Amazon is planning to livestream four English Premier League matches on Twitch for free during the completion of the 2019-20 season. Those games will be exclusively available to users in the U.K.
Twitch began as an esports streaming platform, and was bought by the tech giant in 2014 for $970 million. Amazon’s free broadcasts on Twitch will begin with Crystal Palace v. Burnley on June 29.
The EPL is in the first season of a three-year deal with Amazon to livestream 20 matches per season on Prime Video in the U.K. Amazon announced earlier this month that it would stream its remaining four matches for free on Prime Video, meaning fans without Prime subscriptions can watch those games. Those same games will now stream on Twitch.
According to the Verge, Amazon is partnering with EA Sports to give viewers the option of adding fan noise from the FIFA video game to EPL broadcasts. NBC and Sky Sports are doing the same.
The Premier League is not the only professional soccer league airing matches on Twitch. The National Women’s Soccer League is in the first year of a three-year agreement to livestream games internationally on Twitch. Fans outside the U.S. and Canada will be able to watch all matches from the NWSL’s upcoming 25-game tournament on Twitch. That tournament kicks off in Utah on June 27.
Through Amazon’s broadcast deal with the NFL, the tech giant has also livestreamed Thursday Night Football games on Twitch since 2017. Both gaming superstar Ninja and former NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe hosted their own NFL game streams on Twitch in 2018.
