Sky Planning to Make Premier League Highlights Free to Watch on YouTube

Sky are reportedly considering the publication of free Premier League highlights on YouTube after each match. Though Sky have had the rights to do so for some time, this is the first time they've planned to publish highlights of games, outside of their social media channels. 

The Mail report that Sky plan to publish three minute highlights of each match, free to all YouTube viewers. This stands to threaten the BBC's Match of the Day monopoly on football highlights, the only current platform for extended football highlights and analysis on Premier League football in the UK.

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Mail 'insiders' insist that Sky's new highlight uploads should not be considered a significant threat to Match of the Day and its viewership, adding that the potential highlights videos are targeted at viewers who want a short amount of content that they're likely to consume through their mobile devices.

Currently the BBC hold the rights to broadcast Premier League highlights until at least 2022, with Match of the Day broadcast on Friday and Saturday nights during the season. This follows the BBC's winning of the auction for the right to broadcast these highlights, at a hefty fee of £211.5m. This is a £7.5m increase on the BBC's last deal with the Premier League, and it is thought that the cost of broadcasting Premier League content will only continue to rise in the years to come.

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Though these insiders at Sky have attempted to play down any threat this new format could pose to Lineker and co, the BBC will surely be keeping a close on these new YouTube highlights and the actual effect it has on their viewership statistics.

The new Premier League season kicks off on Friday 9th August, with Liverpool facing newly promoted Norwich City.