[Archived] Premiership Tv Deal

[RovertheHill]

I think the irony of it is that in their attempts to ensure the "consumer" does not get ripped off by breaking up a monopoly, the EU have probably just pushed prices up...

[Paul]

This is very interesting and I look forward to seeing how the PL handle their second tranche of new found wealth. We should fervently pray the PL chairman don't screw things up as badly as they did last time. The simple fact is something in the region of 75% of TV money goes out of the game, so this deal brings absoultely no benefit to the average supporter. Where does it go and where will this huge increase go? Simple to the players and agents unless the PL chairman find the courage to introduce salary capping.

This new deal is going to screw the fan in every direction, it's just a question of which one(s). It is terrible news for the live game and aside from the cash, most of which will never benefit the clubs or the live support, is another nail in the coffin for the live supporter.

What's going to happen? I don't know as there are several possible results.

Sky's market penetration is someway below the 75% needed for advertising to have a meaningful effect on revenue. Setanta are looking for customers. Will Sky subscribers be prepared to pay more for less? Will Setanta take a very aggressive marketing view and sell access cheaply? Will this force Sky to reduce cost to subscribers? Who are Setanta? I have no idea, they have 14 months to raise awareness of their brand, so that won't cost much. Setanta currently only broadcast at weekends and will have to become a 7 day, 24 hour operation, no extra costs there then. There is only one certainty, this has to be paid for and it is already clear who will pay - the fan, one way or another.

This deal will lead to more football on TV as Sky and Setanta achieve methods, legitimate or less so, for earning the required revenue. The end result will be fewer people at Ewood Park. Plain simple fact, the true support has been p!ssed on again. I wouldn't celebrate any extra cash arriving at Ewood in 2007, we've been shafted once more.

[thenodrog]

Setanta is supposed to be named after some mythical gaelic creature. Is it possible that the company might turn out to be the same?

[only2garners]

This is very interesting and I look forward to seeing how the PL handle their second tranche of new found wealth. We should fervently pray the PL chairman don't screw things up as badly as they did last time. The simple fact is something in the region of 75% of TV money goes out of the game, so this deal brings absoultely no benefit to the average supporter. Where does it go and where will this huge increase go? Simple to the players and agents unless the PL chairman find the courage to introduce salary capping.

This new deal is going to screw the fan in every direction, it's just a question of which one(s). It is terrible news for the live game and aside from the cash, most of which will never benefit the clubs or the live support, is another nail in the coffin for the live supporter.

What's going to happen? I don't know as there are several possible results.

Sky's market penetration is someway below the 75% needed for advertising to have a meaningful effect on revenue. Setanta are looking for customers. Will Sky subscribers be prepared to pay more for less? Will Setanta take a very aggressive marketing view and sell access cheaply? Will this force Sky to reduce cost to subscribers? Who are Setanta? I have no idea, they have 14 months to raise awareness of their brand, so that won't cost much. Setanta currently only broadcast at weekends and will have to become a 7 day, 24 hour operation, no extra costs there then. There is only one certainty, this has to be paid for and it is already clear who will pay - the fan, one way or another.

This deal will lead to more football on TV as Sky and Setanta achieve methods, legitimate or less so, for earning the required revenue. The end result will be fewer people at Ewood Park. Plain simple fact, the true support has been p!ssed on again. I wouldn't celebrate any extra cash arriving at Ewood in 2007, we've been shafted once more.

405551[/snapback]

I was about to write a post wishfully thinking that some of the TV money could be used to reduce ticket prices, at least for the televised games. However, I was pre-empted by hearing on FiveLive that a report in the Sunday Express says that an attendance working group is being set up by a number of clubs, including Rovers and, more bizarrely, Chelsea and Arsenal to look at reducing ticket prices and subsidising away travel etc. Is it too much to hope for some progress in this area? Maybe the new contract might bring a little bit of benefit for the fam who turns up rather than the armchaire and pub fan.

[brennanboy]

I think some of the conclusions drawn on here may not quite be as accurate as before, there will not be any more live games, sky will show 4 extra games, and the premierplus 50 games becomes 46 with the rights now held by Setana Sports, so essentially, extra money will be coming in, sky showing basically the same games as before (92 up from 88), and instead of paying sky the suscription for the extra games you would pay setana instead, thats my interpretation of it all, and could somewhat be totally wrong, but if it is, extra money will come in at no extra penalty

[Paul]

there will not be any more live games,

405603[/snapback]

I have to disagree with you there. While it is true there are no additional games in the actual packages I think it is very probable both parties will ensure (by fair means or foul) their product is much more widely exposed to the UK than ever before. This will happen in many ways not least through the, apparently legitimate, beaming of satellite broadcast from just about anywhere in the world back into the pubs and clubs of the UK.

Setanta and Sky have paid £1.3 billion, yes billion, for these rights and the total package is said to be worth £2.5 billion to the PL after adding in all sorts of spin offs. After shelling out £1.3 billion neither Sky nor Setanta will give two hoots about the live support and will do everything possible to maximise their exposure. Our live support is going down the toilet, this will make it worse.

