US Liverpool fans should be furious with greedy new TV decision

TV companies and streaming services care very little about football fans – just so long as they’ve got us by the scruff of the neck, they’re happy to drain the audience of their money.

In the UK, we’ve seen Amazon Prime take 22 Premier League fixtures from Sky and BT Sports, which means there is now another method of watching Liverpool we have to pay for.

In the midst of a pandemic, football fans have been strong-armed into signing up for a service, which costs £7.99 per month, they likely weren’t subscribed to just six months ago.

While eight quid isn’t a lot of money – it’s about the principle – without physically attending matches, football fans in the UK need to pay over £3,500 if they want to watch every Premier League game in a season.

Watching every PL game in the UK: $6200

Watching every PL game in Australia: $139

For $6200 you could fly to Australia, stay in a Bondi hostel, spend all summer at the beach and watch every game of the #PremierLeague on #OptusSport.

*quarantine sold separately. pic.twitter.com/CQhbraJec8

— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) October 15, 2020

But it doesn’t seem like that luxury will soon be reserved for just UK citizens, as the US’ NBC is now moving their best games onto their subscription-based streaming app ‘Peacock’, which costs $5 per month.

This is relatively big news among US soccer fans. Having built an audience by letting fans see 10 games a weekend as part of a basic TV package, NBC is now moving the best games to a new streaming app, which charges $5/month. Result? Fury. Sadly, that deal is unavailable here. https://t.co/axmG8IkqNO

— Matt Slater (@mjshrimper) January 5, 2021

Again, a small amount of money, but when Americans are already paying at least $25 per month for cable – why are they being charged even more to watch the best football games at ludicrous hours of the night?

Honestly, it’s a sign of the times and this isn’t going to change – in just a few years, it’s now cheaper to buy a season ticket at one of your local top tier clubs than it is to watch your favourite team on TV.