Are Premier League TV rights deals in trouble?

Paul Macdonald

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:55 CDT
• 3 min read

Broadcasting giant Sky has announced that it has lost 250,000 subscribers across its European network, meaning they have lost a total of 360,000 users so far in 2022.

Sky operates Pay TV services predominantly in the UK, Italy and Germany. In both Italy and Germany the advancement of DAZN, the streaming service, has captured a portion of both Bundesliga and Serie A rights, which is partly to blame for the dropoff in customers.

Sky's revenue for the period also fell 13.8%, sparking fears that their rights business could be in contraction, and that could mean bad news for the Premier League.

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Cost of living rises in the UK have hit hard particularly, forcing consumers to choose between the many streaming services available and select the ones they use the most.

The rise of illegal streaming has also been a factor as fans turn to firesticks and other services to watch their favourite team.

Should Premier League teams be worried that their TV revenue could be about to fall?

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Premier League TV rights deals

It's a little early to be writing the obituaries for the Premier League. The English giant is already the highest revenue generator from TV deals by a significant distance, and that gap isn't likely to close any time soon.

The new Premier League rights cycle runs from 2022 until 2025, meaning it has only just started. The deal is worth £5.1 billion in the UK, which is split into separate packages. Sky owns the biggest selection of matches, followed by BT Sport and finally by Amazon, who hold rights to two entire matchdays.

But the Premier League's overseas deals have outstripped their domestic revenue for the first time. Globally the negotiated contracts to broadcast the EPL are worth £5.3bn, taking the total revenue generated to an eye-watering £10.4bn over three years.

Will the Premier League lose TV rights money

As noted above, Sky have lost customers in Italy and Germany, where users have cancelled their subscriptions because matches can be found on a rival service, notably DAZN.

It's not entirely clear how many of the subscribers who cancelled are based in the UK, so it remains to be seen how Sky will view the situation.

But it would take a huge business shift for Sky to opt to abandon Premier League football altogether in the next rights cycle when so much of their core business is dedicated to driving subscribers by showing it.

And Sky will not want to get involved in a bidding war. While BT Sport have been reticent to spend more, Amazon have shown interest in additional packages, while the likes of Apple have taken the plunge into the sports market, securing a long-term deal to show MLS from next season.

These players being in the space would represent a significant threat to Sky and so it's likely that, at minimum, the next rights cycle would see a status quo rather than a significant reduction in TV revenue.

And even if it did, the EPL's powerful global product would ensure that it retains massive brand value in other territories, particularly in the USA, where it still has room to grow.

So while the numbers released by Sky will be of concern to the shareholders, we're a long way away from a scenario where clubs are caught short by a significant TV revenue shortfall.