SPORTS BROADCASTING
Amazon likely to bid for rights to English soccer
London — Amazon’s sports broadcasting ambitions will be tested this week in a multibillion-pound auction of English Premier League soccer rights, potentially pitting it against Sky and BT. England’s auction for the rights to screen matches including Manchester United and City, Liverpool and Chelsea is one of the biggest money spinners in world sport, raising £5.14bn at home in the past three years. Broadcasters that have stumped up for the best packages to win viewers and fend off rivals could now face another threat from one of the big US tech groups entering the fray. Amazon, the world’s largest retailer, has moved aggressively into TV to bolster its Amazon Prime membership service, which offers free delivery and content for a flat monthly fee, and the new auction appears to have been structured specifically to attract a digital player for at least a small set of games. That is likely to force Rupert Murdoch’s Sky and Britain’s biggest telecoms group, BT, to increase their offers....
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