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Is Amazon Prime bidding for SL?


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2 hours ago, EssexRL said:

I’m still boycotting Sky but would consider subscribing to another platform if they had a more comprehensive coverage of the domestic leagues. We had NCL covered a year ago (can’t remember who by) and now OurLeague doing L1 games and BBC red button for the early CC rounds. I can’t believe there isn’t a market to SL Plus..
 

The NCL was on Freesports, but they were begging for money to show it at the start of last season in League Express. Viewing figures were poor, hence it's not on anymore.

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Anyone who thinks Amazon would want to broadcast divisions with attendance figures they were they are is dreaming I'm afraid. That's the best indicator of interest. If the figures for the games on OUrLeague were great, I'm sure the RFL would be shouting about them from the rooftops of Red Hall.

 

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6 minutes ago, RigbyLuger said:

The NCL was on Freesports, but they were begging for money to show it at the start of last season in League Express. Viewing figures were poor, hence it's not on anymore.

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Anyone who thinks Amazon would want to broadcast divisions with attendance figures they were they are is dreaming I'm afraid. That's the best indicator of interest. If the figures for the games on OUrLeague were great, I'm sure the RFL would be shouting about them from the rooftops of Red Hall.

 

The question was, and remains, whether Amazon is bidding for SL, not NCL.

Freesports are a Setanta offshoot, run on the closest thing to a shoestring that you can get in broadcasting. That they can show a full schedule every day shows admirable creative thinking, but has no bearing on whether a completely different operator with a completely different budget might show Super League or not.

NCL isn't TV-worthy as regards money, but live streams are the way to go for that level. See also Bar TV on YouTube; the matches are not really something big enough to monetise, but they are still providing action for an audience.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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15 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

The question was, and remains, whether Amazon is bidding for SL, not NCL.

I agree, and have seen no real evidence to say they will. Sky are still the best option for us, as much as some may not like that. This is the latest on the line of stories such as the Channel 4 one. That seemed to have no substance to it whatsoever.

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1 hour ago, themainbrace said:

The chances of Amazon being interested may change depending on how their customer profile looks.  If they are ABC1s living in places like Twickenham then we've got no  chance.  if they live in more Northern areas then you never know.

I think their subscribers are pretty widespread across the spectrum. Their target is absolutely everybody, and they don't have ad breaks that can be categorised like old-fashioned broadcasting. And Sky TV, who used to be the future compared to the terrestrial channels, are very much part of the established industry nowadays. 

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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5 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Amazon TV ??‍♂️

What a great way to make RL in the UK even more anonymous.

Crikey.

Amazon Video has a comparable number of UK subscribers to Sky (approx 9m), but is significantly cheaper at £79 per year or £8 a month, with only a 30 day commitment. Seems like it has more potential for increasing support than Sky does. 

Obviously terrestrial coverage would be even better than either of those, but that doesn't seem likely. 

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8 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Amazon TV ??‍♂️

What a great way to make RL in the UK even more anonymous.

Crikey.

The world is changing and it’s changing fast. 

My kids think Foxtel is old fashioned.  They watch their sports via apps streamed to a TV or computer screen. I suspect only middle aged people and older watch Foxtel these days. 

I dropped Foxtel earlier this year and stream sport via the Kayo app. 

 

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1 hour ago, Copa said:

The world is changing and it’s changing fast. 

My kids think Foxtel is old fashioned.  They watch their sports via apps streamed to a TV or computer screen. I suspect only middle aged people and older watch Foxtel these days. 

I dropped Foxtel earlier this year and stream sport via the Kayo app. 

 

Kayo is owned by foxtel isn't it?

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9 minutes ago, dealwithit said:

Yes Kayo is Foxtels. 

Is Freesports the same as the old Premier Sports?

Freesports TV is a sort of collective effort by several minor broadcasters in the subscriber TV market, but Premier Sports (itself an offshoot of Setanta, who previously crashed and burned badly under their own name in the UK market) is the majority partner in the mix. All the partners maintain their own individual subscription channels, so Freesports is a sort of freebie sampler channel.

It is a bit of a mongrel effort, but if you like Ice Hockey, it must be a godsend. This time of year, there seems to be little else on the channel some days.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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If anyone watched South Park, this week's episode is a great example of the change from "cable" to streaming services and on-demand.

It's like the equivalent of the Blockbuster to on-demand shift in the renting sector. That shift has now grown to include TV series and now developing on to live sport.

If it stops me subsidising a sport I have no interest in, I'm all for it.

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I think while the world is changing, traditional broadcast partners are still important for visibility. Casual fans might flick to it, their news broadcasts might talk about it, they might run commercials about it etc. I think an ideal model would be one game a week on free TV,  maybe1-2 games on Sky, the rest on a streaming platform. Whether that'd fetch good money from anyone, given the loss of exclusive rights, is obviously the big question with that model. 

