As Netflix and Paramount Skydance clash over WBD, football rights once considered peripheral could become central to the future of UK streaming
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etflix has spent years politely rebuffing Premier League and Uefa entreaties to bid for their TV rights, so it would be ironic if it picked them up by default. That intriguing outcome is a possibility as a result of the $100bn-plus takeover battle for Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) between Netflix and its streaming rival Paramount Skydance which will shape the future not only of Hollywood but global news.
Much-hyped sports rights are a footnote in a deal of such magnitude that it will require signoff from the US government, but the implications for football will be profound, even if Donald Trump is more concerned about who owns (and presents on) CNN than which platform shows Bournemouth v Brighton at Saturday lunchtime next season.
Netflix struck an $82.7bn deal early last month to buy WBD’s studio and streaming businesses, before Paramount made a $108.4bn hostile takeover offer direct to WBD’s shareholders just before Christmas. Netflix has not bid for WBD’s Discovery Global network of channels, such as CNN, the Discovery Channel, Eurosport and TNT Sports US, but its deal does include TNT Sports’ UK operation, which has domestic rights for the Premier League until 2029 and Champions League until 2027.
