BT winning Premiership rights next season

VisionMan

socmwils23 wrote: »

BT are due to start advertising the btsport channel in May so we should have more of an idea on pricing etc. It will be interesting to compare the cost of the channels on bt's platforms (vision and youview) to that of sky. Id imagine sky will be more expensive.

Sky have every right to be worried i think as BT are a cash rich company who could seriously rival them for sports rights. If, and it is still a big if, btsport proves successful then the next time the rights come up for bidding could be very interesting.

This deal is BT dipping their toe in the water to see if it helps bring them customers for triple play (phone, broadband and tv).

And thats exactly the same conclusion arrived at on another forum thats talking about this. And it will also be the next round of rights where the bidding for the EPL will get interesting.

In the meantime, there are lots of very high profile sports and events coming up for renewal in 2014/15. Such as the US Open (tennis) and Champions League rights.

[Deleted User]

VisionMan wrote: »

And thats exactly the same conclusion arrived at on another forum thats talking about this. And it will also be the next round of rights where the bidding for the EPL will get interesting.

This conclusion was also arrived at when Setanta and then ESPN purchased some Premier League broadcast rights.
Remind me what happened there...:p

socmwils23

I dont think Setanta or ESPN were ever really able to rival sky. Instead i think they wanted to carve a niche as an addition to sky sports rather than a rival.

BT on the other hand look to be challenging sky full on. They have their own platform so are not reliant on sky. They are also a cash rich company who have deep enough pockets to rival sky across the board.

The battle is not for sports rights as such more for triple play customers. Sports rights are a means to entice customers onto the platform. I think its interesting that sky are trying to remove their sports channels from bt vision. To me this shows how much of a threat they view bt as.

[Deleted User]

socmwils23 wrote: »

I think its interesting that sky are trying to remove their sports channels from bt vision.

Where has this been reported?

Sky can no more remove their premium channels from BT than they can from Virgin. Ofcom would not allow it.

I also can't see how BT purchasing ESPN's share of Premiership games is challenging Sky "Head On". BT would have to put a rival bid for Sky's share of Premier League soccer to be considered a serious challenger.

VisionMan

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Where has this been reported?

Sky can no more remove their premium channels from BT than they can from Virgin. Ofcom would not allow it.

I also can't see how BT purchasing ESPN's share of Premiership games is challenging Sky "Head On". BT would have to put a rival bid for Sky's share of Premier League soccer to be considered a serious challenger.

Interesting question...

There are two interpretations of the CAT ruling (which no one can agree on). The first is that the ruling means Sky no longer have to offer Sports to BT (at any price). The second is that Sky must still supply Sky Sports to BT, but at a price that suits them and not Ofcom.

But BT have won the right to appeal now, so this is just going to continue to drag on. And BT can continue to show SS (and with the discount too) until a final decision is arrived at.

pen1

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

I also can't see how BT purchasing ESPN's share of Premiership games is challenging Sky "Head On". BT would have to put a rival bid for Sky's share of Premier League soccer to be considered a serious challenger.

Apparently, they did.

The value of the rights deals increased around 70%, as Sky reportedly had to increase their bids sharply, to fight off aggressive bids from BT on all packages.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/26/bt-bskyb-football-rights?INTCMP=SRCH
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/13/premier-league-tv-rights-3-billion-sky-bt

ESPN -v- BT Premier League comparison:

Live Matches:
ESPN: 23 BT: 38 (BT have 15 more matches per season)

ESPN: 8 2nd picks; 15 4th picks
BT: 18 1st picks, 5 2nd picks, 13 4th picks, 2 5th picks

BT= first broadcaster other than Sky to win any rights to 1st pick matches.

[Deleted User]

pen1 wrote: »

Apparently, they did.

I should have said they would have to have a realistic chance of outbidding Sky to be considered a serious challenger.

I have to admit I wasn't aware that BT had bought the rights to more games than ESPN had...

pen1

38 matches is important, because the Premier League season has 38 match weeks (4 or 5 are actually weekdays!), so prevents lengthy gaps where you cannot provide your subscribers with a Premier League match (as ESPN have experienced).:)

[Deleted User]

pen1 wrote: »

38 matches is important, because the Premier League season has 38 match weeks (4 or 5 are actually weekdays!), so prevents lengthy gaps where you cannot provide your subscribers with a Premier League match (as ESPN have experienced).:)

I have to agree this is significant.

Forcing Sky to pay far more than they wanted to for the rights they got certainly puts the pressure on as well.

Not sure I'm ready to jump ship to BT just yet, but I'll be watching for future developments..

VisionMan

And it gets better (or worse from Sky's point of view) -

Pubs and clubs -

"Bruce Cuthbert, director for commercial customers at BT Sport, said that the service would be “substantially cheaper” than Sky subscriptions, which are based on business rates."

And BT will be specifically targeting pubs 'n' clubs that have never had Sky Sports before -

http://advanced-television.com/2013/04/15/bt-undercuts-sky-sport-pub-prices/