Amazon could be in the running to acquire the television rights for Premiere League soccer, which would be the latest in a recent string of high-profile sports deals for Amazon’s streaming video platform.
According to the Daily Mail, Amazon could be in the mix to win a set of set of three-year rights from the 2019 season. That would put Amazon in competition with European pay TV operators like Sky and current rights holder BT.
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It’s unclear if Amazon would push for U.S. distribution rights in any deal it potentially sets with the Premiere League, but it wouldn’t be the first U.S. programmer to bet on European soccer in the U.S.
Turner announced that it will use the UEFA soccer rights it won earlier this year as the backbone for a streaming service it intends to launch in 2018. Turner’s new service will show more than 340 UEFA matches per season across its television and digital platforms.
“We believe UEFA provides us a great foundation to launch our new OTT sports product. We’ll look to add additional content as we lead up to the launch next year,” a Turner spokesperson told FierceBroadcasting.
For Amazon, a Premiere League deal could be a follow-up to other sports streaming deals it made earlier this year. In April, the NFL announced that Amazon had won the rights to livestream 10 Thursday Night Football matchups and another NFL game on Christmas Day. The games on Amazon will be available to the company’s Prime members, who pay $99 per year to subscribe.
“We are continually looking for ways to deliver our games to fans wherever they watch, whether on television or on digital platforms and we are thrilled to bring Thursday Night Football to Amazon”, said Brian Rolapp, chief media and business officer for the NFL, in a statement. “As has been the case with all our streaming initiatives, we look forward to continuing to innovate with our partners as we learn the best ways to serve our fans both this season and into the future.”