November 11 – Following widespread accusations of greed and self-interest from fans’ groups, the English Premier League has finally agreed to scrap its controversial pay-per-view scheme imminently.
Chief executive Richard Masters told a government committee that his organisation had “listened to feedback” and will be “changing direction”.
The pay-per-view model was introduced by the world’s richest league following the October international break for selected games sold on an individual basis.
Subscribers to Sky and BT Sport have been asked to pay an additional £14.95 to watch matches not chosen for regular television coverage, with the money providing an additional source of income for clubs who don’t have any matchday revenue because of games still being played behind closed doors.
Supporters’ groups have lambasted the scheme and have instead been boycotting watching their teams in favour of donating hundreds of thousands of pounds to food charities during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Masters was quizzed by members of parliament about the fairness of the concept amid a growing clamour to drop the idea with England recently having starting a second national Covid-19 lockdown.
“We took a decision to move to pay-per-view and now we are reviewing that decision,” the Premier League chief conceded.
“We … are taking another step that will see us through lockdown, the Christmas period and into January. I can’t announce what it is.”
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