I think that Sky will keep the EPL games as they need them or they go bust. Let's not kid ourselves most of their subscriptions are based on Premier League football.
However the EPL will have no problem from organising the bidding system so that the likes of BT push the price up and up.
If/when Sky do meet their match they could be in real trouble. The cable companies (Telewest - ntl) struggled because they didn't have the infrastructure and the cost of running the cable to everyone's houses was so high that they couldn't compete with the price Sky were charging for the football at the time. BT already have the infrastructure and BT Vision will use existing cables and people won't have to have some lazy workman run a cable an inch under their front lawn and over a driveway to get to the house.
If BT have anything like the money we've seen mentioned here then you can bet that that is how much Sky will have to pay next time. The demand for subscription football mustn't be inelastic and sooner or later they will lose subscribers if the cost to secure those football rights become unsustainable for the consumer.
I think you'll find that those who run the EPL are too far down the road with Sky to ever switch. Sky saved English football, that should never be forgotten. I mean that by the way.
In this day and age when anyone who wants to can find a live stream on the internet for free of any game they wish, i think it's a bit foolish for any company to spend big money to try and take sky on.
A lot of people have sky already and they pay for it's sports coverage anyway, but will people fork out extra for a handful of other games? I'm not so sure. They haven't before, so why will they now?
I think you'll find that those who run the EPL are too far down the road with Sky to ever switch. Sky saved English football, that should never be forgotten. I mean that by the way.
In this day and age when anyone who wants to can find a live stream on the internet for free of any game they wish, i think it's a bit foolish for any company to spend big money to try and take sky on.
A lot of people have sky already and they pay for it's sports coverage anyway, but will people fork out extra for a handful of other games? I'm not so sure. They haven't before, so why will they now?
I used to buy the extra Sky games (Prem Plus or something like that?) but never bothered with Setanta and ESPN - and possibly partly to do with our own fall from grace and so weren't going to be featured.
Might be tempted now, but ultimately it will come down to price and whether I can be tempted with an early subscription offer.
BT are taking a huge gamble here. They are launching two Sports channels this year and as has been said elsewhere, they are buying a lot more content than just Premier League football (eg Brazilian and Italian league football, Rugby, Tennis etc). They need to attract one million new customers to BT Vision to break even. That means more than doubling their existing customer base but Setanta and ESPN managed it although neither profited in the long run. BT need top-line growth as they cannot cut costs forever in order to turn a profit. I think the key will be whether or not they can afford to withhold or delay selling on their packages to Sky. The temptation for them to do this may be irresistible in which case they risk failure. The You View Freeview package could help them sell this at a time when Sky looks increasingly expensive and unaffordable for many.
Sky or BT no one can be so stupid to think the premier league will turn its nose up at more money wherever it comes from. BT have a lot of money and have been giving skys legs a slap recently with increases in subscriptions. Why do you reckon sky halve their prices whenever a customer phones to say they want to leave?
From what I can make of the numbers it seems as though the biggest change is BT having (most of) the Saturday lunchtime games (in Package A) which I guess means they will grab some of the big ones which previously might have been shown Sundays on Sky.
Incredible that a team could be shown live 28 out of 38 games whilst some might only be on 5 times.
Also how many people actually have the BT Vision system? Seems like a massive amount of money for BT to spend on a such a small audience.
I'm delighted! I have BT vision, it's brilliant. Record programmes, rewind, pause the usual blah blah...
You get hundreds of free movies too!
If I wanted sky sports, I would have to pay £18 a month extra!
I pay £40 per month which is the BT vision service, a landline with free calls, and BT Infinity broadband.
I guess that BT feel obligated to go after Sky (and pushing up the prices they pay for the EPL) after all Sky are going after BT's broadband and telephone business.
I guess that BT feel obligated to go after Sky (and pushing up the prices they pay for the EPL) after all Sky are going after BT's broadband and telephone business.
Brilliant news for anyone with BT shares then. Sky have to rent the openreach network to do this. BT earn pennies off fixed line rental of their own
In this day and age when anyone who wants to can find a live stream on the internet for free of any game they wish, i think it's a bit foolish for any company to spend big money to try and take sky on.
A lot of people have sky already and they pay for it's sports coverage anyway, but will people fork out extra for a handful of other games? I'm not so sure. They haven't before, so why will they now?
I used to buy the extra Sky games (Prem Plus or something like that?) but never bothered with Setanta and ESPN - and possibly partly to do with our own fall from grace and so weren't going to be featured.
Might be tempted now, but ultimately it will come down to price and whether I can be tempted with an early subscription offer.
I don't think the package of games they have helps them. Saturday early kick off games. A lot of people are out then either doing things with their family, shopping, out to watch their own teams game, in the pub etc etc. Strikes me as being the package of games that Sky probably weren't too fussed at losing.
Comments
However the EPL will have no problem from organising the bidding system so that the likes of BT push the price up and up.
If/when Sky do meet their match they could be in real trouble. The cable companies (Telewest - ntl) struggled because they didn't have the infrastructure and the cost of running the cable to everyone's houses was so high that they couldn't compete with the price Sky were charging for the football at the time. BT already have the infrastructure and BT Vision will use existing cables and people won't have to have some lazy workman run a cable an inch under their front lawn and over a driveway to get to the house.
If BT have anything like the money we've seen mentioned here then you can bet that that is how much Sky will have to pay next time. The demand for subscription football mustn't be inelastic and sooner or later they will lose subscribers if the cost to secure those football rights become unsustainable for the consumer.
A lot of people have sky already and they pay for it's sports coverage anyway, but will people fork out extra for a handful of other games? I'm not so sure. They haven't before, so why will they now?
Might be tempted now, but ultimately it will come down to price and whether I can be tempted with an early subscription offer.
A technology that did not work and a product people did not want to pay for, apart from that it was great.
You get hundreds of free movies too!
If I wanted sky sports, I would have to pay £18 a month extra!
I pay £40 per month which is the BT vision service, a landline with free calls, and BT Infinity broadband.
I don't think the package of games they have helps them. Saturday early kick off games. A lot of people are out then either doing things with their family, shopping, out to watch their own teams game, in the pub etc etc.
Strikes me as being the package of games that Sky probably weren't too fussed at losing.
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