Premier League to branch out with new Singapore streaming service

The Premier League will launch its first direct-to-customer streaming platform in Singapore next season, a service that could be "replicated all around the world" if successful.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said on Thursday the new channel would be known as "Premier League +".

This will be the first time the lucrative and globally popular English top-flight football competition has broadcast its own content, having always previously sold its rights to the likes of satellite broadcasters such as Sky Sports in the UK and the terrestrial NBC in the United States.

The Singapore project will coincide with the opening of a new Premier League Studios production hub in Olympia in London.

"We're going (direct) to consumer in Singapore," Masters told the Financial Times Business of Football Summit in London, with several Premier League clubs, including Manchester United and Liverpool having long-established fan bases in Asia.

"It's a very long, considered process, carefully chosen.

"So from next season, Premier League +, rather than Premflix –- we've rebranded it finally –- is going to happen.

"For the first time the Premier League is going to have its own customers. It's going to have to deal with promotion, pricing, churn, distribution, all of those things, we’re looking to build a business.

"We're also looking to learn, to see how that might be replicated all around the world."

Other major sports leagues, including the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball in the United States, already broadcast directly to viewers.