TV Deal to conclude end of June

[crashmon]

The elephant in the room people are missing is that later this year sky have to bid for the Fottball Premier League rights, and those will be phenomenally expensive and far more than what Sky are paying now.... Therefore they will look to save money on anything else to be in the best position to bid for some of those rights....   So if they can save 5M on RL TV rights, thats 5M more they have in the kitty for PL.

The only thing sky care about is that. At least keeping the same number of PL games that they have right now.....Any other sport will be squeezed in the goal of acheiving that

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, crashmon said:

The elephant in the room people are missing is that later this year sky have to bid for the Fottball Premier League rights, and those will be phenomenally expensive and far more than what Sky are paying now.... Therefore they will look to save money on anything else to be in the best position to bid for some of those rights....   So if they can save 5M on RL TV rights, thats 5M more they have in the kitty for PL.

The only thing sky care about is that. At least keeping the same number of PL games that they have right now.....Any other sport will be squeezed in the goal of acheiving that

So what do the sports channels who don't have those rights show? Nothing?

[Sports Prophet]

59 minutes ago, Leonard said:

Types opening post.

Pulls pin, throws grenade and comes back to inspect the damage.

Solid effort.

 

Glorious effort

[crashmon]

They only have Golf, Cricket and F1 i think as dedicated sports channels outside of football.   I don't believe they pay much for DP world tour golf (possibly more for PGA tour, but that probably comes from Comcast), Cricket rights are not expensive and they could always fill that with county championship which would be cheap as chips, and I'm not sure how much they pay for F1.

Action and Arena, they could easily fill with american sports or more niche sports or buy cheap rights for minor sports  (Darts, NBA, NFL, super rugby (union), etc)

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by crashmon

[gingerjon]

20 minutes ago, Leonard said:

So what do the sports channels who don't have those rights show? Nothing?

Doesn't really matter. If you don't have Premier League rights in the UK then the clock is ticking until you go bust.

[nadera78]

The idea that Sky saving £5m on rugby league will have any bearing on their £Billion PL contract is a bit far fetched. All they're doing is pushing down the price because they know we have no alternatives, same as any other business would.

As to where the sport goes from here, assuming the rumours are correct, well it looks pretty bleak tbh. A version of WatchNRL might fill some funding gaps but only if it is done alongside Sky's continued broadcast of 2 games pw, it could never replace that funding in full. I'd also question how much more the BBC would pay for Challenge Cup group games if that is the plan.

[glossop saint]

2 minutes ago, nadera78 said:

The idea that Sky saving £5m on rugby league will have any bearing on their £Billion PL contract is a bit far fetched. All they're doing is pushing down the price because they know we have no alternatives, same as any other business would.

As to where the sport goes from here, assuming the rumours are correct, well it looks pretty bleak tbh. A version of WatchNRL might fill some funding gaps but only if it is done alongside Sky's continued broadcast of 2 games pw, it could never replace that funding in full. I'd also question how much more the BBC would pay for Challenge Cup group games if that is the plan.

I wonder if one of the reason that the price has gone down is the lack of exclusivity through C4 and potential streaming. Historically sky love exclusivity so I hope that RFL (commercial?)/IMG have thought and costed this through properly.

[Sports Prophet]

I set up an account with OurLeague to see what viewing options they have.

Naturally the experience of setting up on my phone was atrocious. When I got in, I couldn’t select or see any packages.

All I was keen on doing is to see what content they offer. Anyone able to fill me in? Including costs.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Sports Prophet

[glossop saint]

5 minutes ago, crashmon said:

They only have Golf, Cricket and F1 i think as dedicated sports channels outside of football.   I don't believe they pay much for DP world tour golf (possibly more for PGA tour, but that probably comes from Comcast), Cricket rights are not expensive and they could always fill that with county championship which would be cheap as chips, and I'm not sure how much they pay for F1.

Action and Arena, they could easily fill with american sports or more niche sports or buy cheap rights for minor sports  (Darts, NBA, NFL, super rugby (union), etc)

 

A few people have said about sky filling the schedules with cheap alternatives. I wonder how cheap those cheap alternatives are as I don't think that RL is expensive. I always thought we were the cheap alternative. Certainly team sports,  especially UK based Pro ones, surely have to have a minimum price to keep the income above a certain level. 

[crashmon]

Are comcast (sky's owners) interested in uk based smaller sports when they could probably fill the schedules with US sports which they probably already have rights to in the US for instance?

Like do we really need a channel dedicated to NFL?

 

 

 

[crashmon]

4 minutes ago, glossop saint said:

A few people have said about sky filling the schedules with cheap alternatives. I wonder how cheap those cheap alternatives are as I don't think that RL is expensive. I always thought we were the cheap alternative. Certainly team sports,  especially UK based Pro ones, surely have to have a minimum price to keep the income above a certain level. 

TBF your all probably right that RL is a cheap alternative to other UK based team sports, but its not those I fear that Sky will use to fill schedules

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

I set up an account with OurLeague to see what viewing options they have.

Naturally the experience of setting up on my phone was atrocious. When I got in, I couldn’t select or see any packages.

All I was keen on doing is to see what content they offer. Anyone able to fill me in? Including costs.

I don't think they have any games scheduled other than some NCL freebies.

I don't mind Our League and have regularly paid for games on it.

If they an get a package as part of the Sky deal then I would think they would look to monetise some games, as they have done this year with 2 x SL games.

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, crashmon said:

Are comcast (sky's owners) interested in uk based smaller sports when they could probably fill the schedules with US sports which they probably already have rights to in the US for instance?

Like do we really need a channel dedicated to NFL?

