General : Discovery take over Eurosport

Eurosport have this year lost a big chunk of their programming with the loss of the WTA tennis tour.

Regardless of taste, it's a big chunk out of their schedule that they have to make up with something and I can't see minority sports like cross country ski-ing or other sports like Belgium football having much impact on viewers or sponsorship.

Although I realise that being a Europe wide TV station they cater for many many needs but even they realise, I'm sure, they can't spread themselves too thin.

They were and now are even more so a big company. They should go for some EPL games IMO... any diversity of matches and channels can only help in the long run.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by Chad

Premiership football on Eurosport would be great, even if they only won 23 games . I would not be happy however if Eurosport became a subscription channel as a result.

Hopefully a scenario unlikely to happen.

---------- Post added at 12:07 ---------- Previous post was at 12:04 ----------

Originally Posted by cityfan247

me too. But to pay for the ever increasing price the EPL commands it may be a consideration.

The splitting up of the rights for premier league games was supposed to be in the interest of fans. it is having quite the opposite effect. Suppose Eurosport did bid and win some rights you could have a situation where 3 or more channels -possibly all subscription based- showed it.

Many fans would be priced out of watching all the games available if they had to pay effectively 3 different providers.

i have too say as time goes by the more disillusioned i became with the sheer greed the Premier League represents. It does not really care for the fans just the £

If prices keep going up and up as is highly likely then our family will just say enough is enough and subscribe to the streaming services which offer much better value.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Mobes

They were and now are even more so a big company. They should go for some EPL games IMO... any diversity of matches and channels can only help in the long run.

How would that work financially without subscription revenue? Eurosport's UK revenue is less than £60m per year. In 2012, BT agreed to pay £246m a year for two EPL packs and in the next auction will probably bid even more. So one pack could easily cost £150m in the next auction v revenue of £60m. OK, advertising might rise a bit and Eurosport might be able to squeeze a bit more money out of Sky and VM but nothing like £150m! So Eurosport would probabaly have a turnover of about £70m pa and would be losing about £130m pa. It's not a one-off cost eg the laying of cables, it's an ongoing one. Conclusion: Not going to happen!

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

How would that work financially without subscription revenue? Eurosport's UK revenue is less than £60m per year. In 2012, BT agreed to pay £246m a year for two EPL packs and in the next auction will probably bid even more. So one pack could easily cost £150m in the next auction v revenue of £60m. OK, advertising might rise a bit and Eurosport might be able to squeeze a bit more money out of Sky and VM but nothing like £150m! So Eurosport would probabaly have a turnover of about £70m pa and would be losing about £130m pa. It's not a one-off cost eg the laying of cables, it's an ongoing one. Conclusion: Not going to happen!

Yes, I agree. This kind of outlay is beyond Eurosport on its present model.

[alwaysabear]

Originally Posted by MutleyF

I remember watching Eurosport (and Screensport) when Astra first launched, and still now watch something on Eurosport at least weekly.

I love the sports they cover - just finished watching the Nordic 5 peaks challenge, and with the exception of the sometimes amateurish commentating, think that this is an excellent "free" channel.

Would hate to see them entering a bidding war for football rights.

Football is available pretty much widespread, diverse sports are not.

Leave alone I say !

Absolutely agree , they also cover cycling better than anyone else.

[OLD BOY]

If Eurosport did enter the Premiership bidding war and won, I would see them setting up a separate premium channel for this rather than taking their existing channels off FTA.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

If Eurosport did enter the Premiership bidding war and won, I would see them setting up a separate premium channel for this rather than taking their existing channels off FTA.

I just can't see how this can work financially. It couldn't for Setanta and ESPN who were up against one strong company, Sky, with far lower costs for EPL rights. Eurosport would be against two strong companies, BT and Sky. It works for these companies as they market a TV service and broadband. Eurosport does not.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

I just can't see how this can work financially. It couldn't for Setanta and ESPN who were up against one strong company, Sky, with far lower costs for EPL rights. Eurosport would be against two strong companies, BT and Sky. It works for these companies as they market a TV service and broadband. Eurosport does not.

As Sky are not permitted to take all the Premiership packages, does it matter that they are in the bidding with Sky? Against Eurosport, I agree with you that Sky would win, but what about the smaller package?

Who would Eurosport be up against for that apart from BT? However, BT have deep pockets, so Eurosport are unlikely to win against them either!

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

As Sky are not permitted to take all the Premiership packages, does it matter that they are in the bidding with Sky? Against Eurosport, I agree with you that Sky would win, but what about the smaller package?

Who would Eurosport be up against for that apart from BT? However, BT have deep pockets, so Eurosport are unlikely to win against them either!

I think basically we agree. Unless you have a TV platform, you can't afford EPL rights as bidders who own a TV platform will out-bid you as they can afford to cross-subsidise their bids from selling TV/broadband/telephony. Even Al Jazeera who were rumoured to have taken part in the 2012 auction did not win any and they have very deep pockets!

