Sky Sports REFUSE to announce sales for £14.95 pay-per-view matches

Sky Sports and BT Sport REFUSE to announce sales for pay-per-view matches on debut weekend of £14.95 games… as Newcastle fans raise £19,000 for charity by boycotting PPV defeat by Manchester United

  • It was the first weekend of pay-per-view matches across the Premier League
  • Newcastle’s defeat by Manchester United was one of the games costing £14.95
  • Many fans boycotted the game and instead gave their money to charity  
  • When pushed for a figure on sales for the weekend, Sky Sports and BT Sport did not reveal 

Sky Sports refused to release sales figures for the first weekend of pay-per-view matches following a widespread boycott of the £14.95 games. 

The introduction of pay-per-view on both Sky and BT Sport – who also did not elect to release sales figures for the PPV matches – was met with condemnation from supporters who felt they were being priced out.

Newcastle’s home defeat by Manchester United was one of the games chosen for PPV and many Toon fans opted to give the money to charity, rather than pay for the game. They raised £19,000. 

Many fans boycotted Newcastle’s game against Manchester United as it was on pay-per-view

Sky said that the information regarding the number of sales of PPV matches remains ‘commercially sensitive’.

BT Sport have said that they do not typically release viewing figures for their broadcasts. 

To date, there have been four pay-per-view broadcasts. West Brom’s game against Burnley on Monday night is the fifth top-flight match sold at £14.95. 

Sky Sports and BT Sport refused to reveal how many PPV passes were sold at the weekend

Sky Sports and BT Sport refused to reveal how many PPV passes were sold at the weekend

With fans still unable to return to stadiums to see their teams play, there was a demand to broadcast every match until they could go back. 

But after matches were made free-to-air as part of Project Restart last season, the decision was made to sell any matches not taken up for regular television coverage as part of the broadcasting agreement with UK rights holders. 

The condemnation of the PPV service, which charges £14.95 for each game individually, saw fans go elsewhere with their money.

Twitter account nufcfoodbank confirmed an estimated £19,000 raised by Newcastle supporters over the weekend for the city’s West End foodbank. 

In wake of the generosity from Newcastle’s supporters, a change.org petition has been set up entitled ‘Stop Pay Per View Football’.

A petition has been set up to end Pay-Per-View games as they are 'unfair and unreasonable'

A petition has been set up to end Pay-Per-View games as they are ‘unfair and unreasonable’

Fulham's trip to Sheffield United on Sunday was another game placed on Box Office offering

Fulham’s trip to Sheffield United on Sunday was another game placed on Box Office offering

The petition currently has more than 2,000 signatures with the basis for the petition being that it is ‘unfair and unreasonable to expect fans to pay again’ for PPV after already funding broadcast packages across Sky, BT and Amazon, alongside season tickets.  

All Premier League games were initially shown on either Sky, BT, Amazon or the BBC as a stop-gap solution, but the Premier League received no extra fee. 

Clubs were working on the assumption that some fans would return in October but with no prospect of that due to rising coronavirus numbers, with fans’ absence costing clubs £100m a month, and having had to pay rebates to broadcasters last season, the clubs argued that they can’t afford to continue to give away the product for free.