 

 

 

The timings mean that it’s basically impossible to fill a schedule with US sports. There just aren’t enough games - and virtually no key ones - that are played in UK primetime.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, crashmon said:

TBF your all probably right that RL is a cheap alternative to other UK based team sports, but its not those I fear that Sky will use to fill schedules

There was nothing on Sky Sports last night of any interest. Just a bang average T20 game and a lot of filler.

For summer, RL is ideal. 

Even if Football is king, BT/TNT only have a limited package and need to fill time, hence them purchasing RU rights. I do think we down sell the game massively.

As an example, I cancelled BT/TNT as soon as my side was out of the CL and will not subscribe again until late August. 

The Ashes and RL save Sky from me doing the same with them.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Leonard

[RigbyLuger]

36 minutes ago, crashmon said:

Are comcast (sky's owners) interested in uk based smaller sports when they could probably fill the schedules with US sports which they probably already have rights to in the US for instance?

Like do we really need a channel dedicated to NFL?

 

 

 

Why wouldn't Comcast, a successful company, tailor their output to the region it is broadcasting to? Just because you have the rights in the USA, doesn't mean you own them world wide!

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, RigbyLuger said:

Why wouldn't Comcast, a successful company, tailor their output to the region it is broadcasting to? Just because you have the rights in the USA, doesn't mean you own them world wide!

I like Ice Hockey - but there is no market in the UK for it - so it is on Viaplay.

Outside London - nobody has any interest in NBA.

NFL is pretty much in RL's close season and competes with the start of the Football season.

Baseball has no interest in the UK.

So, for me, USA sports might be cheap filler (just pay for a feed and put it on) but I don't see much of any other attraction.

People are increasingly savvy now as well. I would just cancel sky for months on end if that were the content or I would pay for what I want online - like NRL - and watch it when i want and how i want.

I already pay for GCN for complete cycling coverage all year for £40. I can watch that to the cow's come home instead of a forced diet of WPL or repeats of 2013 play off finals.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Leonard

[David Shepherd]

53 minutes ago, Sports Prophet said:

I set up an account with OurLeague to see what viewing options they have.

Naturally the experience of setting up on my phone was atrocious. When I got in, I couldn’t select or see any packages.

All I was keen on doing is to see what content they offer. Anyone able to fill me in? Including costs.

Our League is a bit pants in my experience.  It's a faff to use and a bit flakey. You also have to prat about with extra wires or casting to see it on a proper TV. 

As a minimum we need to get it available through a proper platform like Prime Video.

[M j M]

1 hour ago, crashmon said:

 I'm not sure how much they pay for F1.

It's around £200m a year.

[glossop saint]

1 hour ago, crashmon said:

TBF your all probably right that RL is a cheap alternative to other UK based team sports, but its not those I fear that Sky will use to fill schedules

Though presumably comcast need to then pay again to get the UK rights? OK, maybe they have a relationship and won't have to pay as much as RL rights but there is a reason why they are cheaper.

[glossop saint]

1 hour ago, Leonard said:

There was nothing on Sky Sports last night of any interest. Just a bang average T20 game and a lot of filler.

For summer, RL is ideal. 

Even if Football is king, BT/TNT only have a limited package and need to fill time, hence them purchasing RU rights. I do think we down sell the game massively.

As an example, I cancelled BT/TNT as soon as my side was out of the CL and will not subscribe again until late August. 

The Ashes and RL save Sky from me doing the same with them.

Speak to a cricket fan and they would say the same if there was a bang average RL game on. Even some RL fans would give (for example) Hull v Wakey a miss.

[gingerjon]

21 minutes ago, David Shepherd said:

Our League is a bit pants in my experience.  It's a faff to use and a bit flakey. You also have to prat about with extra wires or casting to see it on a proper TV. 

As a minimum we need to get it available through a proper platform like Prime Video.

The experience I had that sums it up to me was seeing a well-timed (genuinely so) tweet on the RFL feed about a game that was heading into the final three minute and was really close so get over to OurLeague to see the finale.

OurLeague had logged me out so I had to log in again.

Which took a while.

It then took a moment or two to actually find the live stream.

Click it and get to watch an advert for OurLeague (on OurLeague) that ran, from memory, for over a minute.

Obviously, the very exciting match was over by the time it finished.

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, glossop saint said:

Speak to a cricket fan and they would say the same if there was a bang average RL game on. Even some RL fans would give (for example) Hull v Wakey a miss.

So we both agree it is best for a sports channel to cater to a wide variety of tastes.

I would watch the T20 as well - but I would not pay for SKY for that in isolation.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Leonard

[glossop saint]

1 minute ago, Leonard said:

So we both agree it is best for a sports channel to cater to a wide variety of tastes.

Absolutely. Personally I don't really care about football bar the league 2 playoffs and am only really interested in RL and cricket. And only really RL enough to subscribe. Hopefully the fact I state that on my nowtv cancellations means that Sky know that there is an audience just for RL and fund it accordingly.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, glossop saint said:

Absolutely. Personally I don't really care about football bar the league 2 playoffs and am only really interested in RL and cricket. And only really RL enough to subscribe. Hopefully the fact I state that on my nowtv cancellations means that Sky know that there is an audience just for RL and fund it accordingly.

I use Now as well - the good old "are you sure you want to cancel - here's a deal..."

The only beef is watching a game after the event - they only have highlights. I would sign up for a RL pass in a minute. A couple of hundred quid at the start of the season and then watch what I want as and when.

[Rugbyleaguesupporter]

Unlike BBC which has fixed pot, Sky value rights largley individually. 

Essentially they estimate how many people will leave if they stop showing a sport. 

Challenge for us is to argue Sky should pay a premium- as this will grow the sport and be better for Sky in long run