Amazon likely to bid to stream Premier League football

Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward said he expected both Amazon and Facebook to bid in the next round of Premier League rights sales after they missed out in the 2016 to 2019 round, which was sold to BskyB and BT for £8.4bn.

Woodward said: “I think they will enter the mix… there was incredibly strong interest in the last cycle.

“We are hearing that around the Premier League table and we are also hearing that from a European perspective in terms of interest in the Champions League and Europa rights. I do think we are going to see an increasing engagement from these and we would welcome the interest.”

Securing live Premier League rights exclusively in 1992 was key to the very survival and subsequent success of BskyB. These rights are viewed as prime content for newer media companies that are seeking to build their businesses on subscriptions.

Last month Amazon outbid Sky, paying a reported £10m a year for the UK rights to the ATP tennis tour, its first major live sport acquisition outside the US.

Amazon also streams an NFL American Football games on Thursdays and Facebook has inked a deal with Major League Soccer in the US to show 22 games a season.