Sky Sports chiefs have claimed that the move towards ending the 3pm blackout could be accelerated by the rise of ‘dodgy’ Fire Sticks, which some fans use to illegally stream Premier League games.
A report revealed in May that the cost of illegally streamed matches through the technology which allows users access to major international television challenge has skyrocketed, costing football’s governing bodies around Europe – and the channels themselves – billions per year.
The sale of the devices has led to a string of arrests – including one man based in Halifax earlier this year – but few have been deterred from using illegal streams to circumvent the traditional blackout.
From the start of the new season, Sky Sports will broadcast 215 live top-flight matches, with TNT Sport claiming 52; this means that every match that is not scheduled at 3pm will be viewable live on a UK rights-holder.
As this is the start of new four-year cycle of Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage, the blackout is set to remain in place until at least 2029.
But amid their unveiling of a slew of innovations ahead of this Premier League season, Sky Sports ‘ managing director Jonathan Licht admitted that the end of the formality – which used to be in place across Europe – could be sparked by the uptick in stealing the service.
‘There’s clearly a direction of travel, or lots of conversation about Saturday 3pm,’ Licht said. ‘I think that will increase – this is day one of a new four-year cycle.
‘We are very pleased with the increase in volume and the choice that (we) will bring to fans. We are not at 380 Premier League games, but it is a conversation that is coming, that’s for sure.
‘It’s fair to say that Saturday 3pm has been a point for piracy coming into this market from various places. Piracy is a very serious issue, there’s a real concern that despite the illegality and the links to organised crime that it is being normalised.
‘That’s dangerous for everyone in the industry, dangerous for rights holders – we have seen some of the problems in France and the value there. A lot of that has been put down to broadcasters or new entrants saying they can’t get the right side of that.
‘That has been very value-destructive. I don’t think anyone wants to see that happen in this market.
In France, a regulatory body named Arcon released a study which claimed that the sports sector had lost £200million from audio-visual piracy.
But nowhere in Europe could it be said that the demand for untelevised matches is greater than the UK. The television blackout was initially put in place to protect attendance on matchday and ensure the health of amateur football, but the concept, Gary Neville suggested, has become outdated by changing times.
‘When you go to different parts of the world, obviously you can watch every game of football in the Premier League, and it’s getting to that point now, where fans want to watch every game,’ the broadcaster’s star pundit added.
As part of the channel’s innovations, fans will be able to watch multiple televised games at once in their new Multiview programme, with one presenting team covering all of them and switching between key moments.
Another aspect of coverage will by Fanalysis, which will see each Premier League side represented by a fan’s perspective.
Coverage on Super Sundays will be elongated too, with Jamie Carragher set to host a reaction show called Extra Time, with a soundtrack provided by rock band Kasabian.