[only2garners]

I think some of the conclusions drawn on here may not quite be as accurate as before, there will not be any more live games, sky will show 4 extra games, and the premierplus 50 games becomes 46 with the rights now held by Setana Sports, so essentially, extra money will be coming in, sky showing basically the same games as before (92 up from 88), and instead of paying sky the suscription for the extra games you would pay setana instead, thats my interpretation of it all, and could somewhat be totally wrong, but if it is, extra money will come in at no extra penalty

405603[/snapback]

Most commentators are suggesting that Setanta will be making their matches available to Sky and cable users for an extra fee, so it will feel little different to the current arrangement where the PremPlus matches are extra. What is not clear yet is how much you will have to pay for them. You might think more than now but there will effectively be two organisations competing so I suspect it may not be much different.

[Paul]

.........Sunday Express says that an attendance working group is being set up by a number of clubs, including Rovers and, more bizarrely, Chelsea and Arsenal to look at reducing ticket prices and subsidising away travel etc.

405601[/snapback]

This working party has existed for around two years, Rovers are involved. One particular piece of genius the working party has/is considering is to reduce the ticket price for away support. Personally I find this mind boggling. In terms of the overall cost of travel to a game the impact is minimal. Would £5 or £10 off ticket prices make a real difference to visiting Stamford Bridge from Blackburn? Such initiatives will do nothing other than irritate an already declining live fan base.

[only2garners]

This working party has existed for around two years, Rovers are involved. One particular piece of genius the working party has/is considering is to reduce the ticket price for away support. Personally I find this mind boggling. In terms of the overall cost of travel to a game the impact is minimal. Would £5 or £10 off ticket prices make a real difference to visiting Stamford Bridge from Blackburn? Such initiatives will do nothing other than irritate an already declining live fan base.

405619[/snapback]

I agree that if that's the level of ideas then it's probably worse than useless as they can hide behind the fact that they are "doing" something when in reality as you say it will more likely rile the fans. Nevertheless the new money does give an opportunity for imaginitive clubs (oxymoron?) to genuinely encourage fans to live games, although it will need a collective will rather than efforts of a few clubs. If other clubs put their extra money into players then everyone will have to follow or face decline.

Anyway time I was off to Ewood...

[Ronin]

I've already subscribed to the Setanta sports channels (although was initially for the NASN channel and now they're all bundled together for £15 a month). Will be interesting to see how they deal with even more footy on their channels as you already get the SPL, French, German and Italian leagues live.

[Paul]

This deal will lead to more football on TV as Sky and Setanta achieve methods, legitimate or less so, for earning the required revenue. The end result will be fewer people at Ewood Park. Plain simple fact, the true support has been p!ssed on again. I wouldn't celebrate any extra cash arriving at Ewood in 2007, we've been shafted once more.

405551[/snapback]

BSkyB and Setanta have signed a deal whereby all matches in the Setanta package will be available to pubs, clubs and sports clubs (gyms etc.) who also subscribe or have a licence to show Sky matches. Private Sky subscribers, home users, will have to take out a seperate subscrition with Setanta to view their matches.

Well knock me down with a feather, never saw that one coming. I'm tempted to rest my case.

[Florida Rover]

I didn't know where to put this so I stuck it in this topic.Here on FSC's nightly sports news show they just listed the top list of 2005/2006 TV earnings.This was mentioned in this article on espn.the only reason I bring it up is b/c the TV showed Rovers in 10th spot with 44.1 million dollars (23,618,597 pounds).I did not realize we had earned that much!Good on us.I believe media revenue last year was 21.5 million pounds.Obviously,these numbers pale in comparison to arsenal,chelsea,mufc,etc.Perhaps next year will see these #'s push up toward the top 5 or 6.

[philipl]

Fascinating article on the future of sports broadcasting.

Explains why we kicked off at 5.15 yesterday and did not get the 12.45 slot.

The pressures on collective v individual rights deals will become enormous if the American owners of Man U and Liverpool see no other way out of their debt trap.

Some extremely interesting figures about "passionate" armchair fans.

[cn174]

Next Saturday there will only be 1 game kicking off at 3pm. I wonder how long it will be until there are 0?

I read an interesting viewpoint a few weeks ago suggesting that the fact that the 3pm Saturday timeslot is "protected" is a reason why more games are being dragged to other times and causing attendances to go down.

They suggest for example, if a Man U game was televised at 3pm on a saturday, they'd still fill the stadium anyway with the majority of people in it being happy at the fact that it was at the "traditional" time.

Whether it would hold true for teams such as Rovers is a slightly different issue, but I would think a 3pm televised game would have a higher attendance than a 12.45 televised game no matter who the opposition were.

[stuwilky]

The isuse is more about lower league teams getting people through the turnstiles, rather than protecting the attendances at the televised clubs - who receive ample financial compensation.

[Ozz]

BBC to Show Live English Club matches again.