Don't Count On Google's YouTube Doing A Deal With EPL Soon

There’s been quite a bit of buzz in the past 24 hours with the news that Google is talking to the NBA and NHL about broadcasting their games on YouTube given the success achieved last year with the Indian Premier League (cricket) matches shown on the channel.

Google is in talks with “most pro sports leagues” including soccer leagues in Europe, said Brian Suh, head of YouTube Partnership at Google’s Korean unit.

The attraction of having English Premier League games shown on YouTube is mouthwatering, but the chances of that happening is slim to none. Why? The Premier League sued YouTube in 2007 because clips of games were being released on the popular video search engine site. Last summer, however, a U.S. court threw out the Premier League’s case against YouTube. Regardless, I don’t see Premier League games being available on YouTube in the foreseeable future. One, because of the bad blood between the Premier League and YouTube. And two, because I still feel that the Premier League is living in the stone age when it comes to marketing its Internet product.

So, in the meantime for those of us in the United States, we can still watch Premier League matches online on FoxSoccer.tv instead of YouTube.

In related news, The Wall Street Journal published an article today comparing the NBA with Premier League. It makes for interesting reading. Thanks to EPL Talk reader Brn 442 for sending me the link.