Champions League on pay TV only?

Harry Palmr

Bump article on the next round of CL and EL rights - BT sounding out FTA partners which frankly they need to - I'm sure Channel 5 would love a game - any game while ITV4 would also be enthusiastic. ITV would be more tricky maybe as they'd want a Prem side every match week but would they pay the premium that would demand?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/29/bt-sport-uefa-champions-league-rights-sky-sports

BT has fired the first shot in the battle for Champions League football, saying it is determined to keep a grip on the TV rights to European football’s blue-riband club competition and accusing arch-rival Sky of having too much dominance over pay-TV sports.

BT is understood to have “done the rounds” of potential free-to-air partners, with Sky set to do the same, ahead of first round bids being submitted to the governing body Uefa in March.

Champions League sponsors have expressed concerns about the lack of exposure under BT’s £900m exclusive deal, compared with a pay/free deal with Sky and ITV which provided larger audiences.

The Cush

More recent thread here - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=101976300

Harry Palmr

search feature remains ****

dublinman1990

The Daily Telegraph has an exclusive.

Channel 4 could take the next UK FTA deal for live matches from 2018 for the first time.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/02/20/channel-4-could-show-champions-league-football-first-time/

iseegirls

dublinman1990 wrote: »

The Daily Telegraph has an exclusive.

Channel 4 could take the next UK FTA deal for live matches from 2018 for the first time.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/02/20/channel-4-could-show-champions-league-football-first-time/

Interesting, although anytime i think of Channel 4 getting a sport, it reminds me of the Ortis Deley presenting masterclass from their World Athletics Championship.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkswky_ortis-deley-presenting-masterclass_fun

icdg

They were told they were losing the Formula 1 rights in 2019 mere weeks after their coverage began, although in hindsight that may have been less to do with them and more with the former management at FOM seeing what was coming down the track (no pun intended!) and wanting to tie up a deal with Sky early.

But on the subject of the Champions League, the UK tender closes tomorrow so we may know relatively soon what is happening. There are UK media reports this morning that BT is very hopeful of retaining the lions share of the rights.

channelsurfer2

dublinman1990 wrote: »

The Daily Telegraph has an exclusive.

Channel 4 could take the next UK FTA deal for live matches from 2018 for the first time.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/02/20/channel-4-could-show-champions-league-football-first-time/

Not sure how exclusive it is as that has been reported over a week ago by other sources. There will be some form of FTA but I doubt it will be first pick rights.

icdg

It could have been exclusive at the time mind you - it dates from Monday of last week...

icdg

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/02/bt-chief-attacks-rampant-price-rises-tv-sports-rights-sky-champions-league

Timing of this piece interesting. Do BT think they've lost?

On the other hands, there are some rumours this may be going to a second round.

medoc

icdg wrote: »

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/mar/02/bt-chief-attacks-rampant-price-rises-tv-sports-rights-sky-champions-league

Timing of this piece interesting. Do BT think they've lost?

On the other hands, there are some rumours this may be going to a second round.

Hilarious in one way considering BT's part in inflating the costs of sports rights. Though it is becoming a big problem as the only way to make the money back is by increasing subscription prices.

lertsnim

Bit rich of BT to complain about the cost of sporting rights.

channelsurfer2

Digitalspy poster reporting sky/Viacom joint bid won first round but not by high enough margin.second round now. BT seem to have played it cagey..

iseegirls

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

Digitalspy poster reporting sky/Viacom joint bid won first round but not by high enough margin.second round now. BT seem to have played it cagey..

Viacom? Would that be Channel 5 then? Seems like an odd combination.

icdg

There's been some speculation that both Sky and BT have taken on FTA partners, seemingly on the basis that BT's Showcase arrangement has not impressed UEFA what with its zero promotion. In this context Viacom almost certainly means Channel 5, though it could also less likely mean Spike I guess.

Harry Palmr

icdg wrote: »

There's been some speculation that both Sky and BT have taken on FTA partners, seemingly on the basis that BT's Showcase arrangement has not impressed UEFA what with its zero promotion. In this context Viacom almost certainly means Channel 5, though it could also less likely mean Spike I guess.

Channel 5 is HD so they would be the one to pick obviously, look out TV3!!

channelsurfer2

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Channel 5 is HD so they would be the one to pick obviously, look out TV3!!

Paramount channel apparently...could be a rebranded Spike channel which is fta ..

Harry Palmr

Channel 5 is FTA!

Why would Viacom buy right to sport for a SD only channel? Or is Spike/Paramount going HD?

icdg

Television companies don't think that way.

Witness Eir Sport 1 (on Sky). Or BT Sport Showcase. Or At the Races. Or Box Nation, where the "SD" and "HD" services are in fact two different channels.

Harry Palmr

Well you'd have to pretty dense to undermine the primary selling point of HD - sport esp football. Still anything beats TV3 on soarview.

dublinman1990

BT's new FTA partner for these rights is Channel 4.

