Will Sky and BT lose sports rights to the streamers?

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  • This is an interesting piece of news. Amazon is claiming that they don't need to charge to screen the Champions League because they can make their income from sales on the back of it. This begs the question as to whether Amazon will make a determined bid for the football Premiership rights in 2022, at a reduced price for consumers, which will be a major threat to Sky.

    It appears that the December games on Amazon were quite successful, so as long as they think they can address the various technical issues (such as latency) in time for the rights issues, it could well be that Amazon goes for the main set of packages at Sky's expense.

    https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2019/12/20/ama…ampions-league/

  • Do Amazon show their football matches on laptops or computer screens only

    If so this must be a bit off putting

    I know they offered me a Premium League match on their Prime system. Now I use that for free or quick delivery, sign up and get what I want and then cancel. I assume you can do this for football matches

  • I'll come back to this later OB, but I read another article recently (which I'll try and find and link to) which thinks the streamers will not go for sports rights in a major way.

    That's interesting, Horizon. I have certainly been made aware of some very strong views on this subject suggesting that Amazon will never go seriously for one of the main bidding sets, and for some reason they take the view that they will be unable to compete with Sky, even though I have pointed out that Amazon have much larger pockets than Sky.

    My firm belief, until I hear something that convinces me otherwise, is that Amazon will make some serious bids next time around. The only thing that could prevent this from happening, in my view, is technical problems. However, with the successful Amazon broadcasts this month, I think that this will give them the confidence to go for the kill in 2022.

    Contrary to what some may think, I believe that this will be good news for the punters as Amazon is most likely to make football more affordable.

    I agree with the sentiments expressed in this article, but would be interested to see the one you have referred to, Horizon.

    https://www.wired.co.uk/article/boxing…ll-amazon-prime

  • Do Amazon show their football matches on laptops or computer screens only

    If so this must be a bit off putting

    I know they offered me a Premium League match on their Prime system. Now I use that for free or quick delivery, sign up and get what I want and then cancel. I assume you can do this for football matches

    You can watch it on TV via Virgin Media or BT via the Amazon app, or you can get an Amazon Fire or Roku stick or box quite cheaply and subscribe that way.

    I watch a lot of Amazon Prime and Netflix on TV, but not sport as that is not my thing. I certainly wouldn't want to watch on a laptop, although I know that some do.

  • You can watch it on TV via Virgin Media or BT via the Amazon app, or you can get an Amazon Fire or Roku stick or box quite cheaply and subscribe that way.

    I watch a lot of Amazon Prime and Netflix on TV, but not sport as that is not my thing. I certainly wouldn't want to watch on a laptop, although I know that some do.

    Ah, thanks for that

    Amazon are determined to become big time, apparently they were about to offer Any & Dec a colossal deal which prompted ITV and step in with an even bigger deal

    https://metro.co.uk/2019/12/29/ant…mazon-11972466/

  • Here's the link OB that I was referring to:

    Have a read and tell me what you think.

    Thank you, Horizon.

    I agree that they have a point, and I certainly wouldn't dismiss it out of hand, but my view remains that the Amazon package of Premiership rights was a toe-in-the-water job. Amazon had to test this out in the UK to get an idea of their reach as well as the ability of our digital infrastructure to deliver the service throughout the country. According to Amazon, it was a success, and if that is the case (and they are not simply trying to cover up any disappointment) then I see no reason why they should not make a real challenge against Sky and BT in 2022.

    I have said this before, but if Sky can do it and make it pay, so can Amazon with their even (much) bigger pockets. I am hopeful that if this does play out the way I think it will, that it will result in lower costs for subscribers. Their retail arm will help Amazon to make money in ways that Sky and BT cannot, so this could be good news for punters.

    As for the streamers not being interested in national sport, I don't buy that. The fact that Disney+ is offering an ESPN option on its new service (at least in the US) tells me that sport is definitely of interest to these global players. My bets are on Amazon and/or Disney making a play for the top Premiership packages next time around.

    However, in three years, a lot can happen in the world of digital technology and things will probably look very different in that short amount of time.

  • We have Sky Sports and BT Sports via a BT box, and both provide excellent coverage of the games although the commentators can have droll boring voices, Hoddle, Neville, and Carragher

    There has been some recent connection between BT Sport and BBC which I can't figure out

    So whoever gets these rights in future I suppose we will support although I don't fancy watching sport on a laptop

  • We have Sky Sports and BT Sports via a BT box, and both provide excellent coverage of the games although the commentators can have droll boring voices, Hoddle, Neville, and Carragher

    There has been some recent connection between BT Sport and BBC which I can't figure out

    So whoever gets these rights in future I suppose we will support although I don't fancy watching sport on a laptop

    You can watch it on your main TV with a Roku or Amazon Fire stick or box. If you have a smart TV, you may well find the Amazon Prime is one of your apps. A £79 pa subscription applies, although Amazon will almost certainly have a separate additional subscription for the footie.

  • I agree that they have a point, and I certainly wouldn't dismiss it out of hand, but my view remains that the Amazon package of Premiership rights was a toe-in-the-water job.

