Gabby Agbonlahor hits out at amount of subscriptions needed to watch football on TV, and for once, fans are in actual agreement with him.
The ex-Premier League striker was on talkSPORT Breakfast Wednesday morning where he, Ally McCoist and Laura Woods talked about Scotland’s 2-0 win against Spain the night before.
The game was televised on Viaplay, a streaming service that was launched in the UK in 2022, not on mainstream telly or even on Sky Sports.
“I couldn’t watch it! I’m not signing up!” 😡
“Viaplay, BT Sport, Sky Sports, Amazon!”
Gabby Agbonlahor is sick of the amount of subscriptions needed to watch football. 📺 pic.twitter.com/a2YH4CgK2p
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) March 29, 2023
Gabby said that he didn’t watch the game and brought up the increasing number of TV platforms that show football as the reason.
He said: “It’s a massive result and Ally, I didn’t get to watch the game because there’s that many different channels now that the football is on.
“You’ve got Viaplay £15, BT Sport £30, Sky Sports £24, Amazon £9, you’ve got Premier Sports, I can’t keep up.
“I went to put it on Ally and I’m like, ‘No I’m not signing up for this channel.’”
Amongst the laughter, McCoist added that the subscription would certainly have been worth his money as he replied: “I can assure mate, it would have been £15 well spent!”
In the past, talkSPORT’s Simon Jordan has put forward an idea of having a ‘Netflix of football’ streaming platform, where fans would be charged £9.99 a month to watch Premier League games.
He said: “It’s what should happen and it’s what I’ve been talking about for about three or four years, for the Premier League to build its own platform and owning its own content, rather than doing it through third party outlets like Sky, BT and the overseas deals that they’ve signed.
“If you build your own platform, like the ‘Netflix of football’ idea that I’ve mooted for some time, charge 100million people around the world who would easily subscribe to it £9.99-a-month, which is no great shake in terms of cost, you’d be generating £10-12billion a year.
“You look at the £3billion a year that they’re currently getting and that has associated costs, so of course there’s a point in question that the league should be getting off its backside and moving through the gears.
“There’s another argument about biting the hand that fed them because there’s no doubt that Sky and others have taken football to a different level, but their time is beginning to go into the past.
“Comcast bought Sky because they wanted to increase their subscription opportunity because it was running aground in America. I don’t think that they’re a great broadcaster. I think that Sky has had its day and I think there’s an opportunity.”
🙏 “I’ve talked about this for 3 or 4 years… the Netflix of football!”
💷 “Charge 100m people £9.99 p/m, you’d get £10bn-a-year!”
🎥 “I’ve believe every game could be shown, I don’t believe in the 3pm ban.”
Simon Jordan says the MLS & Apple link-up is the future of football. pic.twitter.com/i1ju0fH3yn
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) June 16, 2022
✅ Go harder on profit & sustainability
✅ Salary caps for player wages
✅ Building the ‘Netflix of Football’
✅ Ensure refs & VAR are best in classSimon Jordan lays out what he’d do if he was Head of the Premier League.
What do you make of Simon’s ideas? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/au54s8tpZT
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) April 5, 2022
Here’s what fans said as Gabby Agbonlahor hits out at the amount of subscriptions needed to watch football on TV…
@DSW357: I don’t agree with him much, but for once he has a point
@RealLeeAnderson: Gabby for the first time making a good point. Making a point for the average Monday to Friday worker yet others find it hilarious. Must be nice.
@markg80: Will only get worse at the end of the next TV rights contracts when the likes of Dazn and Disney and possibly netflix get involved
@Mar85588: Well said and he is right. Shame the others laughed at him.
@Mikalis62: Supporters being priced out of going to games due to prices and touts getting tickets. Now priced out of watching their team on TV. Premier league for the profit not the fans!
@Daveyboymarra: He’s actually right for once
@cardiffhobbitt: Not often it happens but Completely agree with Gabby on this one. I have had to follow the entire season via online text commentary and MOTD highlights. It is now ridiculous!
@somecallme2019: It’s just pure greed. Make all games televised, still have your feature games with pundits etc as stand alone kick offs but televise all other games in a stripped down fashion. Increase teams tv money and cap match tickets so people can still go the game.
@tom_LFC90: I’m gutted to be missing the Man City vs Liverpool game on Saturday, but I just can’t justify spending £30 on a BT subscription on top of everything else. They don’t even have much on there #LFC
@btsport
@TomStirk1992: Gabby’s never heard of a fire stick
@Riccles05: That’s not the point though is it. We shouldn’t have to go through illegal means to watch football, especially home nation internationals.
@MarcBoatwright: Spot on, fookin rip off footy
@thealchemistroc: It’s ridiculous need some sort of regulation on this over a £100 month to watch football
@Mike_Holt_GTM: First sensible conversation on talksport in awhile. 😳😳
@IanDavidNoakes: Finally, a pundit addressing what most of the football loving public have a grievance about 👏
@LennyDeGriffa: Bloody Hell Common Sense 😳 shouldn’t be paying over a £100 a month to watch football especially if your team isn’t on live all the time. It is time that all matches are live like in Europe not just selective few.
@ThomAR5E: And the craziest part is, all these paid for channels and yet im not guaranteed to be able to watch every game of the of the team I support unless I move to another country, shambles
Gabby you’re not fooling anyone definitely got one of these bad boys plugged into that 86” inch tv pic.twitter.com/CF1hmsJfUf
— Tyler (@Tyler_Boro) March 29, 2023
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