Also; all of Channel 5's suite of channels including Channel 5 HD & Spike are available FTA on satellite.

Paramount is a pay tv channel like Nickelodeon & MTV.

icdg

Should emphasise that we don't know if BT, or Sky for that matter, have a partner, or who it is (if there is indeed one). We can only speculate.

Something we do know however, is that TBS has pulled something of a coup in obtaining the US rights. Now obviously this isn't an important tournament in the US - it's on weekday afternoons (2:45pm ET) while people are still in work, and it's football of the non-gridiron kind. Nonetheless it's a sport TBS has shown little recent interest in and it's being seen as a blow to current rights holders Fox Sports.

The Cush

icdg wrote: »

Something we do know however, is that TBS has pulled something of a coup in obtaining the US rights. Now obviously this isn't an important tournament in the US - it's on weekday afternoons (2:45pm ET) while people are still in work

New rights deal sees an increase of $45m per year over the previous one with Fox.

Turner will pay UEFA more than $60 million a year in a three-year plan that runs through the 2020-21 tournament. And, Univision will pay about $35 million per year for the Spanish-language rights.

Indicative of the growing popularity of football in the United States, the new deals represent a significant increase over the existing $50 million-per-year deal for both languages that Fox Sports signed in 2009.

https://www.rapidtvnews.com/2017030146356/turner-univision-ink-deal-for-champions-league-tv-rights-in-us.html#axzz4aFXCS4Rf

enfant terrible

dublinman1990 wrote: »

BT's new FTA partner for these rights is Channel 4.

Also; all of Channel 5's suite of channels including Channel 5 HD & Spike are available FTA on satellite.

Paramount is a pay tv channel like Nickelodeon & MTV.

Are the Irish rights completely separate i.e if Sky Sports and Channel 5 win will have any effect on RTE/TV3?

lertsnim

Irish rights are separate.

icdg

In theory yes is the answer.

In practice Sky's Champions League coverage was broadcast here when they had the rights and there was either no objection or the Irish deals were structured to allow this. However the same was not true of ESPN (back when they were actually owned by ESPN Inc) when they had the Europa League rights and their coverage was blocked here.

Under the current deal, BT exclusively holds all U.K. rights to the UEFA club competitions, while Eir Sport holds all ROI rights subject to RTE being able to broadcast non exclusively one Wednesday CL game and TV3 being able to broadcast non exclusively one Tuesday CL game. This works very well in the context of the BT-Eir distribution deal, since it means BT's coverage can be broadcast here no problem.

Kristopherus

icdg wrote: »

Nonetheless it's a sport TBS has shown little recent interest in and it's being seen as a blow to current rights holders Fox Sports.

Well, by the looks of how things are panning out over there, Fox will have exclusive right to Trumps outbursts, which might attract more viewers than the Sports Unit might ever get to watch European Football in mid-afternoon:).

The Cush

BT retains exclusive rights to UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League - http://sport.bt.com/football/bt-retains-exclusive-rights-to-uefa-champions-league-and-uefa-europa-league-S11364161627708?utm_source=Direct

channelsurfer2

Includes highlights and all other digital rights. Could mean no ITV hightlights. A hefty price increase for the rights even with the extra 6 pm matches.

Harry Palmr

Social media rather than FTA by the looks of it!

icdg

So all the talk of UEFA wanting a FTA partner was just talk in the end.

In fact the Champions League will now have no terrestrial coverage in the UK. There will be no ITV highlights as BT now take those rights. There's also no mention of the previous obligation to provide coverage on Showcase. Only commitment is to make the finals available on social media.

Be interesting to see what happens in this market down the road. With BT keeping the UK rights the odds must be for a renewal of the present arrangements or even Eir winning exclusive rights.

helimachoptor

Are they just UK rights?

channelsurfer2

helimachoptor wrote: »

Are they just UK rights?

it says UK rights only. Although normally it covers overspill rights for Ireland.

iseegirls

We're lucky to have currently 2 nights free to air on RTE and TV3, considering what's going on in the UK. Hopefully this will continue into the next Irish deal.

dublinman1990

It is a big disappointment for ITV when you think about it.

They were the first broadcasters to show The Champions League in the UK all those years ago.

The only football ITV have now is the England International Friendlies & Euros and WC.

No club football is left with ITV after this new CL deal is gone to BT. The only free club football in the UK is from the BBC & Channel 5.

mikeym

Not great news for those hoping for ITV to regain the first pick matches on a Tuesday.

Its all about money I suppose and UEFA dont seem to care for those who cant afford Sky & Bt.

The extended part of this deal starts in Autumn 2018, so ITV will have the highlights package for the rest of this season and all of next season I'm guessing.

Digifriendly

Deleted User wrote: »

The extended part of this deal starts in Autumn 2018, so ITV will have the highlights package for the rest of this season and all of next season I'm guessing.