 

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14 hours ago, Copa said:

The world is changing and it’s changing fast. 

My kids think Foxtel is old fashioned.  They watch their sports via apps streamed to a TV or computer screen. I suspect only middle aged people and older watch Foxtel these days. 

I dropped Foxtel earlier this year and stream sport via the Kayo app. 

 

Yeah I get that Copa, Kayo being a subsidiary of Foxtel to entertain the streaming market. 

But shifting to Amazon is only going to further hide the sport behind a non sport specific paywall that is less likely to draw those flicking through the sports channels.

Lets not forget that the pubs won’t be signing up to Amazon TV any time soon.

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14 hours ago, Copa said:

The world is changing and it’s changing fast. 

My kids think Foxtel is old fashioned.  They watch their sports via apps streamed to a TV or computer screen. I suspect only middle aged people and older watch Foxtel these days. 

I dropped Foxtel earlier this year and stream sport via the Kayo app. 

 

I don't know what the situation is in Aus, but the "death of TV" is massively overstated. 

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Yes, streaming is growing but it is a long, long way from overtaking TV as the primary medium. 

Streaming is a difficult market at the moment and it's about to get massively saturated. Every man and his dog is seemingly launching some sort of streaming service - Amazon, Netflix, Sky Boxsets, Apple TV, NowTV, HBO Max, NBCUniversal, Britbox, DAZN, HeyU, Disney Life, Eleven Sport, YouTube.... There are only so many that the market can sustain, some will inevitably fail (Eleven Sport already has) and if RL backs the wrong horse, you're looking at the same sort of fall out that we saw with ITV Digital or Kircsh Media in Germany.

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2 hours ago, whatmichaelsays said:

I don't know what the situation is in Aus, but the "death of TV" is massively overstated. 

spacer.png

Yes, streaming is growing but it is a long, long way from overtaking TV as the primary medium. 

Streaming is a difficult market at the moment and it's about to get massively saturated. Every man and his dog is seemingly launching some sort of streaming service - Amazon, Netflix, Sky Boxsets, Apple TV, NowTV, HBO Max, NBCUniversal, Britbox, DAZN, HeyU, Disney Life, Eleven Sport, YouTube.... There are only so many that the market can sustain, some will inevitably fail (Eleven Sport already has) and if RL backs the wrong horse, you're looking at the same sort of fall out that we saw with ITV Digital or Kircsh Media in Germany.

It'd be interesting to see the breakdown of age groups. E.g. is it a trend that the young 'uns are watching via more streaming services in comparison to the old farts who will gradually be dying off? Or are there no discernible differences between age groups?

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4 minutes ago, RugbyLeagueGeek said:

It'd be interesting to see the breakdown of age groups. E.g. is it a trend that the young 'uns are watching via more streaming services in comparison to the old farts who will gradually be dying off? Or are there no discernible differences between age groups?

Ofcom surveys 16-34 year olds for their "young people" sample and yes, they do lean more to 'on demand' content vs broadcast TV (42% broadcast vs 69% as a UK average). That said, live TV is still the biggest source of entertainment and it's also worth noting that they watch less TV/video overall. 

There is also the "Knopfler effect" to factor in - the theory that, as those younger generations age, their tastes and behaviours actually revert to and follow predicatble norms. Young people may be watching less video content overall and streaming more now, but history tells us that as they age, they'll start watching more video content - and that will invariably mean that they'll watch more broadcast TV. 

The biggest single 'channel' for that group however is YouTube, averaging at 1h 04m per day and that is why I think it's important that whatever TV deal we do end up with allows SL & clubs to really use channels like YouTube. Ensuring that we don't like Sky or any other broadcaster "lock down" the digital rights is much more important about wondering whether to jump into bed with Netflix, Amazon or any other SVOD provider. 

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On 06/12/2019 at 09:36, Dave T said:

I expect this isn't true personally, but it would be great if a provider grabbed hold of the game and did what BT did with RU. The level of promotion and fees they paid them was far above the value based on viewing figures. 

I worry about going further behind pay walls, but I did like the quality of the football they put out the other night. 

Most people have prime for next day delivery.. the tv is just an added bonus.

This would open a market to new fans especially as they now have soccer.

Also it's an easy sell to the other half.. well we could get prime so your shopping gets delivered next day ?

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super league has to copy the nrl and have more games on tv.  ideally one on terrestrial and the rest on pay tv.  this shouldve happened ten years ago too.

the nrl grew enormously by having all games covered on tv.

this might help get a bigger tv deal as well although it might have a short term impact on crowds

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