Premier League rights 2013-2016

J. Marston

Premier League rights sold to BT and BSkyB for £3bn

BT has secured the rights to broadcast 38 Premier League games for each of the seasons from 2013-14 to 2015-16.

BSkyB will continue to show the majority of matches, having secured the rights to 116 games per season, the Premier League said.

The total of 154 live matches is 16 more than currently broadcast and more than 40% of all top-level matches.

The sales raised £3.018bn, an increase of £1.25bn on the current package which shares rights between BSkyB and ESPN.

BBC sports news correspondent James Pearce said the amount paid for the new deal was "staggering", marking a rise of 70% on the present deal.

'New ways'
BT said it would launch a new football-focused channel to carry the games.

"It will offer new interactive features when supplied over BT's fibre network and we will look to distribute it on other platforms," the telecoms firm said.

BT said full details and pricing would be published in due course

"We welcome BT as a new Premier League broadcast partner," said Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore.

"They are a substantial British company that is at the leading edge of technology and infrastructure development."

He said BT would "deliver new ways in which fans will be able to follow the competition".

He added: "The continuing support of BSkyB for Premier League football is significant beyond the revenues delivered; the longevity and quality of their commitment has done much for the English game as a whole."

Under the new agreement, BT secured two of the seven packages on offer, showing 28 Saturday lunchtime games, including the opening game of the season, and 10 matches taking place on bank holidays or midweek evenings.

Looks like ESPN are gone, shame since Irish Sky customers got that channel for free but who are BT? Also, £3 billion is mental money.

monkey9

British Telecom

Paully D

Won't be much longer until the game implodes.

Pj!

J. Marston wrote: »

Also, £3 billion is mental money.

This. Absolutely mental.

Schism

If they're willing to pay out 3bn between them think on how much it's worth to them to show these games.

Jax Teller

Mad money . That's only for games to be shown domestically they'll get loads more money from foreign channels .

Paully D

Coletrickle88 wrote: »

Mad money . That's only for games to be shown domestically they'll get loads more money from foreign channels .

And clubs will still spend 70%-75% of their turnover on wages, raising ticket prices while the working class fan is priced out. Madness really. The game will go tits up in the near future.

adox

The premier league bubble gets bigger.

JaMarcus Hustle

I don't there's a chance in hell BT will make back what they've paid out of this. Not with the amount of streams available these days. I dont expect them to be competing for another contract after the hit they take on this one.

Richard Hillman

Sky make over 1 billion profits per year. They are spending 700 million per season for this premier league deal. Its nearly double of what they were paying. The way things go they are down about 300 million a year but will make that up easily when the UK and Ireland switch to digital. Advertising revenue will be up this year as well after the great season they just had.

Sky have no option to pay so much for epl football. Their sports channels would be useless without it. They would probably go bust without epl football.

wonga77

That is crazy crazy money, hard to see how things can keep going up

Kristopherus

Absolutely mad money. Can see a tenner increase by $ky in August next year. Can also see more online outfits jumping on that bandwagon in the coming years.

ctrl-alt-delete

JaMarcus Hustle wrote: »

I don't there's a chance in hell BT will make back what they've paid out of this. Not with the amount of streams available these days. I dont expect them to be competing for another contract after the hit they take on this one.

BT are a massive company though, they have been expanding their services for a number of years now,but it will remain very hard for anyone to really take Sky on.

Setanta's Uk venture failed, ESPN now have a couple of years of their UK service having no real pulling power, and it remains to be seen how BT can make back what they have paid out as you say. They are one of the biggest telecoms providers already and have made great strides into other media already with BT Vision, they should be able to soak the cost up .

What happens with regards trying to get this package in Ireland then? can someone else try secure these games for the Irish market?

Zonda999

Thats simply mad money, I really hate sky as a company, no doubt they will be pushing every cent extra this deal cost onto the subscriber. i really would love to see them go bust..

Remember too, this is only for the UK, a country that has been in recession effectively the entire time since the last EPL rights deal was agreed, and yet the cost of the rights has gone up 70%, what does that tell ya exactly? Mad corporate greed by Sky I would think.. All of this when very few of the EPL clubs are actually making a profit themselves..

