Top flight chief confirms Premier League will be 'moving away' from controversial PPV model

Richard Masters, Chief Executive of Premier League (Photo by Alex Morton/Getty Images for Premier League)

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has confirmed that the governing body will be “moving away” from its current pay-per-view broadcast model for the foreseeable future.

Since the middle of October, any top flight matches that were not already selected for broadcast have only been available to view from behind a paywall for a fee of £14.95.

The move made for a marked change from the beginning of the campaign – and indeed the end of last season – when all games were available to watch via Sky Sports, BT Sport, Amazon Prime, or the BBC for no extra cost.

The introduction of pay-per-view led to widespread criticism from many supporters, with some fans choosing to boycott the fixtures altogether, and many others opting to donate the money to charity instead.

And after recent reports that the Premier League were set to review the measures during the current international break, Masters has spoken out to confirm that the authority will look to abandon their current model in favour of a new strategy that will carry through until at least the new year.

Speaking in front of a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee meeting on Tuesday morning, top flight chief said: "We took a decision to move to pay-per-view and now we are reviewing that decision.

"We have listened to feedback, we will be changing direction and moving away from it and taking another step that will see us through lockdown, the Christmas period and into January.

"I can't announce what it is yet”.