Premier League TV rights: Talks held over scrapping next auction

[Sassy Colin]

PL worried that an auction will result in a deal below the existing level, so want to maintain the status quo when the current deal expires:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56911973


Didn't see another thread on this?

 

[horsechoker]

Prices will still go up for the consumer.

 

[Chipper]

When I read the thread title I was thinking they'd be taking it in-house and building a broadcasting platform of their own. Premier League TV or online streaming platforms etc.

Obviously they tried the streaming thing during the lockdown but binned it because the price was too high, was it £14.99 a game? I think the idea would work for them if they did it right either x amount per game or better still x amount per month like netflix/prime or current sky sports/bt for that matter. Unless the football rights are loss leaders for BT and Sky, and they might well be for all I know then they'll only be bidding as much as they think they can still make a profit on through subs/advertising. So if Sky and BT do make a profit altogether from showing the football then that means taking it in-house would see that profit go straight to league/the teams instead of to those broadcasters. Building the platform to begin with would be a large cost but should pay itself off over time.

Anyway, looks like it's not that so that's a bit disappointing.

 

[Solius]

I wonder if they'll keep to the Covid model going forward. I've certainly gotten used to every single game being available to watch on TV.

 

[Withnail]

PL worried that an auction will result in a deal below the existing level, so want to maintain the status quo when the current deal expires:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56911973


Didn't see another thread on this?

Why would the broadcasters agree to that when if they follow the usual process they'll get a better deal?

I also can't see them getting past the sticking point of the other broadcasters not getting an opportunity to bid.

 

[Hulksmash]

I don't understand but Premier League should make their own Streaming Service for 20 Pounds in England and worldwide. U would easily get 50M subscribers in total.

The Money would be insane and it's cheaper then Sky and BT. Win win for everyone

 

[Sandikan]

I wonder if they'll keep to the Covid model going forward. I've certainly gotten used to every single game being available to watch on TV.

It would feel quite a blow if suddenly we go back to the old way of just 4 games or so live a weekend.
And for my championship (and league 1 next season) Wycombe boys, suddenly going back to being limited to about 6 games a season (midweek aways on ifollow) instead of every game again.

 

[Sandikan]

Why would the broadcasters agree to that when if they follow the usual process they'll get a better deal?

I also can't see them getting past the sticking point of the other broadcasters not getting an opportunity to bid.

Exactly this.
Why would BT settle for only having 1 game a week, and 2 full game weeks a season, when they could go hard in for more?
Similarly, Amazon prime would surely be interested in more. Though personally I don't want them to get more involved as on my system, their streams seem much harder to flow, and don't allow me to stream say Netflix at the same time on another stream, whereas Sky and BT do

 

[rotherham_red]

Why would the broadcasters agree to that when if they follow the usual process they'll get a better deal?

I also can't see them getting past the sticking point of the other broadcasters not getting an opportunity to bid.

Cos there's always the risk that they lose out on the rights, and as a result, lose out on the market share that they've accrued through those rights.

Even if it's just rolling over the current deal and likely paying over the odds, it's better that they do that than getting outbid, for an even lower amount and a) lose those customers, and b) potentially put the PL clubs (and by extension the product of the PL itself) at grave financial risk. It's basically artificially inflating the worth of the PL itself because make no mistake about it, the bubble is close to bursting and many of these clubs can't afford for it to do so during a global pandemic where the full-scale return of fans to grounds is still up in the air.

 

[Oranges038]

I signed up to now tv for watching games at half price for 3 months last year. Paid one or 2 months full and then went to cancel. Sky offers half price for 3 months. So it ends up being about 35 a month for sky sports and extra. Which isn't bad when you have all the games on it to watch. If it's only 4 games a week, it's not really worth it.

PL could look at their own streaming services, I think people would be more likely to sign up if it was 20/30 a month. Problem there is you would still need extra subs to watch other leagues, Champions League etc.

 

[RUCK4444]

Prices will still go up for the consumer.

Never, they would never try to rip us off would they?

My sky package only costs me £180 a month. #Value

 

[Devil_forever]

Never, they would never try to rip us off would they?

My sky package only costs me £180 a month. #Value

What on earth are you getting in this package?

 

[Oldyella]

Prices will still go up for the consumer.

And players will still be demanding wage increases at every step. Would love it if this is thr bubble bursting and everything gets reigned in little.

 

[OleBoiii]

My sky package only costs me £180 a month. #Value

The price of these package deals in the UK never fail to surprise me.

For that price in Norway, where things generally are way more expensive than in the UK, you could get PL, CL, a bunch of "regular" channels(i.e. linear TV), high speed internet and probably most of the big streaming services(Netflix, HBO etc)

 

[RC89]

Never, they would never try to rip us off would they?

My sky package only costs me £180 a month. #Value

What on Earth are you getting for £180 a month?

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

I don't understand but Premier League should make their own Streaming Service for 20 Pounds in England and worldwide. U would easily get 50M subscribers in total.

