[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by denphone

l expect Sky to win the most packages but whatever happens its the customer who will be paying for it through their bills.

http://advanced-television.com/2015/...eague-auction/

Main points

According to media analysis firm Ampere Research, with the outcome of the Premier League rights auction unknown, there’s no doubt that Sky is facing the greatest competitive challenge in the tournament’s 23-year history. “Based on analysis of past inflation rates, a three-season deal could hit the £5 billion mark for the first time as BT goes in hard against its main rival.

If Sky and BT buy the same packages, and bear the same level of costs relative to one another as they do with the current contract, Sky would need to spend £1.24 billion a year, £3.7 billion for a total three-season contract. BT would need to spend £402m a year, £1.2 billion for the total three-season contract. Based on its calculations, Ampere believes Sky will want to spend around or slightly below £3 billion for its share, leading to a disconnect in price to value. BT will be need to be looking around the £1 billion mark, assuming the pair retain the same packages they have now.

Ampere’s analysis suggests that Sky can spend £3 billion on the Premier League three-season deal without increasing the spend per TV customer over current levels, but, based on its inflation predictions, it may well need to dig deeper. While these numbers look high, the pot of £3 billion created by future customer growth leaves it just 24 per cent short of the implied inflationary cost. Adding in inflation over the three years means the stretch cost of £3.7 billion does not look completely unrealistic, suggests Ampere.

Ampere believes that entry of a new party to the bidding process could reduce these costs by around 10 per cent for each party, based on the assumption that a new entrant would risk only one of the seven packages available. How a three-way split would work for football fans is unclear.

---------- Post added at 13:46 ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 ----------

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

A platform neutral broadcaster like beIN would be interesting, though I think if beIN wanted to enter another European sports market alongside France, Spain, Italy or Germany would be far better value than the UK. If their business model was unviable, could BT and Sky complain to the regulators about unfair state subsidy? Or would they prefer to co-operate with beIN instead?
Whilst there will always be some small overseas sports rights available, the key rights that draw subscribers have all been sewn up.

Well, it looks like BeIN is a likely contender - how much they will go for is the big question!

http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2015/...ights-package/

Four broadcasters are expected to be in the frame when bidding for the Premier League rights for 2016/19 closes Friday.

The existing rights holders Sky and BT will be joined by Eurosport owners Discovery Communications and the Qatar-based beIN Sport.