Good News - Amazon targeting Premiership

[hookender]

Must have gone well

https://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1058617899?-11081:2392

[MarleyWasp]

Goodbye BT...

BT Sport’s £40m-a-year final bid for Premiership rugby turned down

Martyn Ziegler, Chief Sports Reporter

Tuesday December 15 2020, 5.00pm, The Times

BT Sport’s star rugby pundits have been warned by the broadcaster that it may lose the rights to the Gallagher Premiership next season after having a “final offer” rejected.

Premiership Rugby Ltd (PRL) has turned down an offer from BT Sport of a four-year extension to its existing deal for about the same £40 million-a-year fee. The rejection has led BT to inform its punditry team — which includes the likes of Lawrence Dallaglio, Brian O’Driscoll, Austin Healey and Ugo Monye — that its coverage of the English top flight is in danger of coming to an end after six years.

Industry sources say that BT believes the offer is already generous given the downward pressure on sports’ broadcasting rights even before the coronavirus pandemic.

However, in May 2019, when PRL sold 27 per cent of its shares to the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners for £200 million, the firm believed that it would be able to sell the rights for a higher price and attract better commercial deals.

Its investment led to Darren Childs, the former chief executive of UKTV, taking over in June last year. He brought with him several former colleagues with the aim of securing higher broadcast income. That has so far failed to achieve a result, a situation that has not been helped by the pandemic.

BT Sport had an exclusive negotiating period but that passed without a new deal, and two weeks ago a new offer was rejected. There have been renewed talks since then, with discussions over making matches available via a PRL app, but BT has signalled that it is ready to walk away.

Mick Crossan, the owner of London Irish, has claimed that Amazon Prime has thrown its hat into the ring but it is not thought the streaming service has made an offer.

Amazon did win the rights to rugby’s Autumn Nations Cup, and has the rights to two rounds of Premier League football, but it would be a big departure from its usual way of operating for the platform to start broadcasting a full league programme over several years and

industry insiders are doubtful as to whether it would see value in paying more than the BT offer to do so.

[InBetweenWasp]

Well, I think really the point at which someone (BT in this case) so that's our final offer and position themselves to walk away is really where these negotiations tends to properly begin.

The article suggests Amazon unlikely to pay more and let's be honest, Premiership Rugby is a pretty small following - certainly compared to Internationals.  No mention of Sky (yet) and let's hope it stays that way.  The BT Broadcasting was a breath of fresh air and continues to strike a good balance between serious coverage of the sport in a relatively light-hearted way.

They also have by and large and decent set of pundits.  Even Ugo is getting better.

[Raggs]

Well, I think really the point at which someone (BT in this case) so that's our final offer and position themselves to walk away is really where these negotiations tends to properly begin.

The article suggests Amazon unlikely to pay more and let's be honest, Premiership Rugby is a pretty small following - certainly compared to Internationals.  No mention of Sky (yet) and let's hope it stays that way.  The BT Broadcasting was a breath of fresh air and continues to strike a good balance between serious coverage of the sport in a relatively light-hearted way.

They also have by and large and decent set of pundits.  Even Ugo is getting better.

Amazon's pundits were pretty good too in my mind, I loved the enthusiasm some of them brought.

Also, even if Amazon offer the same money, it's an international platform. Yes they'll still have local deals, but it gives a much better coverage for future growth.

[jamestaylor002]

Glad that I only have a rolling contract with BT sports then! I only have it due to the prem being on there.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

BT's entry in to sport was a direct and defensive response to Sky's entry in to broadband and was aimed at the retention of its broadband customers.

The question BT will be asking themselves is whether they now need to worry as much about those defections given that Sky Sports is no longer the draw that it was and they still have some football.

The fragmentation of sports broadcasting is going to be a challenge for rights owners as well. How to maximise the value without driving fans away because their sport is spread over too many subscription platforms. Their own direct to fans platform may well offer the best value overall if they can get it right.

As the Chinese would say, interesting times.

[Neils]

Well, I think really the point at which someone (BT in this case) so that's our final offer and position themselves to walk away is really where these negotiations tends to properly begin.

The article suggests Amazon unlikely to pay more and let's be honest, Premiership Rugby is a pretty small following - certainly compared to Internationals.  No mention of Sky (yet) and let's hope it stays that way.  The BT Broadcasting was a breath of fresh air and continues to strike a good balance between serious coverage of the sport in a relatively light-hearted way.

They also have by and large and decent set of pundits.  Even Ugo is getting better.

