Harry - no offence taken whatsoever. I always enjoy a good debate and it's good to hear differing opinions. However, I just wanted to clarify that my post wasn't a moan simply a viewpoint about competition only being good when you have comparable products.
Your post above supports the point I was trying to get across. If I want a jar of coffee (sorry about all the coffee analogies
) then I have a choice of whether to get this from a local shop, a supermarket, etc, but wherever I choose to get it from and whatever price or brand I choose to pay, I'll end up with a jar of coffee. So therefore competition works as you have choice.
In the current sports tv market, competition hasn't led to choice or price competition as if you take away the Premier League rights, they are different products. If I want Football League, Golf or WWE the only option is Sky Sports or nothing. From the 2015/16 season, if I want Champions League the only choice I have is BT Sports or nothing. So whilst it has been good to increase the amount of football on TV, it has not really led to choice or price wars like competition should.
However, I don't feel that I am in anyway forced to take either or both sports channels. To me pay tv is a luxury that whilst ever I am fortunate enough to be able to afford it, I will have it. However, should my budget get squeezed then the sports channels would be the first to go followed by the basic tv package if necessary.
I will be very interested to see how BT Sport fair from next year as the vast majority of their subscribers will get it 'included' with either BT broadband or Virgin XL tv. I would imagine actual full fee paying subscribers will be quite a low number so if they start charging to recoup some of the massive fee they've paid for Champions League, subscribers numbers may drop and they could go the way of those before them. I know I wouldn't pay for BT Sport as a standalone if it wasn't included in my XL tv pack. I wouldn't be surprised to see them continue with the wholesale agreement with VM beyond the current contract as that way they have a guaranteed income each month as opposed to losing money by trying to go it alone as a standalone.
It'll be interesting to see how it plays out, especially when they do the next Premier League rights auction. However, ultimately due to the lack of choice/competition in this field, the only thing that is certain is that prices will continue to increase.