In a move that reflects a referee's first-warning for traditional sports broadcasters, the English Premier League has officially confirmed the launch of its first-ever direct-to-consumer streaming service.
Speaking at the FT Business of Football Summit in London, Premier League CEO Richard Masters announced that 'Premier League Plus' will make its debut in Singapore for the 2026-27 season.
For financial markets and media investors, this is the latest high-stakes test of 'cutting out the middleman'. By selling directly to fans in Singapore, the world's richest football league is beginning an experiment which they hope will yield lessons on how it could later be "replicated around the world", according to Masters.
Here is all you need to know about 'Premier League Plus', the EPL's strategic shift.
The 'Singapore Sandbox': Why Start Here?
Singapore will serve as the global testbed for what has in the past been nicknamed "Premflix" by fans of the league. Describing the platform, Masters said "It will be a new app that you can download on your smart TV or laptop. You'll be able to watch 380 games a season, with lots of shoulder content and a 24/7 dedicated channel".
Crucially, the league isn't going entirely solo on its maiden venture into the DTC market. It is launching the app in partnership with StarHub, its existing broadcast partner in the region. StarHub is currently in the middle of a six-year rights deal with the EPL, which runs up to 2028 and beginning from the 2026 season, they will be 'distributing' the PL's own platform, which reduces the PL's risk regarding local infrastructure while allowing them to share in the subscription upside.
Fans in Singapore can still continue to watch live PL matches on Starhub's channels, with no changes to its existing PL packages arising from this announcement.
Singapore is a digitally mature, high-income market and if this pilot proves that the league can manage customer churn and billing while increasing average revenue per user, a global rollout starting with 'tier-2' markets seems inevitable.
Capturing the Vertical: 'IMG Divorce'
The launch of Premier League Plus is the second half of a massive structural overhaul. In late 2024, the league ended its 20-year relationship with sports marketing giant IMG, which previously handled international production.
The league has built Premier League Studios, a state-of-the-art facility in Olympia, West London, in a bid to move all of its international production and media operations in-house starting from next season.
The launch of Premier League Plus in Singapore signals the PL's intent to transform into a vertically integrated media company, allowing them to control the entire end-to-end broadcast operation, cutting out any third-party agency fees.
The Financial 'Why Now?' Question
The traditional B2B model of selling rights to local broadcasters (like NBC in the United States or Disney/Star in India) has been lucrative for the league, however in recent times, the price of rights has hit a ceiling.
Masters emphasized that DTC gives the league 'optionality' as they're "looking to learn how that (Premier League Plus) might be replicated around the world." This could mean that in markets where broadcasters are unwilling to meet the league's rising price floor, the EPL can now simply walk away from the negotiating table and launch its own app.
An added benefit is that for the first time, the league will deal directly with the customer. This means direct access to user data, viewing habits, purchasing patterns, and demographics, which is a goldmine for sponsorship and targeted advertising that was previously solely in the hands of the broadcast rights holder.
Precedents and Pitfalls: Learning from F1, Ligue 1
The EPL is not the first to explore this path, but it is the first to do so from a position of overwhelming market dominance.
Formula 1's F1 TV Pro is the gold standard for this model, having successfully used its DTC platform to drive up the value of its traditional TV deals by proving the existence of a hungry, direct audience to traditional broadcasters.
More recently, France's Ligue 1 was forced to take a leap into the deep end and launch its own streaming platform this season after its broadcast deals collapsed. The gamble saw immediate traction, as over 1 million viewers subscribed within its first month of launch. This was a major psychological victory, as it proved there was still a massive, paying audience for French football if the packaging was right.
Unlike the French, the EPL is experimenting from a position of strength and could expect an even more positive response.
What This Means for the Global Market
The Singapore trial could lead to a paradigm shift for broadcasters worldwide. If Premier League Plus successfully scales without cannibalising the StarHub partnership, it provides a blueprint for the 2028 rights cycle in major territories like the US, Thailand, and potentially India.
It's ultimately an exciting time for fans as the Premier League is no longer content being just a 'content provider,' but is ready to take a bet on itself and make the leap across to reach their fans directly.
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