The Money would be insane and it's cheaper then Sky and BT. Win win for everyone

Still hard to believe how far behind Football is to other sports across the world that have streaming platforms. No doubt the Premier League has the infrastructure to be its own broadcaster. Cutting out the middleman would be a benefit to the league and to the consumer. The only people who lose out are Sky and BT. If it spells the end of expensive TV packages, then good!

 

[Ramshock]

They should allow the terrestrial channels to screen at least 2 games a week. One on BBC and one on ITV

 

[ShinjiNinja26]

I wish they’d create their own broadcasting platform in a Netflix style and take Sky and BT out the picture all together. Would love to see Neville and co have a meltdown and somehow try and spin it as “It’s gonna ruin football!” or in other words hurt our bank accounts.

 

[cyberman]

Am i being stupid or does rolling it over give them an excuse not to address fans concerns over cost etc after beating the ESL, good for the game drum so hard over the last 2 weeks?

 

[horsechoker]

Am i being stupid or does rolling it over give them an excuse not to address fans concerns over cost etc after beating the ESL, good for the game drum so hard over the last 2 weeks?

They like the status quo, if they were privy to the Super League plans they'd have probably supported it.

 

[11101]

The market for price gouging fans has cooled off over the last few years. The current domestic deal is lower than the previous one, add in Covid and there's no way they would increase the value.

I don't see what's in this for the broadcasters though.

 

[youmeletsfly]

Prices will still go up for the consumer.

With restrictions going down in a few months and people being very eager to go back to travelling and doing normal stuff, I guess the average consumer would be less inclined to spend money on TV and actually go to games or do something else.
It would be pretty stupid for them to raise prices for consumers again.

 

[horsechoker]

With restrictions going down in a few months and people being very eager to go back to travelling and doing normal stuff, I guess the average consumer would be less inclined to spend money on TV and actually go to games or do something else.
It would be pretty stupid for them to raise prices for consumers again.

Gotta pay for Martin Tyler's ASMR

 

[Mb194dc]

Football bubble go pop.

Really as simple as that.

Good news for us who don't own clubs, don't need billions to watch great matches.

Football was far better entertainment 20 years ago

 

[Redfrog]

Prices in England amaze me.
In France you can have all the Premier league, champions league and europa league games for max 20 euros per month.

I negociated with my internet operator and get all that and internet for 25euros per month (football free) as well as being sport for free and for life who broadcast all spanish, german and italian championship as well as fa and carabao cup. I even got portuguese football.
Only thing I don’t have is ligue 1 but I don’t care as I only watch United with premier league and champions league.

 

[OleBoiii]

In France you can have all the Premier league, champions league and europa league games for max 20 euros per month.

That is insanely cheap. Is football not that popular in France or something? In Norway it's over 50-60 euros just for PL and a handful of CL/EL games.

 

[Chairman Steve]

I don’t get the argument that people won’t attend games if they’re all on TV. In that case how come music concerts aren’t dead as feck from extensive TV coverage? I still see thousands descending on Glastonbury every year even if BBC show it for free. It’s all about the match day experience that you can’t get watching on TV and there will always be that market

 

[Mike Phelan's Former Tash]

The amount that sky and BT charge needs to be capped.

They should also have the same games and its on the consumer to choose which broadcaster they prefer.

They should also have a free game every weekend and midweek European games should have a free to air game.

This would allow a younger audience to have access to football so it shuts down that side of the argument for the super League and also it would mean a real choice, not having to have both BT and Sky.

 

[Logit]

It’s been obvious for a while that TV rights peaked in 2016, especially for the Premier League;

• BT’s entry to the market and aggressive push for sports was central to the strategy of a CEO that has now departed. Since then BT’s executives have given the strong impression that the Champion’s League and a small Premier League package is enough for them.
• Telecom companies want their customers to have quad-play contracts with them and it was commonly thought sports rights would be a strong incentive for customers. Yet Vodafone’s success with Spotify and YouTube Premium has challenged that idea.
• Sky stretched themselves massively to meet the 2016 price. There aren’t enough people paying £40pm to watch football to support what they paid without crosss-subsidisation across their entire customer base.
• The speculated entrance of the tech giants into the last auction never materialised - Amazon only bought their package after it wasn’t sold in the initial rounds.
• The Premier League struggled to find a new CEO after Scudamore left.
• Covid has hit advertising revenues.
• There has been a long term trend of a decline in interest in football from younger audiences.

This gives the wider context of why establishing the ESL was very important for the 15 founding clubs. They lost a third of their income stream from stadium closures and the TV revenues are no longer dependable.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

My favourite 7 letters are VPN ESPN

 

[Redfrog]

That is insanely cheap. Is football not that popular in France or something? In Norway it's over 50-60 euros just for PL and a handful of CL/EL games.

