Mike Ashley now wants PPV games to be charged at £4.95 despite voting for the £14.95 surcharge
Despite being slap bang in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, the Premier League still thought it a perfectly good idea to charge supporters £14.95 per match to watch their teams on TV via a Pay Per View (PPV) subscription.
It’s believed that the idea behind charging a higher tier of pricing is because it would cost fans significantly more to watch the teams inside their stadiums.
Surely it would therefore follow that if the supporters were that desperate to watch their teams they would pay it.
However, perhaps the Premier League and its member clubs weren’t quite expecting the depth of feeling that came about as a result of the £14.95 tariff being charged.
Newcastle United owner, Mike Ashley, was one of those who voted in favour of the higher rate, but now wants this to be reduced to a much more reasonable £4.95 per match.
“Charging £14.95 for single televised matches in the current climate it is not acceptable to any football fan,” he is quoted as saying by BBC Sport.
“Supporters have overwhelmingly rejected this offer and the Premier League must now act.
“Why not make it much more accessible at £4.95 per match until Christmas?
“The Government should waive VAT on the above pay-per-view matches so that as many of those who are unable to attend matches in person can at least watch their team.
“The profit from the above reduced-price pay-per-view option, I would suggest that 50% would be retained by Premier League and 50% would go to the football pyramid below.”
With many employees still on furlough from their jobs and others struggling to keep their heads above water in a financial sense, it would appear that the £4.95 proposal could have some chance of succeeding.
Watch this space!
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