Premier League 2019: Amazon and HDR to debut

A traditional way of escaping the relatives over the festive season is to head to the pub and lap up some Boxing day Premier League action. This year, however, soccer fans may have to stay home, find a network hotspot to stream to their mobiles or hope that the local has signed to Amazon Prime.

The US online retailer has bagged exclusive broadcasts of all Premier League matches on 26 and 27 December as well as those played midweek on 3-4 December for its Prime Video service. It’s one of many changes to the 2019 EPL season which kicks off August 09.

Amazon impact
Amazon won rights to show 20 Premier League matches a season for three years, beginning with the 2019 season. BT Sport landed another similar package for £90m. Together the deals mark the first time a full round of matches will be shown live in the UK.

The streamer’s games include Manchester United versus Newcastle at Old Trafford (26 December) and the Merseyside derby (4 December) with coverage being produced by BT Sport and Sunset + Vine. Details of their presentation have been kept under wraps.

Read more Can Amazon deliver a Premier football experience?

Amazon Prime members can watch the games for free, as well as weekly highlights of all Premier League games throughout the season. With other internet players like Facebook not tempted to bid for rights this time around, Amazon has a valuable and possibly bargain opportunity to test the market and see what audiences it can generate. For fans wanting to watch everything, though, it means an additional subscription.

The chief concern for Amazon from a technical point of view won’t be the studio and matchday coverage but distribution. Issue including buffering when switching between matches were reported during its live multi-court coverage of Wimbledon.

“Partnering with BT Sport and Sunset+Vine shows Amazon’s commitment to…