Amazon to bring English Premier League to Twitch

Amazon will show its upcoming free English Premier League matches on streaming platform Twitch.

The tech giant was handed an additional four games as part of the league’s project restart and now, confirmed to Deadline, Amazon will utilise live streaming platform Twitch to broadcast matches in a more sociable forum. One of Twitch’s key features is its chat functionality which, typically, allows viewers to interact with one another and the streamer they are watching.

Twitch is primarily known as a game streaming platform, but has been used for a number of live sports broadcasts. Showing the Premier League – the world’s most-watched football league – on Twitch would mark a significant step in Amazon’s attempts to be taken seriously as a major player in sports broadcasting.

Speaking to the outlet, Alex Green, managing director of Amazon Prime Video Sport Europe, said: “We are extremely passionate about delivering the best experience for our customers whilst following guidelines to ensure the safety of our production team. Beyond this, we have made a number of additions that bring extra choice to our customers in how they watch, from full-crowd Stadium Atmosphere to streaming our Prime Video fixtures on leading streaming service, Twitch.”

Amazon’s coverage of the restarted EPL will begin with Crystal Palace vs Burnley on June 29.

Elsewhere, Sky Sports will broadcast 64 matches, 25 of which will be available for non-paying customers on the Sky Pick channel. BT Sport will show 20 games and the BBC will broadcast four top-flight league football matches for the first time.