Live Premier League football on Amazon Prime got off to an encouraging start as Burnley and Crystal Palace played the part of first-night hosts.
The streaming giant might be newcomers in the UK football market, but there was a familiar feel to the coverage as Gabby Logan and Eilidh Barbour welcomed viewers to Turf Moor and Selhurst Park.
The soothing strains of Peter Drury and Guy Mowbray were also in attendance, while Alan Shearer and Michael Owen were part of a cosmopolitan punditry line-up also featuring Nigel De Jong and Roberto Martinez.
Prime Video even came to the rescue when the lights went out in Manchester City’s away dressing room at Turf Moor before kick-off.
A temporary light was brought in by Amazon staff to enable the City players to
get changed after City had tweeted a picture of a black screen accompanied
by the message: “Checking out the scene inside the away dressing room at Turf Moor.” Lights, cameras, action… indeed.
A nod to innovation was made in the direction of the Opta Win Probability, which predicted the chance of each team triumphing.
It quickly moved against Palace as Mamadou Sakho became the first player to be sent off in the Amazon era.
But the OWP seemed to be an own goal if social media was anything to go by, with some viewers outraged that football had been reduced to a spreadsheet.
Reaction on social media was largely positive, although there was frustration for some viewers as signs on screens read ‘something went wrong’.
One Twitter account dontbetyet.co.uk wrote: “Dreadful have to reload all the time get about 50 seconds of second rate picture quality then freezes. Terrible will have to look at illegal streams to watch the Merseyside derby tomorrow. This is a farce, Should be barred from bidding next time.”
Another, Scott Broadhurst, posting a picture of a blank screen, said: “Hey @primevideosport I’m trying to watch the footy. I’ve had this screen on my Apple TV and my BT box all night despite the content being reloaded a million times. Please sort this before the derby tomorrow or you’re going to kill me.”