Amirani

Zonda999 wrote: »

Remember too, this is only for the UK, a country that has been in recession effectively the entire time since the last EPL rights deal was agreed, and yet the cost of the rights has gone up 70%, what does that tell ya exactly? Mad corporate greed by the FA and Sky I would think..

What is the FA's role here?

Zonda999

Didnt mean to put the FA in there, but they are hardly blameless. Remember they are ever increasing the number of televised games. When the very same provider wins the rights for all the extra games, your average sky sports subscriber is effectively being forced to pay more, even though they are getting extra televised games, that will still result in an increased cost in being able to watch the EPL on tv. Its pretty obvious what Sky will do here, they will use the fact they have extra games to increase subscription prices, but obviously the profit margin will increase also..

Suryavarman

Zonda999 wrote: »

Thats simply mad money, I really hate sky as a company, no doubt they will be pushing every cent extra this deal cost onto the subscriber. i really would love to see them go bust..

Remember too, this is only for the UK, a country that has been in recession effectively the entire time since the last EPL rights deal was agreed, and yet the cost of the rights has gone up 70%, what does that tell ya exactly? Mad corporate greed by Sky I would think.. All of this when very few of the EPL clubs are actually making a profit themselves..

If it was mad corporate greed by Sky wouldn't they be trying to pay less for the rights instead of 70% more?

The fact that they are paying more for the rights should help improve the financial situation of EPL clubs as well.

helimachoptor

I'd say BT will essentially re-sell BT Sports to Sky in one form or another. It's in neither companies interests to start sending consumers down a fork in the road of Sky or BT.

BT and Sky are telecoms partners in the UK and sky re-sells BT broadband where it doesnt have it's own network and uses its fibre.

Tbh if there are any major changes to how all premier leagues games are shown now with espn to how they will be shown with BT I'll be shocked

James__10

How much did RTE pay a couple of years ago when they broadcasted games on a Saturday afternoon?

mike65

Paully D wrote: »

Won't be much longer until the game implodes.

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Sky have no option to pay so much for epl football. Their sports channels would be useless without it. They would probably go bust without epl football.

Its the dance of death, to the death.

MisterAnarchy

Zonda999 wrote: »

Thats simply mad money, I really hate sky as a company, no doubt they will be pushing every cent extra this deal cost onto the subscriber. i really would love to see them go bust..

I wonder did the rumoured bid of Al Jazeera drive Sky into a fluster and cause them to massively overbid ,its a sealed envelope bid ,nobody knows what the other competitors bid.
They would be nothing without their Premiership rights .

The new deal works out at £8.7m per televised match ,a truly insane figure.
£8.7m to televise the likes of Stoke vs Norwich,value if ever I saw it.

Its not only the Uk that Sky have won crazy bids.
Sky Germany will shell out more than €1.94 billion for German rights to the 2013 to 2017 Bundesliga seasons. That works out to an average of €486 million a season. Currently, Sky pays around €250 million a season for Bundesliga rights.

Oat23

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Its not only the Uk that Sky have won crazy bids.
Sky Germany will shell out more than €1.94 billion for German rights to the 2013 to 2017 Bundesliga seasons. That works out to an average of €486 million a season. Currently, Sky pays around €250 million a season for Bundesliga rights.

Sky DE show all 306 matches a season live. So they are getting a good deal even though it is almost double per season on the last deal.

Giggsy11

Great news for all the clubs, especially bottom clubs.

This equates to at least £14m more per year for each football club, with the bottom team in the league from 2013-14 onwards likely to receive more than the £60.6m Manchester City earned this year for ending the season as champions. Each individual televised match will now cost the broadcasters £6.6m, up from £4.7m under the previous deal

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/13/premier-league-tv-rights-3-billion-sky-bt

LuckyLloyd

Meh, I'm excited to see what BT will do with it. When you compare the Premiership to US sports it has to be noted that this side of the Atlantic is in the stone ages with respect to how sport is packaged. I wouldn't own a TV if it wasn't for watching sport, and it is crazy that I can't pay for a season package to stream games on my laptop in HD quality, with archive access, press content bundled, etc.

Hopefully BT will look at the likes of Game Pass and provide similiar to us over here.

