Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds among those to pressure competition into move

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The National League aims to launch a streaming platform in time for the second half of the season.

Earlier this month, the competition announced tit was considering the idea of of a streaming platform, following pressure from Wrexham FC co-owner and major Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds. 

The National League is currently shown by BT Sport, with the broadcaster holding all rights to the competition in the UK. However, it only airs a selection of matches, with some falling outside of the 3pm blackout yet not being shown for viewers at home. 

A statement from the National League board has revealed that BT Sport is on board with the creation of an OTT platform, which will stream non-televised matches and comply with the 3pm blackout. The board also said it had considered a report that “received proposals from a number of potential partners including market leaders and which also included speaking with organisations who have successful experience in streaming.”

After this consideration, “the ambition is to have a fully functioning platform launch in the second half of the season.” The National League will give regular updates on its progress.

Full National League statement

The Board of the National League is pleased to provide an update on streaming following a meeting of the Board on 15th September.

The current broadcast rights, which includes streaming, are currently held by our broadcast partner BT Sport.

We have been working closely with them over the past few months to secure an agreement whereby non televised matches could be streamed on a League platform, also respecting the need to comply with Article 48 restrictions.

BT Sport have been incredibly supportive in this vision, for which we are extremely grateful. Following Board approval, we will now be progressing matters to contractually cement that position.

After several months of considering the options and appropriate due diligence the Board were presented with a detailed report which, having received proposals from a number of potential partners including market leaders and which also included speaking with organisations who have successful experience in streaming, a series of recommendations were made.

The Board unanimously approved all recommendations and have tasked the Commercial Committee to immediately progress this work, finalise contractual arrangements and confirm timelines. The ambition is to have a fully functioning platform launch in the second half of the season.

This is an exciting project but would not be possible without the co-operation of BT Sport and the support of our key title sponsors Vanarama.

We are excited to move this forward promptly and will give regular updates as to the progress of the project.