Disney-backed ESPN line up against Rupert Murdoch
 

Got this link from DS it is an interesting read http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...rts?CMP=twt_fd

Re: Disney-backed ESPN line up against Rupert Murdoch
 

Competition is what help makes companies better in the long-run.
Without competition, less effort will be made in terms of giving what's better to the customer.

Good for EPSN! :)

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I can see the Premiership loosing out here if they are not careful, as it says in the article Sky and ESPN have good relations and they may well agree to bid for different packages to keep costs down.

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Heard they were setting up a Sports News channel as well. It has always seemed a more 'friendly' channel in comparison to Sky, minus the Cricket coverage, with a presentation more like the BBC.

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I do like the presentation on ESPN better. There are also rumours ESPN2 will launch later this year, there certainly signing rights agreements on a regular basis.

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Would be good to give Sky some healthy competition, ESPN certainly have the dosh!

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I was extremely impressed with the ESPN presentation and love the pitchside interviews with the old desk. After Man Citys' match the other week when Roberto Mancini wandered over and sat down for a chat was amazing. Far, far better than a quick 2 minutes in the tunnel.

Re: Disney-backed ESPN line up against Rupert Murdoch
 

Interesting what the court case today will have on the bidding and long term now

Re: Disney-backed ESPN line up against Rupert Murdoch
 

indeed. There is a thread here about the court case.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/64...l#post35165595

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Competition is always good and when the EC ruled that no one broadcaster could hold all 6 EPL packages it opened up the market.

Sadly for the consumer though it also resulted in many subscribers requiring two subscriptions or a high tier of service to watch all televised EPL. Of course Setanta subsequently went bust too. We will see in time if ESPN ever get more packages than they have now as one way or another it will have to be paid for. Imagine if they both got 3 packages each, that would be interesting price wise.

I am not so sure whether we have benefitted from the rule really.

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The EU 6 packages has been a disaster for the die-hard football fan.

Where you used to have to pay 1 broadcaster to get all of the games, now you have to pay 2, increasing the cost for the consumer.

The only way to provide genuine competition and reduce prices for the consumer is to allow more than 1 broadcaster to have rights to the same game. Then the consumer can make a choice on the broadcaster they choose to pay for.

But of course, that doesn't align with Sky & Premier League's bank balances.

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I pretty much agree with you. But let's be clear, Setanta, ESPN or whoever probably wouldn't have bought into that sort of arrangement either, not just Sky.

However something similar has actually happened here, to a point. Sky and ITV Digital held rights to the same PPV EPL games at one time but there were odd circumstances how that came about as NTL originally held those rights then pulled out.

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With the court case as mentioned above don't be surpised if ESPN and Sky come to some sort of agreement to show most games now. I am hearing some things that there will be no longer any 3pm kick offs on a Saturday and a flood of matches over the weekends starting on Friday night and Sunday being nothing but football starting at 12pm. This is to combat the EU "ruling" allowing pubs to show other broadcasters in the UK.

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Done a couple of focus groups for ESPN and signed to an online focus group that they have. A lot of talk was about 2nd channel etc. They did a online survey asking peoples views on a ESPN 2, Red button, VOD, whether an ESPN 2 should be a weekend only channel or in HD, sports rights they would like on the channel, a Saturday afternoon results show, presenters on the channel etc but ESPNews was never mentioned.

As for costs of Premier League rights to consumers... the biggest issue here that people should have is with Sky. When Setanta launched Sky delibrately pushed prices to freeze them out of market. I find Sky's coverage biased towards certain teams/managers and range of sports (outside of Football and Boxing) that I like isnt covered on the channel. ESPN show more of the sports that I like from wider range of world Football to UFC; NBA and some Boxing coverage.

Most major markets around the world have several pay sports channels in there market and Sky by over inflating the prices they bid for rights in general not just sports effectively stifle competiton and are driving prices up to consumer not the EU. To be honest coz of there stranglehold on Premier League rights and now Champions League rights they have control on the marketplace. If people are happy with paying for monopoly of Sky for the foreseeable future if this ruling is taken out then so be it but to be honest the rules shouldnt allow for more than 4 not 5 packages and should be forced to sell one of top packages as well to another network. Who benefits from the money from this? Greedy footballers, agents and Sky (not ESPN at this moment) so think about it.

Anyone competiting in buying rights has to bid against Sky who will over pay. At least in football world UEFA financial fair play rules are coming in but these doesnt equate in broadcasting world really with EU and Ofcom who still havent gone far enough with Sky.

As VM customers we have had to pay £6 per month for less rights they did 3 years ago and without red button access.

Lets not even start on there PPV for big boxing fights policy!

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ESPN are part of a multi national corporation owned by Disney/Hurst Corp which is valued at $75 Billion dollars twice the size of News Corp and Sky. IMO Sky will not try to dominate the Premier League rights bidding in the same way they have before, they simply cannot go toe to toe with ESPN and win, they have to much to lose. I am sure an accommodation will be made between the two and the cost of the rights will actually fall not that we will see any benefit.

