Rugby TV

[Neils]

From TRP today- Prem Rugby CEO (Childs) rejected a 30% uplift offer from BT in Jan thinking he could get more from Sky. Sky realising they didn't have to compete against BT decided they didn't have to pay as much as the current contract. With Covid the value has dropped considerably. Bad decision making has led to the clubs potentially getting far less TV funding hence the hard act on players and payments. Apparently the CEO didn't let the clubs know of the BT offer and their contract finishes in 2021.

[MarleyWasp]

Isn't he meant to have a background in the TV industry?

[Neils]

Yep and still buggered it up

[BG]

A 30% increase would have covered what CVC take out.. now the clubs face the prospect of trading for the foreseeable future with a 27% reduction in income which actually might be the driving force behind clubs wanting to reduce the cap

[MarleyWasp]

I find the lack of awareness in sport of Sky's change of focus baffling. When Comcast brought Sky they wanted a change of focus with Sport. They felt Sky had been paying over the odds for sports with low viewing figures and that they'd rather invest this money in original programming instead, hence their plans to build a new studio in Borehamwood (the site is the same one that was put forward in 2012 and 2014 for Wasps to build a stadium on).

This was part of the reason why Sky lost the rights to show Spanish football two years ago; they did bid but the bid was much lower than the previous bid. It was a similar situation with the Top14. Canal+ brought the international distribution rights thinking they would be able to sell the rights in the UK to Sky for a lot. The reality is Sky's viewing figures for the Top14 weren't great so the figure they had in mind was much lower than what Canal+ wanted and as a result the Top14 no longer features on UK TV.

Darren Childs is from a TV background, so quite why he thought Sky would bid more than the 30% increase I don't quite know.

I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with some obscure company buying the rights with online streaming only for a few years.

[welsh wasp]

Do we believe what is reported in TRP? Most frequently, contributors on this site have criticised reports that feature Wasps.

[Neils]

Do we believe what is reported in TRP? Most frequently, contributors on this site have criticised reports that feature Wasps.

Generally they are not bad and this was the lead article. It is often Fisslers rumours that get derision but even they are more often right compared to other sites.

[Lwasp]

I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with some obscure company buying the rights with online streaming only for a few years.

This would be my ideal result. I can legitimately pay to watch and therefore support the future of the sport I like without paying a penny to football. When BTs broadband and “free” sports got to near double Vodafone I had to drop it. I would never subscribe to Sky sports either. Both offerings cost what they do to fund the millionaire pay packages of football which I am not interested in watching or subsidising.

Be interesting to see what a true UK package for just rugby would cost, as opposed to the loss leading pricing of NBCs US fees.

[Raggs]

Back of a envelope calculations.

BT paid £152m for 4 seasons, so a 30% increase on that would be about £200m for 4 seasons.

From what I can see, something like 350k were watching each weekend, so best case scenario is all of them would be interested in a service (some wouldn't, others would come in with it depending on cost).

You'd basically be looking at about £12 a month. Maybe less though, since clearly there's advertising opportunities to sell at half time, pre-match etc.

[Shugs]

I subscribe to BT solely because they have the rugby. If they don't have that they have very, very little. A smattering of low level football and a pick n mix of a few other bits. So they should come back to the table I would have thought but probably not with as good an offer.

[DGP Wasp]

A smattering of low level football...

Champions League plus a not insignificant chunk of Premier League for starters.  Probably accounts for a lot more subscriptions than club rugby.  Sadly.

[Shugs]

Granted, but let's be honest, if you want football you'll probably go with Sky.