Illegal live streaming continues to be prevalent in the UK amid 3pm blackout and rising cost of watching Premier League
Fans have been calling for a dedicated Premier League live streaming service for years, but is it any closer to becoming a reality? With the cost of watching the English top flight on TV in the UK at an all-time high, and the 3pm blackout barring fans from watching half of the available games, many are still resorting to illegal live streaming to follow their favourite clubs. Could a Premier League "Netflix" be the answer and how likely are we to see it come to fruition in the coming years?
The majority of traffic on Sporticos comes from the UK, with thousands of fans looking for a way to live stream Premier League matches every weekend of the season. There are two obvious reasons for this. The first is the ever-dizzying cost of following the Premier League legitimately via long-term, expensive contracts with traditional rights holders Sky Sports and BT Sport. The other is the now infamous 3pm blackout, which disallows those channels from airing Saturday 3pm kickoffs.
A large section of the UK supporter base likely can't afford to pay for subscriptions to those TV giants. Another may well be willing and able to pay but wouldn't be able to watch their team play anyway as they are kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday, with those fixtures usually featuring teams from the bottom half of the table that don't happen to be playing against a "big six" opponent.
Arguments for and against the 3pm blackout
Article 48 of the UEFA Statutes allows any association to decide on 2.5 hours on a Saturday or Sunday, during which any transmission of football may be prohibited within the territory. The English FA has chosen the period between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on a Saturday to exercise this rule, with top leagues around Europe often doing something similar but at different times depending on their own needs.
The 3pm blackout is often a contentious issue among British football fans. Many argue that scrapping the rule would result in lower attendances further down the pyramid, thus severely damaging the overall infrastructure. The argument is that clubs in the lower divisions depend on income generated from casual fans coming through the turnstiles. If, for example, a person living in Crewe could watch Manchester United play on TV at 3pm on a cold Saturday, they might not bother to go down to watch Crewe Alexandra. Hardcore fans, season ticket holders, would always go, but those lower league-curious might stay away. It's a legitimate concern.
On the other hand, many fans and analysts argue that the rule is draconian and that the damage done would be minimal. It's difficult to say exactly what would happen without trialling the idea. Pressure is mounting on various leagues to scrap the blackout, with the EFL publicly entertaining the concept.
There is also the possibility of the Premier League respecting the existing blackout and scheduling all games outside of the blackout window, by putting more games on Friday and Saturday nights and Sundays.
We were delighted to get some comment from a spokesperson at the hugely popular Footy Accumulators Twitter account. Here's what they had to say on the 3pm blackout:
'It’s hard to say. Some believe it’s outdated but we also believe strongly in the protection of the EFL and National League. There’s strong arguments for and against so I'm not against keeping the blackout for the time being. It would be good to see some clearer numbers on whether it’s as important now as it was 20+ years ago.'
Where does the UK rank in terms of the cost of watching Premier League football?
3pm blackout aside, fans are also rushing to sites like ours in their hordes every weekend looking for live streams in order to avoid the astronomical cost of being a Premier League fan in the UK in 2023.
Fans in the UK looking to follow the Premier League via legitimate means must spend upwards of £600 a season, according to data collected for our Premier League Price Index. This is compared to just £325 in the United States, £122 in the Netherlands and £113 in Australia, countries with comparative average incomes and large, growing Premier League fanbases.
Of course the Premier League is expected to be more expensive in the UK than in other markets because it is the English domestic top flight, but the difference in cost is staggering. What's more, those countries mentioned and many others allow fans to choose from every single game of the season, while the blackout restricts British fans to around 50% of matches.
As the country sits in the midst of a severe cost-of-living crisis, it is astounding that access to the Premier League be so costly. Our spokesperson from Footy Accumulators echoed this sentiment:
'Extremely unreasonable for the average fan. On top of the cost, it’s the fact you have to have 4+ subscriptions just to be able to watch the televised matches. Even then, you’re not guaranteed to have a choice of any Premier League game you’d like to watch.'
Police target illegal live streamers
This combination of huge cost and limited access has lead to thousands of fans scouring the internet looking for live streams of Premier League games. Many of them flock to our site, where we try to direct them towards legitimate live streaming options. We only wish there was a more affordable option to offer them than the existing broadcasters' OTT services.
With illegal live streaming seemingly going nowhere, West Mercia Police recently announced that they will be going door-to-door to warn the users of illegal services that they could face prosecution if they do not stop watching Premier League football in this way.
Many fans access games, especially those at 3pm on a Saturday, by using so-called "firestick" apps, which offer live streams from around the world of matches that would otherwise be unavailable in the UK.
These services don't own the rights to this content and, by distributing it, are of course breaking the law and risking prosecution. Users of such platforms have usually been seen by police as secondary to the problem, but they are now finding themselves in their crosshairs.
This gives law-abiding fans only two options: pay for costly subscriptions to rights holders to watch the available matches and listen to the radio to keep track of 3pm Saturday kickoffs, or simply stop following the Premier League.
Is there a Premier League live streaming service around the corner?
The obvious solution to this problem seems to be a standalone live streaming service owned and operated entirely by the Premier League. However, is this ever going to become a reality?
The current TV rights deal in place with Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon Prime Video runs until 2025. Bids for the following cycle will soon be coming in, with tech giant Apple reportedly looking to join the race for Premier League rights, having already bought up 10 years of Major League Soccer rights recently.
That means any Premier League "Netflix" is unlikely to emerge for at least another 5 or 10 years.
The spokesperson for Footy Accumulators would be on board but doesn't hold out much hope for it:
'It would be good but can’t see it happening due to the sheer amount of TV sponsorship money made available through the current setup.'
Under the current setup, the Premier League brings in around £5bn every three seasons without really needing to do anything. If things were to change, they would become responsible for production, broadcasting and all elements of the process.
However, the plus side would be total control. A Premier League streaming service could charge a subscription fee to users which would see them pay a reasonable amount of money to access all EPL matches, presumably shown outside of the 3pm blackout window, in order to protect clubs lower down the pyramid, something the league is always quoted as being passionate about.
They could still sell ads on the platform, thus maintaining that revenue stream. They could set subscription prices at different tiers, perhaps offering additional content or ad-free options to "premium" members. They could hand pick the pundits, the analysts, everything. The subsription fees could be set at a level that would increase legitimate viewership, reduce illegal streaming, and eclipse revenue generated from the current rights deals.
Make no mistake, creating a dedicated OTT live streaming platform would be a huge undertaking for the Premier League, but in the long run it could see them take complete control over their viewer base, increase revenue and most importantly for fans, bring down the individual cost per person.
Is it better to have every single potential Premier League viewer in the country pay £30 a month to access your very own "Netflix" equivalent or stick with an ever-reducing number of people who are willing to pay double that to big broadcasters, with the rest flocking to illegal streaming sites or apps?
More and more fans are calling for a Premier League streaming service but we will have to wait and see if this is to become a reality in the coming years and decades, but with sports in general moving closer and closer to becoming an exclusively online endeavour, don't be too quick to dismiss the possibility.
We would love to know the Premier League's thinking on all of this. We reached out for comment but unfortunately we have yet to receive any response.
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