This week sees the live streaming of the first ten Premier League football matches under Amazon’s current deal with the Premier League.

Matches can be watched by members of Amazon Prime (available at a cost of £7.99 per month).  Ten further matches will be streamed on 26-27 December.

Is this the beginning of a shift towards viewing live football on the Internet rather than on terrestrial TV?  Undoubtedly.  Will the transition be a smooth one?  Probably not.

As we all look on like Video Assistant Referees from our living rooms, the verdict after the first round of matches appears mixed, and this in itself must be regarded as something of a triumph for Amazon, given their less than glorious record when it comes to streaming sporting events (the 2018 US Open Tennis springs to mind).

Negative comments were predictable, citing buffering problems; time-lag; and, in some cases, no video and image distortion.  However, it is a sad fact of our modern, social media age that people are more likely to stir themselves to literary comment in order to complain rather than commend.  Perhaps it is just human nature?  A race of Unlucky Alfs rather than “Brilliant!” Kids.  Roy Keanes rather than Jermaine Jenases.

The positive comments about Amazon’s offering tended to be more diverse, and more interesting for it.  They ranged from praising the ease of the online controls to the ability of being able to mute the commentators and just listen to the background crowd noise.

While I recognise that online streaming is the future for live football––whether the supplier ends up being Amazon, Google, Netflix or Apple––I still remain steadfastly oldskool.  And cheapskate.

It is still BBC text updates for me.

© Donnie Blake

Donnie Blake enjoys his football low-tech.

While you are watching Amazon Prime’s December fixtures, you might like to check out Donnie’s football fiction available on Amazon Kindle.