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To be honest if ESPN could get 3 packages I may well jack my Sky sports sub in especially if ESPN UK capture more NFL.

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That is what I imagine will happen a nice 50/50 split. I would also cancel my Sky sports sub if ESPN UK got 3 packages and the NFL.:D
ESPN US are very close to agreeing a renewal of multi year contract with the NFL for MNF the figure mentioned was $2 billion a season.http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shu...urn=nfl-304314

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Just imagine ESPNA HD and ESPN HD with 3 packages , it would be a big bye bye to Sky sports from me.

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But if you support a team (as I'd guess most who subscribe to the pay-sports channels for football do) and want to watch their games, there is no guarantee which broadcaster would pick up your team's games - which kind of flaws the whole package system.

You would need to cover all the packages the way they currently stand to ensure you get all your teams games. So if a 3rd broadcaster picked up packages, you could find yourself needing to pay even more to ensure you see all your teams games.

I think the whole package system needs to be scrapped, and a better solution found.

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I can understand what you saying ,but unless you support one of the big 5 its a bit of a lottery any way.

---------- Post added at 16:46 ---------- Previous post was at 16:44 ----------

Lets not get to carried away now, but that would be great.

Re: Disney-backed ESPN line up against Rupert Murdoch
 

sadly it doesn't mention Sunday night NFL though I think they don't have the rights in the states do they?

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NBC hold the rights in America. I do hope channel 4 continue showing it here if the CBA is sorted in the next few months.

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But you don't think ESPN would be included in XL or bundled with BT if they did get three packages do you? No chance, that's why I mentioned it.

Let's also be clear here, no laws have suddenly changed as of yesterdays announcement, it was only a recommendation albeit a very important one and the precedent is that it may well indeed be enforced.

Also this case was fought from a public broadcasting point of view to circumvent Sky's/ESPN's ridiculously high charges for pubs, not for a domestic set up like we have. Have you seen the price of these European subscriptions? They may well be cheaper than a Sky/ESPN pub subscription but they are far from cheap compared to a domestic subscription although they may be far cheaper if you can directy susbscribe rather than through a third party but consider this, what if operators subsequenty have to pay for EU wide rights to content rather than the domestic arrangements they have now?, those prices will hugely increase. And there are plans afoot to use targetted spotbeams on satellites in the future like the BBC do now with Astra 2D that will require a huge dish for reliable reception, in some cases these require planning permission too.

I think we may be jumping the gun a bit here. I have a feeling as ever we won't see any huge benefit ourselves.

It's only one shop but have a look at some of the prices, Sky Italia is nearly 1100 euros a year with this one. Maybe that's cheap for a pub compared to Sky/ESPN but not for us.

http://www.3pmfooty.com/index.html

Re: Disney-backed ESPN line up against Rupert Murdoch
 

But they can be had for a lot less than that, and you get virtually every premier league & champions league game included live for that price (all with English commentary). Not the 100-odd Sky/ESPN pick.

I'd quite happily pay for one of those cards/dishes rather than pay for Sky Sports with Sky, as I don't watch anything but football and you don't have to buy all the entertainment channels just to get access to the Sports like you do with Sky.

A full year of Sky Sports (with Sky) costs minimum £477 + installation. For someone who just wants the football, not Sky1, not any of the other guff they make you buy just to get the sports channels, and not any of the other sport they show on their sports channels, it's a pretty big rip off compared to the shady alternatives.

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It is usually the earlier games that I watch which are usually on Fox (Murdoch). I do have a slingbox connection in my brothers house in US so could easily go with a ESPN only option. I'd lose alot of Rugby though ;)

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ESPN has a very long way unfortunately to compete against SKY Sports, no UK based sport today only Italian league football on:(

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Its all about the next EPL rights bidding, that will tell us if ESPN are trying to compete with Sky or they are going to cosy up to each other and split the rights.

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Reading the Guardian media article in its entirety suggests ESPN will not go directly head to head with sky in the uk for premiership rights or any other a key piece from the guardian media article is this.



Wolff says ESPN is happy for Sky to be the senior partner in the UK. "There will be markets where we bid against each other; there are other territories where we will not. You could have a very good second position in a market if that's the best business model you can build at that time." He adds: "We have a complex, multifaceted relationship with Sky [but] complex relationships aren't new to us. We just have to manage that."

and this.

Senior executives at ESPN emphasise that relations with News Corp and Sky are cordial, pointing out that Sky market ESPN to their subscribers in the UK and that the US network piggy-backs on the Sky platform. ESPN's biggest audience was 917,000, when Manchester United played Tottenham in October last year, but they will not reveal how many customers they have. Syfret estimates the number at 1.2 million, about the same as Setanta. Sky have more than 10 million customers, though not all of them subscribe to their sports channels.