LuckyLloyd

Giggsy11 wrote: »

Great news for all the clubs, especially bottom clubs.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/13/premier-league-tv-rights-3-billion-sky-bt

Meh, not really. They'll spend that too, while everyone else is spending it aswell. No advantage gained. If anything, it will just make the consequences of relegation all the more jarring.

LuckyLloyd

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Meh, I'm excited to see what BT will do with it. When you compare the Premiership to US sports it has to be noted that this side of the Atlantic is in the stone ages with respect to how sport is packaged. I wouldn't own a TV if it wasn't for watching sport, and it is crazy that I can't pay for a season package to stream games on my laptop in HD quality, with archive access, press content bundled, etc.

Hopefully BT will look at the likes of Game Pass and provide similiar to us over here.

Is that not by design by the leagues themselves to try to keep some "fairness" in how the funds are distributed?

kakee

From the BT Vision website.

Frequently asked questions

When can I sign up for this channel?
There will be plenty of opportunity to sign up to this channel in good time prior to the start of the 2013/14 season. In the meantime we will shortly be opening a pre-registration website for interested consumers.


Which games will you have?
We will have a total of 38 matches in each season (including the ‘Sunday prime time’ slot), so we are confident that you’ll find the channel has a great selection of matches throughout the season.



I’m a Sky / Virgin Media customer and don’t want to lose the Premier League – how does this help me?
We intend to make this channel widely available on all major distribution platforms, not just BT Vision. We want to make it as easy as possible for consumers to subscribe. Further product details will be announced in due course.

racso1975

so does this mean setanta Ireland will no longer have a sat afternoon game?

supersean1999

racso1975 wrote: »

so does this mean setanta Ireland will no longer have a sat afternoon game?

i was just about to ask that, because without the sat games setanta is poor, ill be out, i cant see bt channel on sky being more that 15-20 a month, i wonder will them two clowns, keys and gray appear on a tv anytime soon

Sizzler

These rights are for UK only AFAIK, doesnt include ROI lads.

supersean1999

Sizzler wrote: »

These rights are for UK only AFAIK, doesnt include ROI lads.

well in that case i hope sky buy the lot

abouttobebanned

Methinks Andy gray and Richard keys will have new homes for the coming seasons.

Zonda999

Sky's shareholders aren't too impressed, their shares are down over 8% this morning, clearly the markets are pretty sceptical on sky being able as profitable as they currently are under these new terms. BT's shares down 3% too, for the record..

As for that £8.7m per televised game figure, that truly is ridiculous money.. There must have been some serious other bidders around..

LuckyLloyd

Deleted User wrote: »

Is that not by design by the leagues themselves to try to keep some "fairness" in how the funds are distributed?

I don't understand? How would me paying a fee (let's say €150 for a year's subscription) to 'Premiership Game Pass' affect how such funds are distributed amongst the clubs?

In any case, the world is moving on. Think about how many people in their twenties in rented accomodation don't own a TV? Or only have it there rarely used? The way the Premiership is presented is increasingly outdated imo, and the fact that so many people are happy to subscribe to Flash Stream Sports or the like and watch the game on a patchy stream should be an indicator of how people are consuming 'TV' content these days.

Yeah, part of the appeal of those sites is how cheap they are, but so many people have Sky for the football only, and they end up paying an inflated subsciption for 5 channels mostly showing sports they have zero interest in. This isn't sustainable, and many are like '**** it', have dumped the sky subsciption and will watch the game if they can get a stream.

There is money to be made from such people, and it is a market that will only grow and grow and grow. The NFL have nailed this, and they certainly know how to make money.

LuckyLloyd

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I don't understand? How would me paying a fee (let's say €150 for a year's subscription) to 'Premiership Game Pass' affect how such funds are distributed amongst the clubs?

In any case, the world is moving on. Think about how many people in their twenties in rented accomodation don't own a TV? Or only have it there rarely used? The way the Premiership is presented is increasingly outdated imo, and the fact that so many people are happy to subscribe to Flash Stream Sports or the like and watch the game on a patchy stream should be an indicator of how people are consuming 'TV' content these days.

Yeah, part of the appeal of those sites is how cheap they are, but so many people have Sky for the football only, and they end up paying an inflated subsciption for 5 channels mostly showing sports they have zero interest in. This isn't sustainable, and many are like '**** it', have dumped the sky subsciption and will watch the game if they can get a stream.

