically – the result of so-called 3pm blackouts designed to keep people from watching top-tier matches from the sofa rather than going to games in lower leagues.

The debate over how the broadcasting rights for the Premier League are sold in the UK has been going on for more than 20 years. The current set-up is the result of a European Commission decision which forced the league to split its rights into bundles to be auctioned separately, thus depriving Sky of an effective monopoly.

It was expected that competition would increase for the benefit of customers, but the opposite happened. Costs have gone up for broadcasters, which are then fed through higher subscription fees.

International fans get a lot for their money. For example, in Hong Kong, £50 a month will get you every single Premier League match as well as Spanish, French, Italian league games – as well as all European club competitions.

As an industry, football TV hinges on money. Clubs require larger lump sums from traditional broadcasters to pay transfer fees and players’ wages than they have become accustomed to. Pay TV relies on live sport to justify high monthly bills.

But this business model seems to be on borrowed time. A recent poll by YouGov showed that 75 per cent of sports fans aged 55+ watch live matches on TV, this number drops to 36 per cent for those aged 24-35, and younger viewers becomes even less for .

While the overall value of football’s media rights has recently been relatively stable after years of strong growth, AndersAnalysis warns that the true picture has been obscured by inflation. “The net value of European football rights is in significant decline,” it said in a recent report. Club owners across the continent are already sounding the alarm.

You are viewing a snapshot of an interactive graphic. This is probably due to being offline or JavaScript is disabled in your browser.

Rivals in football and other sports are beginning to look for alternatives. Germany’s Bundesliga and Serie A in Italy have both raised the prospect of launching their own streaming services to deliver games directly to consumers, something Spain’s La Liga already does for UK-based viewers. Indian fans of Formula One can get direct access to live races through the F1 app for around $30 per year.

Where things stand will be a big test later this year, when the Premier League tenders for domestic broadcasting rights for the first time in six years. Ligue 1 and Serie A in France will also have TV auctions.

There is hope that Silicon Valley’s streaming platforms will come to the rescue with big proposals that are cut short by the realities of a harsh tech industry. Pay TV companies are in the mood for retrenchment.

The captains of the football industry need to think big if the Pirates are to be kept away.