Southampton: Saints and Premier League rivals to get rid of pay-per-view

Southampton and their Premier League rivals are set get rid of the pay-per-view model for screening matches that has caused anger amongst fans.

According to a report from the Independent, the plan is to revert back to all matches being screened for free after the upcoming round of fixtures – the same way that the Premier League was televised during the last lockdown.

Saints have been shown on the PPV service twice so far. Their 3-3 draw with Chelsea was shown via BT Sport’s on demand setup and then Sky Sports Box Office screened their 4-3 win at Aston Villa last weekend.

For Premier League fans, this will be good news and will allow everyone the chance to watch their team without any extra costs on top of what they were already paying.

The £14.95 fee for each PPV match was seen as extortionate – especially when fans in other countries can watch a month of top-flight football for a fraction of the that cost.

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This evening, Saints will be shown live on Sky Sports when they host Newcastle at St Mary’s – something that will already cost fans a sizeable fee.

A Sky Sports pass via NOW TV costs £33.99 per month, whilst a lower fee of £9.99 is what is takes to have access to all 11 Sky Sports channels for just 24 hours.

BT Sport are the other major TV rights holders in the UK and a monthly pass to their sports service is priced at £25 per month. Amazon Prime’s two full matchdays per season also see another £9.99 per month added to the overall cost for English fans watching their teams normally.

It is good to see that common sense has prevailed now though with free screening for all.

It was said that Sky and BT in particular were disappointed with the £14.95 fee that had been set by the Premier League itself.

They were going to get coverage of their production costs from the amount that each game brought in, whilst the rest of the money was going straight to the clubs involved.

Clubs had also wanted a £5 reduction to the charge and that would have, perhaps, been more acceptable to fans.