There is money to be made from such people, and it is a market that will only grow and grow and grow. The NFL have nailed this, and they certainly know how to make money.

150 would be less than they're getting now. :pac: I thought you meant individual team packages which is what they're seemingly trying to avoid.

I guess another difference is that the NFL, MLB etc. can sell rights for massive prices to free channels, the PL don't have that luxury in Britain, having an online pass would lower the TV rights value quite a bit I would've thought.
EDIT: Also in America there's some local market stations with huge catchment areas who are willing to pay for rights, again something the PL hasn't got.

Giggsy11

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Meh, not really. They'll spend that too, while everyone else is spending it aswell. No advantage gained. If anything, it will just make the consequences of relegation all the more jarring.

Better than big clubs spending and smaller clubs not able to.

LuckyLloyd

Deleted User wrote: »

150 would be less than they're getting now. :pac: I thought you meant individual team packages which is what they're seemingly trying to avoid.

I guess another difference is that the NFL, MLB etc. can sell rights for massive prices to free channels, the PL don't have that luxury in Britain, having an online pass would lower the TV rights value quite a bit I would've thought.
EDIT: Also in America there's some local market stations with huge catchment areas who are willing to pay for rights, again something the PL hasn't got.

There are people out there who don't pay for a sky subscription, and instead watch the games on their laptop. You can continue to ignore that ever growing market, or you can offer your product to that sphere. For people paying up to €10 per month for those services, when they are somewhat unreliable and patchy, with no archive or bundled content - are you telling me they wouldn't be sold on something high quality for a fee? That way you get money from that sphere, right now you get nothing.

Such a service would also be lapped up in the US and around the world just like NFL Game Pass is Internationally.

The American market is different, but it is miles ahead of TV over here in terms of giving people options in how they view content. There is still a huge TV Sports market over there, but money is being made from those who don't buy into that model anymore.

Giggsy11 wrote: »

Better than big clubs spending and smaller clubs not able to.

How so? The gap is the same. You are as uncompetitive as you were, the only difference now is that the chasm between what you earn and what you spend in the event of relegation is much harder to bridge.

Giggsy11

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

How so? The gap is the same. You are as uncompetitive as you were, the only difference now is that the chasm between what you earn and what you spend in the event of relegation is much harder to bridge.

They will get extra money which they can use it for wages and attract better/more players from other leagues?

14 Million is a big sum for any club and even bigger for smaller clubs.

With or without the extra money, big clubs would have spent on players they wanted, whereas smaller clubs were restricted because of wages and fee, now with extra 14 odd million surely they can pay better wages and attract better players?

_blank_

I've just paid 35 quid for the next year's worth of PL games, if some games don't materialise, there will be other means - I'll probably go to the pub to watch, or suffer a lower quality stream.

The stream quality is decent for that money, it looks good on a 42 inch tv too, which is a bonus.

I'd probably consider paying double that for an "official" streaming service, of reliable quality.

Francie Barrett

What does the League of Ireland get from RTE for their TV rights? Surely the FAI need to get the finger out and start flogging their wares to Sky?

Fr Tod Umptious

Des wrote: »

I've just paid 35 quid for the next year's worth of PL games, if some games don't materialise, there will be other means - I'll probably go to the pub to watch, or suffer a lower quality stream.

The stream quality is decent for that money, it looks good on a 42 inch tv too, which is a bonus.

I'd probably consider paying double that for an "official" streaming service, of reliable quality.

And that is where the EPL is missing out.

If people are willing to pay for unofficial and unpredictable streams then they will certainly pay for official ones if the price is not OTT.

Tis the future

Fr Tod Umptious

Francie Barrett wrote: »

What does the League of Ireland get from RTE for their TV rights? Surely the FAI need to get the finger out and start flogging their wares to Sky?

I really doubt Sky would pay any better for LOI than RTE do.

