The iconic duo, beloved for their chemistry on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday, will work together again for the first time in two years. Kamara will cover the Premier League clash between Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur, while Stelling hosts from the studio. Kamara’s ongoing health improvements make this comeback an especially heartwarming story, offering Amazon Prime viewers an uplifting football experience.
As one era is revisited, another quietly comes to an end.
Amazon’s six-year tenure as a Premier League rights holder concludes over the festive period. The streaming giant will broadcast all 10 matches on December 26 and 27, with Arsenal's home game against Ipswich Town on Friday marking its final Premier League coverage.
Next season ushers in a new domestic TV deal for the Premier League, with all 270 live matches—an increase in televised games—split between Sky Sports and TNT Sports. This four-year agreement, running until 2029, is valued at a staggering £6.7 billion.
Amazon opted out of this cycle. Their convenient 20-game package was no longer offered during last year’s auction, as the smallest available bundle, featuring 56 games per season, was secured by TNT. The remaining four packages were predictably claimed by Sky Sports, the league's longest-standing broadcast partner.
The financial stakes proved too high for Amazon. Over the past six years, the company paid around £30 million annually to broadcast two 10-game rounds of Premier League matches per season. However, retaining a foothold from 2025-26 onward would likely have required an investment ten times that amount, prompting Amazon to step away from the partnership. Instead, the tech giant has shifted its European football focus to the Champions League, holding broadcast rights in the UK, Germany, and Italy.
The partnership between Amazon and the Premier League was initially seen as a catalyst for long-term competition, paving the way for more streaming platforms to shake up the market. However, the rights have returned to traditional broadcasters Sky and TNT, whose deep pockets remain unmatched.
“If you want to challenge Sky, you must put a lot of money on the table,” explains Francois Godard, senior media and telecoms analyst at Enders Analysis.
Amazon ultimately decided that Premier League football no longer aligned with its UK business strategy.
The partnership began in June 2018, when Amazon disrupted the Sky and BT Sports (now TNT) duopoly by securing one of two unsold packages from an earlier auction. This marked the first significant break in the stranglehold of traditional broadcasters.
The 20-game package allowed Amazon to broadcast every Premier League team twice during two key rounds: the midweek fixtures in early December and the post-Christmas matches.
At the time, Richard Scudamore, then CEO of the Premier League, described Amazon as an “exciting new partner” for the 2019-20 season and beyond.
“Scudamore was eager to bring a streaming service into the fold,” explains Paolo Pescatore, an analyst at PP Foresight with over 25 years of industry experience. “It seemed almost like the games were handed over to entice Amazon while also allowing Scudamore to maintain his vision of diversifying the Premier League's broadcast partners. For Amazon, it was a highly opportunistic move.”
The TV industry took notice. While access to the matches wasn’t free—costing around £8 per month—many UK customers already had Amazon Prime subscriptions for shopping, making the addition of live Premier League matches an attractive bonus.
Amazon's strategic intent was clear. By securing games during the peak shopping season between Black Friday and Christmas, the streaming giant used Premier League football as a draw to boost Prime memberships during a critical sales period.
The strategy paid off. When Amazon first aired Premier League matches in December 2019, they celebrated two record-breaking nights of sign-ups. The broadcaster reported “millions” of viewers tuning in, and by February 2023, during Manchester City’s 3-1 victory over Arsenal, the audience had surpassed four million.
“Amazon’s objectives are straightforward—it’s all about boosting the value of and subscriptions to their Prime service,” explains Paolo Pescatore. “That’s their main goal. Everything they do revolves around Prime and encouraging more customers to join the platform.
“The rights they acquired were perfectly aligned with their strategy, leveraging the holiday season to drive consumer sales. That worked well for them, but we’ve likely reached a stage where Amazon has already maximized the number of subscriptions it could gain through the Premier League. Producing content year-round is still necessary, which may explain their pivot to the Champions League.”