[Bananaman_007]

Reports circulating today suggest that LG are looking to take a 49% stake in F1, that intention is to help take the rights to Eurosport.

[Skie]

I wonder if this is the beginning of the pan-european rights bonfire the EU want.

With the ruling last year that says a rights-holder can't limit a european broadcaster to only sell to subscribers within their 'area', and their current investigation into Hollywood movie rights with a view to making the same thing happen, it may be that Eurosport end up buying the rights for the PL and broadcasting it all over Europe. They might charge, I guess it's up to how much advertisers/sponsors will pay.

It will be a huge challenge to Sky, as it will mean actual competition (because the same games will be available on more than one broadcaster) rather than the make believe competition they have now.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Skie

I wonder if this is the beginning of the pan-european rights bonfire the EU want.

I don't think it is, that's more an investigation and ultimately more about people being able to access content they've bought at home. You can do that with a book or DVD if you're on holiday in France but you can't do that with Sky Movies or iPlayer, for example.

[vincerooney]

It's only a matter of time a third provider will enter the bidding for PL rights and get some of the rights. Sky sports with reduced premier league games won't decrease their subscription prices and would hark on about PGA tour golf, WWE wrestling and 50 Premier league games. BT Sports if they had reduced coverage would just bang their drum about the rights they hold whilst the new provider would smack on a ten pound a month fee as well.

Its inevitable that another 3rd provider will enter the game shortly and prices will go up even further. It's utterly depressing how expensive football has got since they forced the rights to be split up.

Great for greedy premier league, great for other sports providers to make money, horrible decision for the customer

[harry_hitch]

Originally Posted by vincerooney

It's only a matter of time a third provider will enter the bidding for PL rights and get some of the rights. Sky sports with reduced premier league games won't decrease their subscription prices and would hark on about PGA tour golf, WWE wrestling and 50 Premier league games. BT Sports if they had reduced coverage would just bang their drum about the rights they hold whilst the new provider would smack on a ten pound a month fee as well.

Its inevitable that another 3rd provider will enter the game shortly and prices will go up even further. It's utterly depressing how expensive football has got since they forced the rights to be split up.

Great for greedy premier league, great for other sports providers to make money, horrible decision for the customer

It's not a horrible decision for the customer. Sky and BT simply can not justify not passing on savings to customers. If Sky/BT pay less than they did on the previous auction for less packages, it means they have (a) saved money from their budget and (b) paid less than was paid last time round. There should be no excuses for not reducing prices. If they choose to pump more funds into other channels, then people should cancel sports and tell Sky they do not want their sports subscriptions to subsidize content on other channels which we all pay for in our basic package prices.

Customers will only suffer if they choose to pay more for many, many, many, average to boring football games on other channels. If customers choose to be ripped off, it is up to them!!!!

The power is in the subscribers hands. I will continue to say that I have no sympathy for any possible rising sporting costs.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by vincerooney

It's only a matter of time a third provider will enter the bidding for PL rights and get some of the rights. Sky sports with reduced premier league games won't decrease their subscription prices and would hark on about PGA tour golf, WWE wrestling and 50 Premier league games. BT Sports if they had reduced coverage would just bang their drum about the rights they hold whilst the new provider would smack on a ten pound a month fee as well.

Its inevitable that another 3rd provider will enter the game shortly and prices will go up even further. It's utterly depressing how expensive football has got since they forced the rights to be split up.

Great for greedy premier league, great for other sports providers to make money, horrible decision for the customer

Why is it inevitable? I've seen no evidence to suggest this will happen. With the fierce competition between BT and Sky, the rights were found not to be worthwhile for the likes of beIN Sport and ESPN, two of the best funded sports broadcasters in the world.

---------- Post added at 12:40 ---------- Previous post was at 12:37 ----------

Originally Posted by harry_hitch

It's not a horrible decision for the customer. Sky and BT simply can not justify not passing on savings to customers. If Sky/BT pay less than they did on the previous auction for less packages, it means they have (a) saved money from their budget and (b) paid less than was paid last time round. There should be no excuses for not reducing prices. If they choose to pump more funds into other channels, then people should cancel sports and tell Sky they do not want their sports subscriptions to subsidize content on other channels which we all pay for in our basic package prices.

Customers will only suffer if they choose to pay more for many, many, many, average to boring football games on other channels. If customers choose to be ripped off, it is up to them!!!!

The power is in the subscribers hands. I will continue to say that I have no sympathy for any possible rising sporting costs.

Sky charges what it does for Sky Sports to maximise its profits. It does not increase or decrease its prices as its rights costs decrease or rise. If it could charge more for Sky Sports, it would. If it lost a substantial amount of rights eg the EPL it might have to reduce its price but otherwise not. And this scenario is unlikely.