POV: Price Of Everything, Value of Nothing (William Kedjanyi)

In our daily POV column – William Kedjanyi on two examples of overzealous pricing…

It’s an expensive time to live in the UK. Sky high rents and mortgages, ballooning energy costs and ever pricier supermarket shops have put the squeeze on wallets across classes and made days out – which have followed this trend – ever harder. Entertainment is also affected, with battles for streaming rights and an explosion of contracts meaning that more and more subscriptions are needed to follow top level sports, movies and TV.

The battle for attention and attendance has arguably never been tougher – there are so many options for ways to spend time and all of them bite at ever decreasing incomes – and even the biggest organisations would do well to remember that.

The semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League took place, with two cracking ties served up by Germany, Portugal, Spain and France. The 5-4 thriller between Spain and France, with Yamine Lamal and Kylian Mbappe at their very best, was a treat in particular. Those of us in the UK who had Amazon Prime Video – 13.4 million households, as of November 2024 – had the option of exclusive coverage via mobile, TV or laptop, with just one catch.

A one-off fee of £2.49. To watch a game on a service you are already paying for. Admittedly, non subscribers can pay a one-off fee to watch these games – which is perfectly fair and indeed value. However, those who are subscribed to Amazon Prime already, which is £8.99 a month, might be entitled to think they should get this for no extra charge. After all, if it’s good enough for Champions League knockout games, then surely it’s good enough for the UEFA Nations League semi-finals?

Now I am familiar with the concept of pay-per-view, and could not turn my nose up at the quality on show, even after a long and exhausting club season that has just finished, but surely, surely, in this day and age, it wouldn’t be too much to ask for UEFA’s signature tournament to come with my Prime subscription?

The powers that be in football can keep getting away with it -relatively, given the amount of streaming and firestick use that keeps increasing – due to the game’s global popularity – other sports are not so lucky. Much has been written about racing’s struggles, a problem to which there is no simple answer in my opinion, but sometimes simple thinking is needed.

There has been much debate over what looked to be disappointing Derby crowds visually on TV yesterday, with pricing under the microscope once again at Epsom. Whatever one thinks of the admission prices for Epsom, it is one of the feature days in British Racing and a notable occasion societally even if not what it once was to some.

Worcester’s fixture yesterday, with all due respect, is not, and it is hard to think of the below as smart thinking:

Worcester tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/AaGdTQ4IrW

— SD Racing Services (@racingoncourse) June 6, 2025

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