Just cos they pay a lot for EPL does not mean that they are throwing cash around the place

kakee

From Sky website http://corporate.sky.com/media/press_releases/2012/sky_remains_home_of_premier_league_football

Sky has been awarded the following packs:
B: 26 matches (mainly Saturday at 5.30pm)
C: 26 matches - Sunday at 1.30pm
26 matches - Sunday at 4pm
E: 26 matches (mainly Monday at 8.30pm)
F: 12 matches - Saturday at 5.30pm

My understanding from the above is that Sky have the rights to 42 matches on Saturdays at 5.30 (mainly?). Super Saturday anyone?

LuckyLloyd

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

There are people out there who don't pay for a sky subscription, and instead watch the games on their laptop. You can continue to ignore that ever growing market, or you can offer your product to that sphere. For people paying up to €10 per month for those services, when they are somewhat unreliable and patchy, with no archive or bundled content - are you telling me they wouldn't be sold on something high quality for a fee? That way you get money from that sphere, right now you get nothing.

Such a service would also be lapped up in the US and around the world just like NFL Game Pass is Internationally.

The American market is different, but it is miles ahead of TV over here in terms of giving people options in how they view content. There is still a huge TV Sports market over there, but money is being made from those who don't buy into that model anymore.

As you said, the American market is different.
The issue with online passes isn't so much that it would affect ratings all that much but that the TV companies may well baulk at the suggestion. Suppose a legal app for Smart TVs, Xbox, PS3s etc. with the full pass came along at a tenner a month, how many people in the UK would still pay for the football through Sky?
Again, the completely different size and nature of the market in the US makes all the difference.

Jax Teller

kakee wrote: »

From Sky website http://corporate.sky.com/media/press_releases/2012/sky_remains_home_of_premier_league_football



My understanding from the above is that Sky have the rights to 42 matches on Saturdays at 5.30 (mainly?). Super Saturday anyone?

Id say a lot of them will be early kick offs on Saturday morning aswell .

_blank_

Are people aware that Sky Go is currently available?

If you know someone with a Sky Sub, they can have a guest user and they can add two devices to their guest account, for viewing online. It's done by Mac Address, not IP Address, so you can move from place to place with it.

My laptop is on it as I am a guest of my brother, and a laptop in my mates house, I also paid the other money so we can watch in another friend's house at any time, and I also have access to the 3 o'clock's on a saturday, and anything else not covered by the sky sub.

helimachoptor

Des wrote: »

Are people aware that Sky Go is currently available?

If you know someone with a Sky Sub, they can have a guest user and they can add two devices to their guest account, for viewing online. It's done by Mac Address, not IP Address, so you can move from place to place with it.

My laptop is on it as I am a guest of my brother, and a laptop in my mates house, I also paid the other money so we can watch in another friend's house at any time, and I also have access to the 3 o'clock's on a saturday, and anything else not covered by the sky sub.

Hmmm incriminating yourself Des :pac::pac:

TheDoc

In fairness while these companies post profits, thats profit, their turnover is MASSIVE and that is the difference. Its not as easy as

Well sky had 1 billion profit, they just paid 3 billion, they loose 2 billion. Sky turn over tens of millions of pounds per annum.

This will simply get factored into their forecasts, and some serious due diligence gets done on this. They will have no doubt be able to make a profit from this. And dont forget, arn't all pubs now obliged to pay a special sky broadcasting license to show the footie?

So even whilst you might not pay it and go to the pub to watch, someone is paying for it

Doesn't bother me, it wont cause a price hike,while they might be paying more for it, they are going against less competition so more punters will be on their books.

LuckyLloyd

Des wrote: »

Are people aware that Sky Go is currently available?

If you know someone with a Sky Sub, they can have a guest user and they can add two devices to their guest account, for viewing online. It's done by Mac Address, not IP Address, so you can move from place to place with it.

My laptop is on it as I am a guest of my brother, and a laptop in my mates house, I also paid the other money so we can watch in another friend's house at any time, and I also have access to the 3 o'clock's on a saturday, and anything else not covered by the sky sub.

Sky Go is a poor substitute for the service that should be available though is the point.

Dr. Nick

Didn't see a thread on this.
BT have secured 38 games, 18 of which will be 'first choice'. Sky have the rest. So will Sky or someone else get the foreign rights to those 38 games? Hope so, or we'll be 38 games short!

PHB

Sky Go has gotten a lot better in the past year. Only issue now is the time-lag, once you've got the connection, it's pretty perfect.