    Agree and that's what I said over on CF too.

    I have said this before, but if Sky can do it and make it pay, so can Amazon with their even (much) bigger pockets. I am hopeful that if this does play out the way I think it will, that it will result in lower costs for subscribers. Their retail arm will help Amazon to make money in ways that Sky and BT cannot, so this could be good news for punters.

    Indeed and I said over on CF, with all the data that Amazon has on people, there's lots of things they can do, including flogging a few over expensive football shirts, or selling tickets to matches or getting involved in pizza delivery. They will know when people are watching...

    As for the streamers not being interested in national sport, I don't buy that. The fact that Disney+ is offering an ESPN option on its new service (at least in the US) tells me that sport is definitely of interest to these global players. My bets are on Amazon and/or Disney making a play for the top Premiership packages next time around.

    It all depends whether the tech companies go for it and how much the likes of Disney want to fight them.

    ===

    I said over on CF, that I think the big thing to come will be for the tech cos to try and acquire global rights to the major sports like the our premier league. Some of our clubs like Man Utd are watched the world over, especially in places like China and I'm sure, if allowed, companies like Amazon could make the outlay on global rights pay for them.

    The wildcard here, as the article mentioned, is the young. Young people don't seem to be interested in sports now and if the tech cos do outlay billions on sports and nobody then watches, that would be catastrophic for them.

  • On the whole, this looks like quite a positive result for Amazon, with its Premiership viewing figures comparable with Sky's. I think Amazon will be encouraged to go for broke with the next Premiership bids. Seems to me like a no-brainer.

    https://digiday.com/video/advertis…r-league-debut/

    " A buyer at one agency said he was told by Amazon that about 2 million viewers tuned in on Dec. 4 to watch Liverpool beat Everton 5 to 2 in the Merseyside derby. That’s a figure comparable to the audience on Sky when the teams last played each other in March."

  • Well, BT won the Champions League rights, and now ITV are in talks with them about possibly screening some of the Champions League games.

    I suppose that a deal is possible given that BT might want non-exclusive rights to the FA Cup from 2021.

    https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2020/01/13/itv…s-league-games/

  • The significance is that some matches may be viewable by those who don't have the resources to pay for a subscription.

    Everybody has the resources is they properly budget

    I am a basic state pensioner and I do not have a problem, in fact I have never been so well of. I didn't believe my mother who said the same when she was so generous to her grandchildren

  • Future of sports broadcasting in the UK

    The price paid for football Premiership rights is set to reduce, according to the Head of BT. Is this wishful thinking on his part? I'm not so sure we can just dismiss the idea out of hand.

    Sky has already questioned the cost of Premiership rights, having indicated that they will not pay any price for them. But then we have the streaming services sniffing around, particularly (but not exclusively) Amazon and DAZN. Will this increased competition have the effect of pushing prices for football rights up and if so, will this be reflected in increased prices for the consumer?

    My personal view is that there may well be an initial increase in costs for Premiership rights, but the streamers will be more imaginative about how to decrease the costs to the consumer. Sky's big idea was to price sports subscriptions as high as the market would allow, but of course lower prices would increase subscribers. Add to that other measures that could be taken (Amazon, for example could keep costs low by linking subscriptions with retail offers) and non-exclusive rights to some matches could be made available to other broadcasters to increase income generation.

    It will be interesting to see what happens with the next round of bidding for the football rights, but I think the streamers will start to make a more meaningful play for these rights next time around.

    https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2020/08/10/pan…-head-of-sport/


    The head of sport at BT has said that the coronavirus pandemic will lead to a correction of broadcast rights valuations.

    Speaking to The Guardian, Simon Green predicted that the prices of sports rights will not continue to rise as they have for the past 30 years.

    He said: “I personally believe that Covid-19 will cause a correction in the markets for television sports rights which will mean the value will not rise as it has done in the past. I think everyone will be more discerning about what they pay given that the country is facing a potential recession which could leave viewers with less money in their pockets.”

    The English Premier League is about to enter the final two seasons of its current rights cycle, with Sky and BT taking five of the total seven available rights packages for £4.46 billion.

    The league’s next rights cycle – to be auctioned in 2021 – is likely to be one of significant change. Amazon will likely look to increase its share of the rights following a successful first season with more than 20 matches. DAZN may also look to pick up domestic rights as it establishes itself in the UK market, while a lower valued league may lead Premier League CEO Richard Masters to push on with a potential ‘Premflix’ D2C product.

    BT’s Green added: “We want to be able to offer customers value and while it is impossible to say exactly what will happen, there will be a different approach. At BT, we will look at every tender-right that comes along and value it accordingly. What the lockdown highlighted was the importance of live sport: when it returned with the Bundesliga, our audience over three channels was 750,000 compared to 100,000 before.”

    The Bundesliga was the first major sports league to lodge a domestic rights tender in the wake of the pandemic, and saw its value drop by €200 million in a €4.4 billion deal with DAZN and Sky.

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