Netflix has spent years politely rebuffing Premier League and Uefa entreaties to bid for their TV rights, so it would be ironic if it picked them up by default. That intriguing outcome is a possibility as a result of the $100bn-plus takeover battle for Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) between Netflix and its streaming rival Paramount Skydance which will shape the future not only of Hollywood but global news.
Much-hyped sports rights are a footnote in a deal of such magnitude that it will require signoff from the US government, but the implications for football will be profound, even if Donald Trump is more concerned about who owns (and presents on) CNN than which platform shows Bournemouth v Brighton at Saturday lunchtime next season.
Netflix struck an $82.7bn deal early last month to buy WBD’s studio and streaming businesses, before Paramount made a $108.4bn hostile takeover offer direct to WBD’s shareholders just before Christmas. Netflix has not bid for WBD’s Discovery Global network of channels, such as CNN, the Discovery Channel, Eurosport and TNT Sports US, but its deal does include TNT Sports’ UK operation, which has domestic rights for the Premier League until 2029 and Champions League until 2027.
The Paramount offer is for WBD studios, streaming and Discovery Global and also includes TNT Sports’ UK operation, but the WBD board has urged shareholders to reject it, despite it seemingly being the preferred option of Trump. The US president has spoken of being close to Larry Ellison, the tech billionaire and co-founder of the software company Oracle, who has offered a personal guarantee of more than $40bn to fund Paramount’s bid.
The Premier League has been courting Netflix for almost 10 years by offering packages of games designed for streaming companies. Amazon Prime bought the rights for two rounds of top-flight matches each season between 2019 and 2025, before the league reverted to Sky Sports for the new four-year deal that began this season.
Uefa has fared little better with Netflix, which made a modest offer that failed to reach the second round of bidding for the Champions League streaming packages sold in November in the five biggest European markets. Paramount+ and Amazon bought the rights in the UK, Italy and Germany, with Telefonica and Canal+ reaffirming their domestic dominance in Spain and France respectively.
Netflix, despite such apparent indifference, or at least reluctance to invest billions in premium rights, continues to show interest in adding certain sporting properties to its huge entertainment and film portfolio. Under a landmark deal last year, Netflix secured US rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups, the first time the company had bought the rights to a complete competition or tournament.
Historically Netflix has targeted global rights for one-off events such as world championship boxing or exhibitions such as the Six Kings Slam tennis tournament held in Saudi Arabia in the past two Octobers, or Jake Paul’s crossover fights with Mike Tyson and Anthony Joshua.
The contract with Fifa for the Women’s World Cup is significant in terms of Netflix veering away from its preferred model of global rights deals, which is potentially good news for the Premier League. Given the outcome of Uefa’s Champions League auction, which did not produce the global streaming deal offered as part of the tender, there seems little prospect of the Premier League selling its rights on a global basis in its post-2029 cycle, so Netflix would have to continue bidding on a market-by-market basis if it inherited TNT Sport’s UK rights as part of a WBD purchase.
WBD’s senior European staff remain in the dark about how the takeover will pan out and Netflix’s plans for sport should it beat the Paramount bid, but there is no doubt regarding the significance of the auction. “No one has any idea, frankly,” one source said. “There is so much uncertainty surrounding the takeover, and our business in general.”
For the Premier League the timing could not be better because, despite being halfway through the first season of its domestic rights deal with Sky Sports and TNT Sports, planning for the next auction is well under way.
As the Guardian reported last month, discussions with the EFL over withdrawing from Article 48 of Uefa’s statutes governing the 3pm Saturday blackout are due in the first quarter of this year, with both leagues eager to make all their matches available for broadcast after 2029.
With even Sky’s budgets under pressure as its parent company, Comcast, aims to finalise its proposed purchase of ITV, more games for sale is likely to require more broadcast partners. The Premier League’s decision to build its own international production headquarters, which will open at the One Olympia complex in west London at the start of next season, has led to speculation it is preparing to follow the Ligue 1 model of selling some games direct to consumers, but cutting out the broadcasting and streaming middlemen would be a huge gamble which, unlike in France, is not required.
With Paramount Skydance having made a major move into European football by acquiring Champions League rights on behalf of Paramount+, the Premier League would view Netflix as a welcome addition to its broadcast stable.