Not much consolation for UK terrestrial only viewers in UK but there are now lots of ways of watching these matches on the internet including highlights.

munchkin_utd

looks like in Germany its going from 1 live game per week on the national broadcaster to all behind a pay wall, split between Sky (all games) and streaming service DAZN who have some of the games.
http://www.digitalfernsehen.de/Champions-League-Free-TV-Aus-beschlossen.152652.0.html

as for options online which is mentioned as being easy and widespread, from what I can see, reliability of dodgy streams online for premier league and champions league has plummeted in in the past few weeks so not something that I'd want to rely on for watching an important game.

kooga

munchkin_utd wrote: »

looks like in Germany its going from 1 live game per week on the national broadcaster to all behind a pay wall, split between Sky (all games) and streaming service DAZN who have some of the games.
http://www.digitalfernsehen.de/Champions-League-Free-TV-Aus-beschlossen.152652.0.html

as for options online which is mentioned as being easy and widespread, from what I can see, reliability of dodgy streams online for premier league and champions league has plummeted in in the past few weeks so not something that I'd want to rely on for watching an important game.

disappointing to hear as it was handy having the wed night game in HD on ZDF, although they had the Madrid derby on last night.

I suppose the Europa league will go the same route away from sport 1

munchkin_utd

kooga wrote: »

disappointing to hear as it was handy having the wed night game in HD on ZDF, although they had the Madrid derby on last night.

I suppose the Europa league will go the same route away from sport 1

dont start, I was watching TV3 online on a less than perfect stream when I could have just turned on the flippin telly.

I cant find anything current but a month ago the status was that Sport1 were interested in continuing with coverage. Then again so were ZDF which is now looking like being beyond their means.

icdg

Mobile phone company SFR have won the exclusive French rights to all UEFA club football. Potentially bad news from French sports fans now looking at three subscriptions (Canal+, BeIN Sports, and SFR) for everything.

Again it seems the BT deal is showing the way, UEFA no longer seem to fear doing exclusive deals with a single pay TV broadcaster in markets. Makes you think that if Eir were to come along with the right offer for the exclusive Irish rights they could snap them up.

FRIENDO

Another kick for fta european football, on freeview BT Showcase has switched to hd, so freeview devices without hd can no longer watch Champions and Europa league Football.

dublinman1990

FRIENDO wrote: »

Another kick for fta european football, on freeview BT Showcase has switched to hd, so freeview devices without hd can no longer watch Champions and Europa league Football.

The HD version of the channel is on 115. People affected by the changes can still watch the games for free by streaming the matches online or through Virgin Media UK if they lost access to the standard definition channel on Freeview. It's still a big drop from 90% to 75% of Freeview viewers though.

http://www.a516digital.com/2017/05/bt-showcase-changes-who-can-still.html

icdg

I'm not convinced BT Showcase will last long anyway once BT get released from their commitment to show Champions League games FTA in the next contract period.

Whats the situation with the Europa League Final next week? Only on pay tv or is it also on FTA platforms too?

The Cush

Deleted User wrote: »

Whats the situation with the Europa League Final next week? Only on pay tv or is it also on FTA platforms too?

From the TV3 thread earlier

iseegirls wrote: »

Two Cup Finals coming up on TV3 over the next two weeks. But has seen some odd shuffling of shows around.

Next Wednesday, Europa League live on TV3 at 7:30. Build up on 3e at 7pm. However they have moved Coronation Street to 3e at 7:30. Wouldn't it make more sense to have Coronation Street on Be3, as Be3 mainly show the repeats of the show, whereby it hasn't been on 3e since about 2009.

For the FA Cup on Saturday week, TV3 showing the match from 4-8pm. TV3 have shifted the News At 5:30 to 3e. Again, another strange one. Why not place on Be3 - where they already show news at 7 and 10 every weekday - whereby 3e haven't shown any news since fyi stopped 2 years ago.

An Ciarraioch

Deleted User wrote: »

Whats the situation with the Europa League Final next week? Only on pay tv or is it also on FTA platforms too?

After Man United qualified, it was always likely to be shown on the main channel. Seem to recall the 2015 final was relegated to 3e (Sevilla-Dnipro).

Happy to see this final FTA on a terrestrial broadcaster. RoI viewers seem to be doing better here with regards to broadcasting rights than viewers in the UK. Will it continue though considering that from 2018 both the CL & EL live matches and highlights go entirely behind a paywall in the UK? Would Eirsport make a bid for the whole lot here I wonder?

theoneeyedman

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Happy to see this final FTA on a terrestrial broadcaster. RoI viewers seem to be doing better here with regards to broadcasting rights than viewers in the UK. Will it continue though considering that from 2018 both the CL & EL live matches and highlights go entirely behind a paywall in the UK? Would Eirsport make a bid for the whole lot here I wonder?

Is it not behind a pay wall in UK already?

FRIENDO

theoneeyedman wrote:

Is it not behind a pay wall in UK already?

No, its on BT Showcase HD on Freeview HD devices