General : ESPN may lose EPL Football(Update)

[Gavin-D]

ESPN Statement

We made a strong bid that reflected the value of the rights to our business, and we thank the Premier League for the chance to participate," said an ESPN spokesman.

"We're looking forward to continuing our Premier League coverage next season, and continuing to serve fans with great live sports events and programming including the FA Cup, Europa League, Scottish Premier League, Serie A, Premiership Rugby, Top 14, golf, darts, UFC, NBA and much more."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18430036

[alwaysabear]

Originally Posted by denphone

Thats not going to happen in a million years.

Money talks Den.

[colin25]

Originally Posted by Gavin-D

ESPN Statement

We made a strong bid that reflected the value of the rights to our business, and we thank the Premier League for the chance to participate," said an ESPN spokesman.

"We're looking forward to continuing our Premier League coverage next season, and continuing to serve fans with great live sports events and programming including the FA Cup, Europa League, Scottish Premier League, Serie A, Premiership Rugby, Top 14, golf, darts, UFC, NBA and much more."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18430036

There you go...they are already threatening subscribers..Scottish Premier League

[Telly_]

Originally Posted by MaverickJesus

BT don't have the TV customer base or the financial clout to make this economically viable if they keep it to themselves, they will whore out this deal to all and sundry and use it to slowly build momentum in the premium TV market.

It will be a premium add-on channel, at similar rates to ESPN.

Wrong, BT made £2.4 BILLION profit the last financial year, that's double Sky's profit and 20 times Virignmedias.

Everyone seem's to think BT are small player who need to include there football on other platforms, they really don't. They have upto 80Mb fibre and now their own EPL football. They are a major player who probably need Sky but do not need Virginmedia.

[HDFootyMan]

Originally Posted by Superblade7

I'm sure they'd like to draw more customers but you have to remember that both Sky and VM have well established platforms with lots of additional features like TiVo, HD channels access to all Sky Sports & Movies channels and so on.

BT Vision is a glorified freeview box with far less content than either Sky or Virgin

Yeah, now, but that's going to change, and sooner than people think. They've been working on multi-casting linear TV content over their network for over a year now (cheaper than broacasting SS1 & SS2 over DTT) and as you say, in the future they'll be looking to take on both Sky and VM. They certainly have the funds to do that, as today's auction results has proved.

They already have plans to offer FX as a linear channel, along with some of the UK TV channels:
http://www.c21media.net/archives/80116

[Telly_]

Originally Posted by Superblade7

I'm sure they'd like to draw more customers but you have to remember that both Sky and VM have well established platforms with lots of additional features like TiVo, HD channels access to all Sky Sports & Movies channels and so on.

BT Vision is a glorified freeview box with far less content than either Sky or Virgin and I can't really see the offer of 38 Premier League games making many subscribers switch from Sky or VM but they may encourage new subscribers to join.

Maybe in the future when more homes get BT Infinity and more people adopt Internet TV then maybe they will have a bigger draw but whilst the vast majority continue to use linear channels then Sky will always be king with VM second and BT a fair way behind.

Depending how BT market their new football channel I see VM becoming a sorry 3rd by the time this rights deal is over in 2016. You have to feel for VM they're getting it from all angles. BT Infinity equal or better, Sky TV better, I do wonder where Virgins future is going.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by HDFootyMan

BT won't care what's popular for VM. They'll care about getting the most money from other platforms for the games they brought. Now, if that's as part of XL, great. If not....

As you suggested, its all speculation at this point. And without speculation life would be boring, no?

BT will want VM on board. As MaverickJesus so eloquently and charmingly put it, BT will be 'whoring' the channel out to all and sundry to get a foothold. I think they will be a good partner for VM.

[Telly_]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

BT will want VM on board. As MaverickJesus so eloquently and charmingly put it, BT will be 'whoring' the channel out to all and sundry to get a foothold. I think they will be a good partner for VM.

What with VM dragging BT to offcom trying to force the price down for access to the poles and ducts, An BT trying to get offcom to give BT access to VM's network?

There won't be any favours here this is a million miles away from the ESPN-VM thing. Virginmedia need a big money backer, but with £6billion of debts I don't see it happening. Of course BT will need to be on the Sky EPG to keep advertisers happy after it is in 10 million homes.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by Telly Bear

Depending how BT market their new football channel I see VM becoming a sorry 3rd by the time this rights deal is over in 2016. You have to feel for VM they're getting it from all angles. BT Infinity equal or better, Sky TV better, I do wonder where Virgins future is going.

You say that as a Sky subscriber, Telly Bear, and clearly you have your reasons for wanting such a scenario to play out.

