The reaction to the Premier League’s decision to show games on pay-per-view has not gone down well with a large number of fans, with some supporter groups arranging protests.
Fans can still watch their favourite team but the fixtures that are not selected for the main TV coverage slots cost £14.95 and are split between Sky Sports Box Office and BT Sport Box Office.
The Premier League’s announcement indicated that this an interim solution, but while it is not certain how long it will last, there are some alternatives for sports fans looking to get their fix without paying extra money on top of their subscriptions.
German Bundesliga
Top-flight football fixtures in Germany take place at similar times to English Premier League matches, including the Saturday afternoon slot.
While 3pm kick-offs in England are currently on pay-per-view, you can instead watch a 2:30pm game in Germany as part of your standard BT Sport package.
This means that you can watch the 12:30pm televised Premier League fixture, and it rolls straight into a German match.
Bundesliga games also take place on Friday nights and all through the weekend.
NFL
Sunday evenings are filled with sporting action and if you don’t want to pay for the late kick-off in the Premier League, then look no further than the NFL on Sky Sports.
The early slate of American football begins at 6pm. Another set of games begin just after 9pm, completing a total of seven hours of commercial-free football on NFL Redzone.
Redzone shows the best of every single game, meaning you don’t miss any touchdowns, making it one of the most exciting sports broadcasts out there.
As if that wasn’t enough, Sunday Night Football then follows, with one prime time game in the US kicking off at around 1:20am UK time.
ATP & WTA Tennis
Amazon Prime Video offers a huge range of live and on-demand tennis from both the men’s and women’s main tour, with tournaments available to watch almost every week.
The events generally run all-week long but reach their climax at the weekend, and you can often get great betting promotions around the important matches.
Among the best competitions broadcast on Prime Video towards the end of 2020 are the Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals. The latter will be held in London and sees the world’s top eight male players battle it out in the final event of the season.
PGA Tour Golf
The golf calendar is stacked up until mid-December, in a schedule that includes The Masters which begins on November 12th.
Most competitions begin on Thursdays with Sky Sports having featured groups coverage before the main broadcast begins later in the day.
Tournaments run over four days, and while the PGA Tour attracts the biggest names, there are also excellent tournaments on the European Tour, as well as LPGA events.
With so much golf going on, Sky often utilise their red button service and even their YouTube channel to ensure that fans can see whatever they want. This comes at no extra cost on top of the Sky Sports subscription, unlike the PPV Premier League football matches.
Formula One
This season is a historic one for Formula One, with records being broken all over the place.
Lewis Hamilton is set to top the all-time race wins list and is also in line to equal Michael Schumacher’s total of seven World Drivers’ Championship triumphs.
Not every race clashes with a pay-per-view Premier League game, but some do, and qualifying sessions likewise.
If you are into motorsport, you can watch F1 on Sky Sports, and Now TV offers day passes if you just want to tune in for one particular race day.