Amazon had a successful run, one arguably extended by the unique circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. The original three-year deal, spanning 2019-20 to 2021-22, was extended without the need for a new tender due to the financial uncertainty of the time. What began as a three-season arrangement turned into six, at a price Amazon was more than happy to pay.
“For the money Amazon spent, they will have been very satisfied,” says Francois Godard. “If the same type of package had been available, I’m sure they would have been interested again, but that option no longer existed.
“They entered the Premier League with a retailer’s mindset, aiming to draw people to their platform during peak shopping periods. Over time, they shifted toward a broadcaster’s approach, which requires regular, loyal viewership.
“For this, weekly sports events are ideal. Amazon’s success with the Champions League in Italy and Germany demonstrated this, leading them to shift focus in the UK. This decision was not a rejection of the Premier League but a reflection of the league’s high costs.”
While Amazon’s entry into the Premier League in 2018 was a strategic move for both parties, circumstances had changed by the last rights auction. The number of packages available dropped from six to five, and the four-year domestic rights deal sold for approximately £1.68 billion annually—a modest four percent increase. Each Premier League game in the UK now costs over £6 million to broadcast. For Amazon, the price was simply too steep.
“It’s not that Amazon lacks interest in live sports,” says Paolo Pescatore. “Just look at their actions in the U.S. with the NFL, where they secured exclusive rights for Thursday Night Football in 2021 for a reported $1 billion annually. Their willingness to spend is evident.
“They’re ready to invest if they perceive value, but to make a significant impact as a rights holder in the UK and challenge Sky, they would need to spend around £1 billion. There’s a substantial gap between what Amazon paid for their current games and what they would need to invest at a minimum for the next cycle. It simply didn’t make financial sense for them.”
While the Premier League has committed to traditional domestic broadcasters for the next four years, the broader rights market continues to welcome new players and disruptors.
DAZN, the streaming platform, has secured exclusive rights to stream all 63 matches of next summer’s FIFA Club World Cup. Meanwhile, Netflix recently made strides in the live sports arena by acquiring the U.S. rights for the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031. Additionally, Apple TV established its presence in 2022 by securing a 10-year rights package for Major League Soccer worth $2.5 billion.
Live sports are increasingly attractive to streaming platforms, but significant risks remain.
Could Amazon ever justify a £1 billion investment in the Premier League's domestic rights if it resulted in a surge of Prime subscribers? This question likely crosses the minds of various platforms, and for now, caution prevails.
“We’ll have to wait for the next auction to see if other streaming services might enter the fray,” says Francois Godard. “YouTube has secured NFL rights in the U.S., Apple has rights for Major League Soccer, and Netflix is broadcasting the NFL for the first time this Christmas.
“I wouldn’t rule out Netflix acquiring sports rights in the next few years, but they need to refine their model in the U.S. before venturing into Europe.
“The European market is quite different. Advertising revenues in Europe are significantly lower than in the U.S. Reports indicate that about 25 percent of a sports broadcast in the U.S. comes from advertising, while in Europe, that figure drops to around eight percent.”
The Premier League can take satisfaction in the success of its broadcasting models. Last year, they achieved what they termed the largest sports rights sale in UK history, even without Amazon, and continue to secure additional incremental deals in various territories worldwide. The growth as a global product shows no signs of slowing, but the cycle following the 2028-29 season will bring new opportunities.
“Despite Amazon stepping back, Sky and TNT are well-positioned to adapt to the streaming revolution,” says Paolo Pescatore. “They have made significant investments to enable viewers to watch on multiple devices.
“Will the Premier League ever manage its broadcasting in-house? The key question will be about distribution, especially considering the UK's move towards everything being delivered over IP (internet protocol). I refer to this as the big TV switch-off, which will occur when DTT (digital terrestrial television) is phased out in the 2030s, likely around 2034, when all content must be delivered via IP.
“We may eventually see a Prem-flix type service. It’s possible the Premier League could choose to create such a service and sell access through broadcast partners. The direction is clear, but the path to get there is still uncertain.”
For now, Amazon will be observing from the sidelines.
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