The words senior executives at ESPN emphasise they have cordial relationships with sky as well as the paragraphs i have highlighted above leads me to conclude here at least ESPN will not be trying to outbid sky for anything,but would be prepared to say have a couple of packages of premiership football to keep regulators happy. The current court case though with the pub landlady taking the premiership to the European court for "restrictive practices" ie not being allowed to buy football coverage from anywhere else in europe could change all that in the future .

---------- Post added at 14:45 ---------- Previous post was at 14:29 ----------

It works both ways you know i only watch the cricket on sky sports but have to pay for hours and hours of football to get it.!;)

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Recent court rulings do suggest skys domination of the UK market is coming to an end.

It does make a farce of the common market if you are forced to pay for sky, rather than any of their european competitors.

The best thing that can happen is that the price of the premiership deals drops all round, the clubs get less money, the over inflated egos who run about get less money, and the punters pay less.

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Looks like this could be a sign of things to come?

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcas...ue-rights.html

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All i see in the link is rugby super leagues richard lewis talking up the rights just before renewal to force the bidding up all rights holders do it,i would be very surprised no make that astounded if ESPN bid against sky in any meaningful way they are too closely bound to have a big fallout, as ESPN themselves have said in some areas we will not be bidding against sky and are happy to be second placed, sky also do ESPNS marketing in the uk and possibly europe and as ESPN also say they piggy back off sky in the USA.


It does not take much working out although they have deep pockets i cannot see them going head to head with sky no matter how much people may wish.:(

Re: Disney-backed ESPN line up against Rupert Murdoch
 

More likely to carve sports rights up between them.

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my view entirely.:erm:

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If they do that VM I think will get the better deal with ESPN been free in the XL package:erm:

Re: Disney-backed ESPN line up against Rupert Murdoch
 

To those who have been complained about HD picture on ESPN HD things maybe improving, check out this article... http://www.broadcastingcable.com/art...r_For_ESPN.php

Arqiva Builds U.K. Playout Center For ESPN
Facility is being used for Barclays Premier League Soccer and playout of 11 channels
By George Winslow -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/17/2011 11:13:51 AM
Arqiva has built a new HD playout center for ESPN in the U.K. that is being used for the playout and distribution of Barclays Premier League soccer and for the playout and distribution of 11 ESPN channels to countries throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The dedicated HD playout center is located at Arqiva's Chalfont Grove Teleport in the U.K.

"ESPN chose Arqiva to build, staff and manage a state-of-the-art dedicated HD playout center which would handle its premium sports content for Europe, Africa and the Middle East," said Barrie Woolston, commercial sales director at Arqiva Broadcast & Media in a statement. "Their decision leveraged our expertise and infrastructure for global playout and distribution of live content in high definition."

Woolston added that "Arqiva ingests and provides live playout of a wide array of sports action for ESPN, including major football, rugby, basketball, motorsports and American football events from locations around the U.K., Europe and the USA."

ESPN worked with Arqiva to design and direct construction of the HD playout center with Dolby Surround Sound technology. It features four live playout suites, a multi-channel playout pod, production areas, a supervisory control area and an edit suite.

Arqiva's infrastructure and teleports provide international satellite and fiber connectivity and there is a dedicated fiber IP circuit to ESPN's headquarters in the USA for rapid sharing of content between ESPN's staff at various locations.

"The Playout Centre is manned by Arqiva technicians trained to work specifically and exclusively with ESPN's content and they work very closely with ESPN production and engineering personnel in both the U.K. and U.S.," Woolston added. "By working together in such close cooperation we can efficiently and effectively manage and control live HD feeds into ESPN programming at any time."

Re: Disney-backed ESPN line up against Rupert Murdoch
 

I suspect if ESPN pay more to get more sport then it won't be free for much longer. If a bidding war breaks out all that will happen is they will both end up paying a lot more. Niether of them want.

Re: Disney-backed ESPN line up against Rupert Murdoch
 

It all depends on how long the contract is for:erm:

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I agree. And this seems to point to ESPN and Sky forming a close relationship rather than going head to head.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcas...r-x-games.html

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Why would DISNEY Want to "line up against" the UK's biggest digital tv provider? Its not a fight Disney need or want hence cinemagic HD is only available on Sky.

If ESPN/Disney go VM exclusive they have an instant 3million tv households who "may" take there service.

If ESPN/Disney go SKY exclisive they have an instant 10 million households who "may" take there sevice.

If they go on both they have a instant 14 million potential customers.

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They are much bigger than News Corp and why not have a larger slice of the cake and sell it not just to SKY, but VM, BT, Freeview haven't they got the most viewers

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Hey I think all channels should be available on all platforms. Then price and quality of service will be what makes us choose one over the other.

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Well it makes sense to most people.

However, if you are a power crazy megalomaniac who has already helped to break the UK press unions,owns more media outlets than average and seem intent on world domination of all media outlets plus you have the power to make or break the UK government plus influence them between elections, then you might not see it in that reasonable light. ;)

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VM have close on 3.9 million tv subs now.