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 to Manchester United

  • It was the first weekend of pay-per-view matches across the Premier League
  • Newcastle’s defeat to Manchester United was one of the games costing £14.95
  • Many fans boycotted the game and instead gave their money to help charity  
  • When pushed for a figure on sales for the weekend, Sky Sports 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 to 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, with £19,000 raised. 

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. 

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. 

More to follow. 


Leave a Comment