When BT first made an offer early this year (and Childs turned it down without refering to the Clubs) there was a firm indication that Sky were not interested at the price offered and that they would look for a reduction. Sky are CVC's preferred partner apparently. Sky Sports seem to have been realigning themselves away from Northern rugby so it will be interesting to see if they come back (I personally hope not).

I hope PRL are keeping the clubs involved because to have to accept a reduction after BT have bent over backwards to cover as much as possible would be shooting yourselves in both feet!

[MarleyWasp]

Sky's approach to sport changed when Comcast took them over in 2018 and their approach deviated from trying to conquer the sports TV rights sector to focusing on entertainment.

They lost the rights to the Top14 and La Liga (Spanish football league) around this time. Both league's rights holders expected Sky to be willing to pay silly money for the rights, only to find they weren't willing to offer even close to what they had been paying. La Liga went to Eleven Sport, which soon collapsed and have ended up on Premier Sports. In the case of the Top14, where viewing figures rarely topped 15k, nobody has been willing to come close to what Canal+ wanted (they brought the international distribution rights as part of their domestic TV deal), so ultimately nobody has picked up the rights and it's unlikely to change until the current deal ends in 2023.

With the Pro14, the league wanted one broadcaster showing every game. Sky weren't willing to do that (viewing figures aren't much better, some games on Premier Sport attract viewing figures below 10k) so the rights went to Premier Sport.

If PRL have turned down a £40m offer from BT in hope that Sky will top it, they either know something I don't or are living in Cloud Cuckoo Land...

[westwaleswasp]

When I resign for Sky next August I will be dumping Sky sports bar the SkyPrem soccer and the SkyCricket as a direct result of their loss of England rights for AIs etc. They seem content to let rights slip and England internationals going is the final straw. Given the costs, two channels is reasonable value at 22 pm, 18 for one is not, and the bundle is ok at 30 ish if you get some rugby in that.
8 quid a month extra for the tri nations /RC is just not worth it. I tend to watch more pro 14 than super rugby nowadays, for my sins.

[matelot22]

Well, I think really the point at which someone (BT in this case) so that's our final offer and position themselves to walk away is really where these negotiations tends to properly begin.

The article suggests Amazon unlikely to pay more and let's be honest, Premiership Rugby is a pretty small following - certainly compared to Internationals.  No mention of Sky (yet) and let's hope it stays that way.  The BT Broadcasting was a breath of fresh air and continues to strike a good balance between serious coverage of the sport in a relatively light-hearted way.

They also have by and large and decent set of pundits.  Even Ugo is getting better.

Pretty much agree with all of that (not sure about Ugo though ) and I've found the sound and picture quality of Amazon coverage very much below standard.

[hookender]

The problem will be ,if no other offers come in from other broadcasters , that like the six nations with the sponsorship no deal, they go back to BT who then aren’t interested at the current price

[Shugs]

Hopefully those negotiating wouldn't have declined the BT offer were they not confident either 1) BT would improve it or 2) Someone else is waiting in the wings. I like the BT coverage. My fear is it gets somehow fragmented in which case I'll not be buying either or all.

[St Bruno]

Selfishly, I hope the rights do not go to Amazon. I've only got a 23" screen on my 'puter and it's OK for the highlights but not for a full match.
I seriously hope BT can find a way of retaining the rights.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

Selfishly, I hope the rights do not go to Amazon. I've only got a 23" screen on my 'puter and it's OK for the highlights but not for a full match.
I seriously hope BT can find a way of retaining the rights.

I find watching Prime on my TV easier that BT!

[InBetweenWasp]

Selfishly, I hope the rights do not go to Amazon. I've only got a 23" screen on my 'puter and it's OK for the highlights but not for a full match.
I seriously hope BT can find a way of retaining the rights.

I find watching Prime on my TV easier that BT!

The BT Sport app is pretty good too.  The biggest difference is that with Prime, you can start the programme from the beginning and/or where you left off which is great - We have freeview and then subscribe to various streaming services as opposed to using a Freeview, Sky or BT box.  The pro is the flexibility in subscriptions to pick/choose what we want when we want.  The con is lack of recording live events to watch back.  Things like the F1 and Rugby (on BT) if we're not in, we can't watch it from the beginning when we do get home.

With Amazon, we can do just that with the Rugby. 

Hopefully more streaming services follow, as i'm sure the number of set-top boxes will continue to dwindle as TVs get smarter and more households using various streaming sticks/boxes like Apple TV, FireTV, RokuSticks etc etc...