TV Sports Invigorated By Streaming And Fans Paying For It

Michael Hedges June 11, 2018 Follow on Twitter

There was a moment, about five years ago, when major investors in sports rights felt a tipping point nearing. Rights fees had risen to a level that challenged sustainability. Minor investors had begun to flee the process, just as the big guys planned. With that, rights holders could foresee recovering those huge investments.

To quote Sports Illustrated (May 25): “The rumored rights bubble is starting to look like a trampoline.” Last week Amazon Prime, the e-commerce giant, won the auction of a significant piece of English Premiere League football rights. For Amazon Prime Video UK subscribers 20 matches in each of the next three seasons will be available at no extra charge. One round of live-streamed football will on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas holiday that attracts huge TV sports viewing. Amazon Prime has about 7 million UK subscribers.

Sky Sports and BT Sports will retain the lions share of English Premiere League football TV rights. That deal was struck in February. Like every sports rights holder, the English Premiere League is always looking for new ways to divide the rights pie. “Make the pie higher,” said a once-famous world leader. UK football super-fans will now stump up nearly €100 a month to watch every match. And that doesn’t include beer.

Amazon Prime acquired exclusive rights last November to the ATP world tour tennis from next year, previously held by Sky Sports. “The opportunities are endless,” said ATM president Chris Kermode, quoted by the BBC (November 17, 2017). UK public broadcaster BBC retains rights to the ATP finals. In April Amazon renewed its deal to live-stream the popular Thursday night US NFL professional football for US$65 million a year.

Sky Sports managed to hold rights to most Irish Premiere League matches. Premiere Sport will broadcast 33 matches in the audience-friendly Saturday afternoon slot plus an additional 20 assorted matches, noted the Irish Times (June 7). Premiere Sport is ten-year old satellite, cable and live-streaming TV sports channel co-founded by Mickey O’Rourke, former chief executive of pay-TV operator Setanta Sports, which collapsed in 2016.

French pay-TV operator Canal Plus, owned by Vivendi, was outbid last month for French Ligue 1 football rights, reported Reuters (May 29). Three of the seven rights lots offered were won by Mediapro, one was taken by BeIN Sports, another by telecom Iliad and the remaining two unattributed. The total take for the five season deal with the French Ligue 1 football association is €1.15 billion.

BeIN Sports, a subsidiary of Al-Jazeera Media Network, holds Middle East and North Africa rights to the FIFA football World Cup. That has been mired in geo-politics, some Gulf governments cutting distribution. UAE telecom DU briefly cut-off BeIN Sports, reported Gulf Business (June 4), then a mutually agreeable financial transaction took place.

Every sports event attracts big TV money. Eurosport owner Discovery paid US$2 billion for all-platform rights to PGA Tour professional golf in several markets outside the US through 2030, noted the Guardian (June 4). Sky Sports contract for the PGA Tour runs through 2022, after which it’s a conversation with Discovery. Last year Sky Sports lost rights to the PGA Championships. The US-based Golf Channel is owned by Comcast/NBCUniversal, which may, eventually, own all of Sky.

Big time boxing has long been the pay-per-view sports heavyweight. Fans stump up as much as US$100 for a big fight. That could be upended by DAZN, the all-sports streaming video on demand (SVoD) service. It’s almost two-years old and offers lots of football, basketball, baseball, hockey, motor racing, rugby and more. In May DAZN acquired streaming rights for eight years of heavyweight boxing from fight promoter Eddie Hearn for US$1 billion. Fans need only pay the monthly subscription.

See also in ftm Knowledge

The Games People Watch

Media and sports are a powerful combination. Together they capture huge audiences and considerable money. This ftm Knowledge file looks at the competition from football rights battles and cycling coverage with new media to the Olympic Games. 82 pages PDF (October 2012)

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Streaming Everything

Great streams of media are flooding digital devices, faster and faster with each new G. Streaming audio and video are either the surfboard riding the digital wave or just another tech Titanic. As investors pile in the cash broadcasters experience another panic attack. This story's just beginning. 49 pages PDF (January 2016)

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