I don't see things that way at all. Virgin Media is in the middle of educating its customers to see TV in a different way, not relying so heavily on linear channels. There will be more VOD and video streaming in the future. Our content will probably be far superior to Sky's, who will continue to promote the sheer number of linear channels it has to disguise the poor quality of its content.

BT will be bouyed up by their success at getting football rights. Don't be surprised if you find that they get more into content in the future and start giving Sky a run for its money, although it seems to be heavily reliant on VOD at the moment, which I do not see as a bad thing. I look forward to seeing new BT options on my VOD selections in the future. This will be better value programming than Sky will ever provide.

[colin25]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

You say that as a Sky subscriber, Telly Bear, and clearly you have your reasons for wanting such a scenario to play out.

I don't see things that way at all. Virgin Media is in the middle of educating its customers to see TV in a different way, not relying so heavily on linear channels. There will be more VOD and video streaming in the future. Our content will probably be far superior to Sky's, who will continue to promote the sheer number of linear channels it has to disguise the poor quality of its content.

BT will be bouyed up by their success at getting football rights. Don't be surprised if you find that they get more into content in the future and start giving Sky a run for its money, although it seems to be heavily reliant on VOD at the moment, which I do not see as a bad thing. I look forward to seeing new BT options on my VOD selections in the future. This will be better value programming than Sky will ever provide.

Do i detect a slight Virgin bias old boy?

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by Telly Bear

What with VM dragging BT to offcom trying to force the price down for access to the poles and ducts, An BT trying to get offcom to give BT access to VM's network?

There won't be any favours here this is a million miles away from the ESPN-VM thing. Virginmedia need a big money backer, but with £6billion of debts I don't see it happening. Of course BT will need to be on the Sky EPG to keep advertisers happy after it is in 10 million homes.

If either Sky or Virgin Media don't play ball with BT, they will be in serious financial trouble. VM will not be a pushover on price, and BT probably know it. We will get the channel, as BT have clearly stated.

[Telly_]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

You say that as a Sky subscriber, Telly Bear, and clearly you have your reasons for wanting such a scenario to play out.

I don't see things that way at all. Virgin Media is in the middle of educating its customers to see TV in a different way, not relying so heavily on linear channels. There will be more VOD and video streaming in the future. Our content will probably be far superior to Sky's, who will continue to promote the sheer number of linear channels it has to disguise the poor quality of its content.

BT will be bouyed up by their success at getting football rights. Don't be surprised if you find that they get more into content in the future and start giving Sky a run for its money, although it seems to be heavily reliant on VOD at the moment, which I do not see as a bad thing. I look forward to seeing new BT options on my VOD selections in the future. This will be better value programming than Sky will ever provide.

You say that as a Virginmedia subscriber I do have Sky and in 2 weeks(ish) I will have my Sky fibre 80mb down/20Mb up broadband and I enjoy VOD via Anytime+ but I willalso look forward to BT VOD content on Sky.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by colin25

Do i detect a slight Virgin bias old boy?

Well there is certainly a lot of Sky bias lately on here and the master has a lot to answer for with his dark arts and educating of his fanboy minions.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by colin25

Do i detect a slight Virgin bias old boy?

Ha, ha! Well, I'm with Virgin Media for a reason, so yes, this is my platform of choice.

I am not blind to the downsides though, and I do think that they need to make more effort to bring us the small number of additional channels that they know we want, together with more HD channels, and I also think they should get a move on with more VOD content and the video streaming that I have been talking about on and off for the last year or so.

But in my view, VM has a better future than Sky because cable is more compatible with VOD and streaming than satellite. Sky have done very well to get where they are and I don't hold back from recognising that, but I think the future is cable.

---------- Post added at 20:34 ---------- Previous post was at 20:33 ----------

Originally Posted by Telly Bear

You say that as a Virginmedia subscriber I do have Sky and in 2 weeks(ish) I will have my Sky fibre 80mb down/20Mb up broadband and I enjoy VOD via Anytime+ but I willalso look forward to BT VOD content on Sky.

I do not deny you your pleasures, Telly Bear! Enjoy!

[Telly_]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Ha, ha! Well, I'm with Virgin Media for a reason, so yes, this is my platform of choice.

I am not blind to the downsides though, and I do think that they need to make more effort to bring us the small number of additional channels that they know we want, together with more HD channels, and I also think they should get a move on with more VOD content and the video streaming that I have been talking about on and off for the last year or so.

But in my view, VM has a better future than Sky because cable is more compatible with VOD and streaming than satellite. Sky have done very well to get where they are and I don't hold back from recognising that, but I think the future is cable.

I think my Sky 80Mbdown 20Mb up fibre connection will handle VOD fine as my current 16Mb Sky connection handles HD movies streamed from Sky anytime just fine.