Newcastle vs Man United will only be available on pay-per-view

The interim measure was confirmed yesterday after a clubs meeting, and means the non-televised games will be available via the BT Sport Box Office or Sky Sports Box Office platforms, for a reported price of £14.95 a game.

The new arrangement will begin next weekend, when the first raft of pay-per-view matches will include Newcastle United’s home game with Manchester United. The game at St James’ Park will take place on Saturday, October 17 (8pm) and will be screened on Sky pay-per-view.

A solution for screening the games had to be worked on after the planned return of spectators from October 1 was scrapped by the Government due to a rise in coronavirus cases.

The Premier League said in a statement: “The Premier League today confirmed all fixtures until the end of October will continue to be made available to fans to watch live in the UK.

“Under these new arrangements, the current live match selections will remain in place and will be broadcast as normal.

“In addition, the five matches per round not already selected will be made available to supporters on a pay-per-view basis, accessed via BT Sport Box Office and Sky Sports Box Office platforms.

“Clubs today agreed this interim solution to enable all fans to continue to watch their teams live.

“The Premier League has worked closely with Sky Sports and BT Sport to provide this arrangement and is grateful for their support.

“The agreement will be regularly reviewed in consultation with clubs and in line with any decisions made by Government regarding the return of spectators to stadiums.”The decision has already been met with some criticism, though, with season-ticket holders especially aggrieved that they will be expected to pay to watch the games.

“This is a really bad move by the @premierleague to charge £14.95 for single matches that have been shown free for 6 months!” said Sky Sports pundit and former Manchester United defender Gary Neville.