view : The 2023/24 English Premier League season kick off last week with all the hoopla and undue physique - up I have come in to expect from the self - proclaimed Best League in the World .
I need to watch as much Premier League football game as I can handle and to do that in the UK three monthly subscriptions are expect : Sky Sports , TNT Sports and Prime Video .
Sky ’s Sky Sports is the big provider , showing between four and six games each weekend ( Friday and Saturday evenings , Sunday afternoons and Monday nights ) with numerous midweek catch littered throughout the season .
Sky Sports ’ prices depart depending on whether you ’re subscribing through its Now offshoot , through its Sky television set services or Virgin Media , but on modal it ’s about £ 25-£30 a month . Expensive yes , but you ’re get a decent amount of action for that outlay .
The next main supplier isTNT Sports , which is a rebranded reading ofBT Sports which close when BT merged it with Warner Bros in 2022 . TNT Sports demo typically one Premier League peer a week , the midday Saturday kick - off , plus all the matches from various UEFA rivalry , like the Champions League and the Europa League . There are also midweek fixtures and more match around the festive period of time .
TNT ’s price varies too , for instance , if I was to sign throughSky Streamit would be £ 27 a calendar month ( more than Sky Sports is on there ) though if I was to do it through Discovery Plus it would be £ 29.99 a calendar month . £ 29.99 a month for , on mediocre , one PL match a week ? It stool Sky Sports look like great value .
Of of course , both Sky Sport and TNT offer other sports – but it ’s fair to say the reason these services are priced the way they are is because of Premier League football .
Trying to get limit up with TNT Sports has also establish to be something of a faff . As I get Discovery Plus included with my monthly Sky TV subscription , I ca n’t upgrade that to let in TNT Sports – there ’s just no way to do it .
I can give Sky £ 27 to add TNT Sports to my Sky subscription , but then I ca n’t follow it through the TNT app or on an Apple TV in another room – it ’s limited to the analogue channel on the Sky boxwood . It seems I would have to set up another Discovery Plus account and bulge another subscription . It ’s a heap .
lastly , a handful of matches – typically around Christmas and New Year – are shown live on Amazon’sPrime Videoservice . This costs £ 8.99 – or there ’s a 30 - twenty-four hour period costless trial if you ’ve never used it before . You ’d plausibly only need to take to Prime for a calendar month or two to watch all the games it has the rights to each twelvemonth .
Right , so three main subscriptions are needed to learn all the telecast match each week and thus could cost more than £ 70 if each armed service is pay for at full price . £ 70 . A month .
And even if you splurge on all three inspection and repair you do n’t get access to every individual match . The 3 pm dimout still exists , imply Premier League game kicking off at 3 post-mortem on Saturdays ca n’t be shown on television receiver or through a stream anywhere in the UK .
If you ’re a Liverpool lover and they are playing at 3 post-mortem examination on Saturday you wo n’t be able to watch with any of those subscriptions . There are many argument for and against the blackout , some good – some less so – but it does palpate like an antiquated rule . Anyway , that ’s a discourse for a different column .
A few months ago I was locomote in the States and our fantastic US newsperson Chris very kindly let me nab hisGoogle TVlog - in point so I could see one of Leicester City ’s important terminal - of - season fixtures .
I was amazed at how smooth and slick the Google TV service of process was , give me agile access to equal that simply would n’t be available in the UK – I did n’t need to change apps , remember which service had which game and so on . I was even more shocked to learn he paid notably less than me each calendar month , for more games and an overall adept divine service .
endeavor to rain buckets the Premier League is a mess , and it want a complete afterthought . It ’s not just the sky - high monthly prices , but the missing match , and puzzling serve each with wildly unlike apps . The oft - rumour Premier League cyclosis service would be the dreaming , but I just ca n’t see it take place any sentence soon due to how much money these other supplier pay for the right .
While I hate to say it , I think pelt Premier League football in the UK will continue to be a mess for years to come .
