StarHub’s contract-free EPL plan priced from S$19.99 a month

WHEN the top executives at StarHub were deliberating how much they should price its English Premier League (EPL) offering, what was clear to them was that the amount should be at a level that’s both affordable and accessible to the masses.

Eventually, they decided that the telco’s new Premier+ over-the-top (OTT) service would cost S$19.99 a month for those with other StarHub plans, and S$34.99 a month for everyone else.

This “early bird” offer will be for the first 25,000 people who subscribe from Thursday (June 9) at 10am until the end of the month, with the price going up slightly to S$24.99 and S$34.99 respectively from July 1.

In a first for Singapore, there is no contract lock-in and fans can choose to cancel their subscriptions and rejoin whenever they want.

A major selling point, too, is the fact that a person need not be a StarHub customer in the first place to subscribe to Premier+.

Speaking to the media at an event to officially launch Premier+, StarHub’s chief of its consumer business group Johan Buse noted that the EPL’s subscriber base has come down over the years.

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“Are there less Premier League fans in Singapore? No. There are even more than (the number) 12 years ago. So where did it all go wrong? We believe there is an unserved segment in the market,” he said in response to a question about the low price point and what it would mean in terms of profitability.

“We are doing this because we want to bring excitement. By making it affordable, we are convinced that many more fans in Singapore will have the opportunity to watch the Premier League in its full glory again,” he added.

In February this year, StarHub announced that it had secured the exclusive broadcast rights to the EPL for the next 6 seasons - starting with the new 2022/23 season that begins on the weekend of Aug 6 - taking over from industry rivals Singtel which has held the rights since 2010.

StarHub’s price point is considerably lower than what fans have been paying to watch the EPL matches on Singtel.

For the 2021/22 season that just ended in May, Singtel subscribers paid S$64.90 a month to watch the games on TV, and S$49.90 a month to tune in via the video-streaming service Cast.

Singtel TV subscribers will still be able to watch the EPL games on that platform due to the government’s cross-carriage rules.

In a statement on Wednesday evening, a Singtel spokesperson said it will offer the EPL to its TV customers at a monthly cost of S$64.90 - the same price that StarHub’s TV customers pay.

The Singtel spokesperson added that it will inform the telco’s existing Premier League customers of a bill rebate within the next fortnight.

All 380 matches of every season will be shown “live” on StarHub’s Premier+, which can be accessed from any 5 registered devices and 2 simultaneous streams with a single subscription. The matches can be streamed on any device or any network. Premier+ will be available via an OTT streaming service, similar to others such as Netflix and Disney+. Customers can view the content via their iOS or Android mobile devices, on smart TVs, or streamed from Google Chromecast and Apple AirPlay.

In a news release, StarHub said that it would progressively roll out several features for Premier+ from now until the first quarter of 2023. These include Party Watch, a feature where one can invite fans virtually to watch and chat about a match in real time; and Multi-viewing, which lets viewers catch 2 “live” games on a single screen, or watch from the perspective of their favourite player.

StarHub’s new dedicated Hub Premier channels will go “live” on July 15, to coincide with the broadcast of the Standard Chartered Singapore Trophy 2022 match between EPL clubs Liverpool and Crystal Palace, which will be played at the National Stadium in Kallang that day.

“Premier League games are, hands down, the most-watched live sports programme in Singapore,” said Buse. “We are here to energise this passion by bringing the game back to all at lower prices.”

Shares of StarHub ended trading on Wednesday at S$1.26, a cent higher than its previous close.