Sky Sports to replace numbered channels & slash cost
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Oakdene
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Sky is scrapping its numbered sports channels and replacing them with themed offerings focused on specific sports – led by football, golf and cricket – as it combats falling viewer numbers with a branding revamp and a cheaper viewing package.
The retirement of Sky Sports 1,2,3,4 and 5 and the introduction of a new package two-thirds cheaper than current prices represents a major shakeup of the strategy that has made Rupert Murdoch’s Sky a pay-TV powerhouse.
The new offering will result in the launch of themed channels, like Sky’s existing dedicated Formula One channel, for its top-flight sports including football – which will get two channels – golf and cricket. A new channel, Sky Sports Arena, will host other content including rugby and tennis.
A key part of the strategy is that it will let Sky entice new pay-TV subscribers reluctant to fork out up to £49.50 for its cheapest sports package. The new strategy will allow Sky to charge £18 for its cheapest package – although the whole Sky Sports bundle will remain a costly option.
The cost of sports rights has spiralled in recent years with Sky paying £4.2bn in its latest Premier League TV deal – 83% more than the previous deal and almost £11m per game – while viewing has dropped significantly.
Some analysts ascribe this drop to the rise in popularity of cheaper streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon, which with prices starting at£8 a month may be creating an expectation among consumers that pay-TV should be cheaper.
“There are a range of reasons why Sky would be looking at such a big structural change to its pay-TV service,” said Richard Broughton, a director at Ampere Analysis.
“In part it could be a response to the ongoing question of viewing numbers to traditional pay-TV sport. There is also a demographic shift where people, especially younger groups, are reluctant to spend so much. Get reluctant to spend groups, such as millennials, in on cheap packages and look to up-sell at a later date.”
Sky has put the viewing dip over the past year down to airing more games per season, many of which feature less popular clubs, the relegation of clubs with relatively large fanbases such as Newcastle and Aston Villa, and the BBC’s live Rio Olympics coverage.
The move also ties into the aim of Jeremy Darroch, the Sky chief executive, to entice the 10m budget-conscious Freeview households to try pay-TV.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jun/27/sky-sports-channels-prices-football-golf-cricket
The retirement of Sky Sports 1,2,3,4 and 5 and the introduction of a new package two-thirds cheaper than current prices represents a major shakeup of the strategy that has made Rupert Murdoch’s Sky a pay-TV powerhouse.
The new offering will result in the launch of themed channels, like Sky’s existing dedicated Formula One channel, for its top-flight sports including football – which will get two channels – golf and cricket. A new channel, Sky Sports Arena, will host other content including rugby and tennis.
A key part of the strategy is that it will let Sky entice new pay-TV subscribers reluctant to fork out up to £49.50 for its cheapest sports package. The new strategy will allow Sky to charge £18 for its cheapest package – although the whole Sky Sports bundle will remain a costly option.
The cost of sports rights has spiralled in recent years with Sky paying £4.2bn in its latest Premier League TV deal – 83% more than the previous deal and almost £11m per game – while viewing has dropped significantly.
Some analysts ascribe this drop to the rise in popularity of cheaper streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon, which with prices starting at£8 a month may be creating an expectation among consumers that pay-TV should be cheaper.
“There are a range of reasons why Sky would be looking at such a big structural change to its pay-TV service,” said Richard Broughton, a director at Ampere Analysis.
“In part it could be a response to the ongoing question of viewing numbers to traditional pay-TV sport. There is also a demographic shift where people, especially younger groups, are reluctant to spend so much. Get reluctant to spend groups, such as millennials, in on cheap packages and look to up-sell at a later date.”
Sky has put the viewing dip over the past year down to airing more games per season, many of which feature less popular clubs, the relegation of clubs with relatively large fanbases such as Newcastle and Aston Villa, and the BBC’s live Rio Olympics coverage.
The move also ties into the aim of Jeremy Darroch, the Sky chief executive, to entice the 10m budget-conscious Freeview households to try pay-TV.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jun/27/sky-sports-channels-prices-football-golf-cricket
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Comments
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This announcement lines up with a couple of surveys I took part in earlier this year. Lots of questions about the relative "value" of individual sports to me. I put footy at the bottom on every opportunity and I suspect a lot of others did as well!
HOWEVER, can't find anything about this on Sky's own site yet??0 -
Is the £18 for its cheapest package for the basic TV package or the basic Sports package on top of your TV sub?0
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Sounds like a controlled "leak" from Sky to test the water?
IF they do offer cheaper Sports add ons wonder if they will do away with HD Sports pack at the same time?
Also, might get more difficult to get the best discounts if you aren't taking the "full fat" Sports pack.
Darroch won't admit it but the drop in Sports subscribers must surely be related to the impact of BT on footy subscribers not just the reasons in the article.0 -
brewerdave wrote: »Sounds like a controlled "leak" from Sky to test the water?
IF they do offer cheaper Sports add ons wonder if they will do away with HD Sports pack at the same time?
Also, might get more difficult to get the best discounts if you aren't taking the "full fat" Sports pack.
Darroch won't admit it but the drop in Sports subscribers must surely be related to the impact of BT on footy subscribers not just the reasons in the article.
I would have though that when Sky lost the rights to European football (saving them 100's of millions of £££) they should have reduced the price for Sky Sports to compensate for the lack of this premium content, but I don't think they did, perhaps some ditched Sky Sports because of that0 -
Interesting that some cricket matches are going to be shown on BBC and sure I read something about F1 people complaining about viewing numbers dropped with going behind a pay wall.0
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Interesting that some cricket matches are going to be shown on BBC and sure I read something about F1 people complaining about viewing numbers dropped with going behind a pay wall.
Internationals wise, which is the only viewing figures worthy of note on TV, BBC has only got 2 England mens (and 2 women's) 20/20 a year. Sky won't be sweating.0 -
A lot of Sky maths never made sense. Mad men on BBC was pulling in over 2 million viewers. On Sky it was 75,000, at which Sky were pleased. They took the view that 75,000 people paying to watch a program was better than 2 million watching for free. To me that makes no sense. Just how many people actually signed up to Sky to watch Mad Men, that is the real question?
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