Premier League's 3pm blackout step closer to being scrapped as Netflix-style product launched

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has revealed that a direct-to-viewer streaming service is being launched, meaning the 3pm blackout could soon be a thing of the past

Premier League bosses are ready to launch their own “Premflix” streaming channel. And it is likely to signal a revolution in the multi-billion pound business of TV rights and could change the way every armchair viewer watches the English top flight.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters revealed they are starting the new project by launching a new direct-to-viewer streaming service with broadcaster StarHub in Singapore. That will act as a pilot for the Premier League + channel and it will show all 380 games live as well as magazine content starting next season.

There is currently a 3pm blackout in the UK but foreign deals would be exempt from rules showing games live on a Saturday. Prem insiders insist there are no immediate plans to scrap the blackout in the UK despite a growing belief in the industry that it could be ditched after the next TV deal in 2029.

Prem bosses are hoping Premier League + will be a big success in the Far East and that could then pave the way for the 20 clubs to sell their TV rights directly to the viewers.

Masters, talking at the FT Live Business of Football Summit, said: “For the first time, we’re going direct-to-consumer in Singapore. It’s a very long, considered process, carefully chosen. We have a six-year agreement with StarHub, one of the two providers out there. So from next season onwards, Premier League + – rather than Premflix – finally, it’s going to happen.

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“It’s the first time the Premier League is going to have its own customers. It’s going to have to deal with promotion, pricing, churn, distribution, all of those things. We’re looking to build a business. We’re also looking to learn, to see how that might be replicable around the world daily-mirror-icon_sport_football_premier-league.

“We’ve now taken control of our content. It allows us to look differently in the future, and it may become a business centre in its own right, but I think it does make all of those different options we have in front of us more easy to execute.”

English football’s top flight has become the richest and most powerful in the world thanks to its market-leading TV contracts and it currently has a mega £6.7billion domestic deal with Sky and TNT Sports. But that could soon change with the Premier League looking to take charge of its own rights. There have been major hints about selling games directly to viewers in the past - but this is the first time they have confirmed it officially.

It comes amid fears over the scale of piracy and Firesticks while TV viewers are increasingly fed-up of the 3pm TV blackout which is the long-running ban on showing live games on a Saturday afternoon.

When it was put to Masters that viewers in Singapore do not have to worry about the 3pm blackout, Masters replied: “They do not, nobody does outside of this country.”

Even though the current deal with Sky does not expire until 2029, it is clear that a big TV revelation is underway. They are likely to maintain deals with broadcasters like Sky but could stream games themselves.

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