Sky app to offer Premier League highlights from 2016-17 season
Although Sky spent a record £4.2 billion for Premier League TV rights for three seasons from 2016, the company wasn't able to secure access to online and app highlights at the same time. For over half a decade, those rights have been owned by ESPN and News International (now News UK). However, that will all change from the 2016-17 season, when Sky finally gets its hands on near real-time video clips for all Premier League matches and adds to the 126 live games it already has plans to broadcast.
Interestingly, the company confirmed it has teamed up with News UK to show the clips, allowing Sun, Times and Sunday Times subscribers to access highlights online and via their apps for another three seasons. Over the past year, the Premier League has tried to crack down on the number of clips shared on social networks like Vine. Both The Sun and The Times ask customers to pay a subscription for in-app highlights, but Vine users can record footage of their TV screens and share them to Facebook and Twitter for free. The League developed GIF crawlers, Vine crawlers and worked with Twitter directly to protect rights holders, but footage remains widely available.
Sky hasn't yet confirmed how customers will access its Premier League highlights, but does note that it aims to deliver "the best coverage across TV, mobile, online and social media." That suggests the company will take a multi-platform approach with its clips, but we'll find out exactly what it has planned nearer the start of the 2016 season.
