Premier League goals could be at your fingertips within two minutes of hitting the back of the net courtesy of Sky Sports next season.
Sky Sports won the rights to show clips from every Premier League game, starting from the 2016/17 season, across its digital platforms last summer, but the main focus is the speed in which the goals and key moments are made available to fans.
Goals and key match moments will be at your fingertips within minutes, revolutionising the delivery of football highlights and could even mark the beginning of the end for the iconic Match of the Day.
Under threat from illegal streams and regular broadcasts overseas, the move to make goals available as quickly as possible is a clear step towards ensuring rights holders are protected.
It’s currently the closest any UK broadcaster can come to televising games at 3pm on a Saturday, still rightly protected to ensure that supporters continue to flock to grounds up and down the country at a variety of levels at the traditional time.
Sport is unique in that it’s virtually the only genre that people are still watching live on TV, with most other shows now watched on demand. This isn’t likely to change, but with a wide variety of games, supporters are now demanding access to more content.
BT Sport’s European Football Show can offer in-play goals and highlights on its featured matches, and you can watch a multitude of games from other countries on the red button across the weekend, yet you still cannot view the same from games in this country until the match highlights programmes later in the evening.
It is likely that you will be able to watch a selection of highlights from each match on the final whistle as part of Sky Sports’ match report, something which they have already started doing with their popular rugby league coverage.
As Sky Sports looks to win the battle with BT Sport, the addition of new features and new channels can only be good for consumers. Whether you’ll be able to find Wi-Fi or get decent 4G coverage within the stadium at the match you’re at so you can view goals as they happen elsewhere, remains to be seen.