I can’t tell really, but usually speaking, I don’t think that people are ready to pay a lot more to watch tv in general. On top of that, premier league is a foreign championship so automatically cheaper when you don’t live in England...except for nothern countries maybe, don’t know...

We never had a proper big club in France. A lot of people don’t care about club football but will follow the national team.

 

[Pickle85]

Never, they would never try to rip us off would they?

My sky package only costs me £180 a month. #Value

But that's due to the unlimited 'special channel post-12 am' channels, right?!

 

[Eric_the_Red99]

I wish they’d create their own broadcasting platform in a Netflix style and take Sky and BT out the picture all together. Would love to see Neville and co have a meltdown and somehow try and spin it as “It’s gonna ruin football!” or in other words hurt our bank accounts.

I think some Netflix-style disruption is loooong overdue in the subscription sports market. It’s amazing how Sky have kept the racket going for this long tbh, when the bottom fell out of similar business models for movies and premium TV years ago.

 

[RUCK4444]

What on earth are you getting in this package?

Everything, the works, including a happy ending.

 

[OleBoiii]

except for nothern countries maybe, don’t know...

Northern Europe is special, yeah. Norway in particular. A family member works in the TV industry and he told me that Norway is used as the prime example of how to get a country hooked on PL football and then charge an extortionate rate for the rights. Representatives from Norway have been flown to England to give marketing advice.

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that 50% of adult Norwegians(maybe 40% of men and 10% of women) are into football. And the majority follow an English team, typically United or Liverpool. TV2(broadcaster of the PL) does not share their numbers, but I would not be surprised if 5-10% of the Norwegian population subscribes to the PL, which is pretty crazy considering the price.

Norway only has about 5.5 million people. Imagine if a large country got equally hooked on the PL? It would be a dream for the vultures.

 

[OleBoiii]

Everything, the works, including a happy ending.

City are about to win the PL, so I think you should request your money back.

 

[RUCK4444]

The price of these package deals in the UK never fail to surprise me.

For that price in Norway, where things generally are way more expensive than in the UK, you could get PL, CL, a bunch of "regular" channels(i.e. linear TV), high speed internet and probably most of the big streaming services(Netflix, HBO etc)

In fairness I have all those things with the exception of HBO.

The missus pays it so I’m not fussed

 

[rotherham_red]

It’s been obvious for a while that TV rights peaked in 2016, especially for the Premier League;

• BT’s entry to the market and aggressive push for sports was central to the strategy of a CEO that has now departed. Since then BT’s executives have given the strong impression that the Champion’s League and a small Premier League package is enough for them.
• Telecom companies want their customers to have quad-play contracts with them and it was commonly thought sports rights would be a strong incentive for customers. Yet Vodafone’s success with Spotify and YouTube Premium has challenged that idea.
• Sky stretched themselves massively to meet the 2016 price. There aren’t enough people paying £40pm to watch football to support what they paid without crosss-subsidisation across their entire customer base.
• The speculated entrance of the tech giants into the last auction never materialised - Amazon only bought their package after it wasn’t sold in the initial rounds.
• The Premier League struggled to find a new CEO after Scudamore left.
• Covid has hit advertising revenues.
• There has been a long term trend of a decline in interest in football from younger audiences.

This gives the wider context of why establishing the ESL was very important for the 15 founding clubs. They lost a third of their income stream from stadium closures and the TV revenues are no longer dependable.

Yep, the bubble is bursting but the PL and TV companies can't afford for it to happen right now during a global pandemic. Hence this rollover deal. I think this will be the last of the TV deals and we'll see the PL going it alone with the streaming platform. The TV companies are going to see a massive hit when it happens, and Sky will probably rush to get the Spanish and Italian league rights when they next go to tender to try and make up for the shortfall.

 

[Redfrog]

Northern Europe is special, yeah. Norway in particular. A family member works in the TV industry and he told me that Norway is used as the prime example of how to get a country hooked on PL football and then charge an extortionate rate for the rights. Representatives from Norway have been flown to England to give marketing advice.

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that 50% of adult Norwegians(maybe 40% of men and 10% of women) are into football. And the majority follow an English team, typically United or Liverpool. TV2(broadcaster of the PL) does not share their numbers, but I would not be surprised if 5-10% of the Norwegian population subscribes to the PL, which is pretty crazy considering the price.

Norway only has about 5.5 million people. Imagine if a large country got equally hooked on the PL? It would be a dream for the vultures.

I think it is due to the fact that you don’t have a decent national championship as well. Most people are watching their national championship as they have more connections, even if it is a small one like in Portugal or Netherlands. But I think this championships are still decent compared to your country, no offence mate. Add to that that your are historically close to England...I suppose people in Portugal will follow more the liga then the Premier League...

 

[OleBoiii]

I think it is due to the fact that you don’t have a decent national championship as well.

This definitely plays a part, yeah.

High interest for football + wealthy population + mediocre/shitty domestic league = goldmine.