Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

So what is "top quality" then?

Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

Widely agreed to be EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 - none of these is normally free to air apart from the odd game on Freesports as I explained.

Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

Have you ever watched any of those games in their respective competitions?

Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

I had a feeling that was what you meant. Thanks for clarifying.

Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

Ive watched a few Scottish Championship and Cup games in my time - not an experience I wish to have anymore.

Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

I would probably agree with you re the above, but there have been a few really good cup ties in recent years, you must have been unlucky, I watch a lot of football and a lot of games in the so called " top quality" bracket can also be underwhelming.

Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

Agree.

---------- Post added at 18:25 ---------- Previous post was at 18:21 ----------

I can't say I've watched much of the Scottish Championship since my team got promoted to the Scottish Premiership. I watch more of the Cup since that obviously involves teams from multiple leagues.

Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

The Head of BT Sports is predicting a correction in the price paid for Premiership football rights. For the sake of sports fans, I hope he's right, as prices have been going in one direction for too long now.

https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2020...head-of-sport/

Speaking to The Guardian, Simon Green predicted that the prices of sports rights will not continue to rise as they have for the past 30 years.

He said: “I personally believe that Covid-19 will cause a correction in the markets for television sports rights which will mean the value will not rise as it has done in the past. I think everyone will be more discerning about what they pay given that the country is facing a potential recession which could leave viewers with less money in their pockets.”


Interestingly, the article suggests that there will be increasing interest from the streaming services.

The league’s next rights cycle – to be auctioned in 2021 – is likely to be one of significant change. Amazon will likely look to increase its share of the rights following a successful first season with more than 20 matches. DAZN may also look to pick up domestic rights as it establishes itself in the UK market, while a lower valued league may lead Premier League CEO Richard Masters to push on with a potential ‘Premflix’ D2C product.

(Awaits screams of protest from SVOD deniers...)

:D

Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

If one repeats the same ad nauseum message without any substantiation of proof which one has for many years then one has to understand that other forum members might well have a differing opinion from yours OB.;):D

Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

It's a discussion forum, Den, and I posted a news item.

It goes without saying that some will disagree (some for the sake of it) but that should not mean that those who don't go along with my point of view should try to silence the debate.

I have posted plenty of material on here to support what I am saying, and you have provided very little. You accuse me of providing no supporting information, but what supporting information for your view have you ever provided?

I agree with you that this could go either way, but I have not faltered in my belief that streaming will win in the end. Your 'evidence' is based on the status quo applying forever (which is ridiculous, frankly) and some previous attempts to rock the boat which have ended in failure. That proves nothing.

The only 'proof' that you will ever be happy with is when Amazon and/or DAZN make the inroads I have been predicting. But I can hardly do that right now, can I? The bar you are setting me is simply unreasonable. You cannot 'prove' the future.

Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

How is DAZN going to take Sky on in the UK football rights ?

Amazon may look to increase its number of games slightly but DAZN I'd be amazed at in the UK.

Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

Only by outbidding them - I read an article a few weeks ago that stated DAZN were unlikely to bid for EPL rights.

Unless the EPL restructure the packages I cannot see a streamer taking one of the main packages.

Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

Er - what is the problem? They bid for the rights and they pay more for them than Sky is willing to put up. Once in the market, Sky may or may not bid in the future - they have already confirmed they will not pay silly money to retain them.

Once out of the picture, the streaming services will fight amongst themselves. What will this do for prices charged to punters? Well, we will see, but I believe that certainly Amazon, with the advantage of its retail arm, will have tricks up its sleeve to keep prices lower than at present.

That will drive subscribers towards Amazon, forcing their competitors to offer similar lower prices. That will reduce the bids for Premiership rights. This may take a few years to play out, but I am convinced that the ultimate impact will be favourable for subscribers.

Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

If you didn't leap into your default position of making everything good news for streamers the actual crux of what he has come out with is fundamentally bad news for streamers. That entrenched economic recession that I've opined about elsewhere will leave consumers hit in the pocket making them more selective about what they purchase reducing the space in the marketplace. A lot of these "nice add on" services will find themselves not compelling enough to retain without the key content that drives pay-tv subscriptions.

I'm quite sure if Amazon got offered games on the cheap again they'd jump at it.

The fact that there is a view that the league might have to resort to selling direct to consumers indicates a low confidence level in streamers digging into those 'deep pockets', and if they did during a recession there'd be a much higher risk to such a business model.

Re: ESPN, BT, Euro, Premier and Sky Sports news
 

If the punters are happy, that's all that matters. It's all about trade-offs.

Frankly, I cannot understand why you think this is a bad thing. The Amazon footie seems to have gone pretty well. I guess that's because the football fans are not particularly interested in the jfman economic theory. Thank God for choice!