Well I guess that means phone bills will be going up. A surprise move - and an incredibly risky move by both BT and the Premier League and it would serve the PL right if their greed yet again leads to a repeat of Setanta/ITV Digital. Sky are now paying 40% more for lower quality matches.
It does make BT Vision now a serious player in the market and I wonder whether they will even consider Sky carrying their channel in the short term.
ESPN have a decent raft of rugby and overseas football. I suspect that they'll reduce the subscription and go for other replacement rights too. Sad to see them lose out though. Realistically they have only 75 hours to fill a year, which enhanced Bundesliga will fill some of that.
So, that'll be ESPN screwed ...
and
it's subscribers, meaning football fans that want to follow the entire Premier League
have to subscribe to yet another different sports channel, and maybe also add yet another new box under the telly,
assuming BT decide to keep the matches they won the rights to, exclusive to their own BTVision service.
They won't be, their channel will be on other platforms, although it sounds like it'll be interactive on BT but not elsewhere
ESPN have a decent raft of rugby and overseas football. I suspect that they'll reduce the subscription and go for other replacement rights too. Sad to see them lose out though. Realistically they have only 75 hours to fill a year, which enhanced Bundesliga will fill some of that.
Well yes, they managed to move from 2 to 1 PL packages, they probably have enough to keep going with what they have.... with a few million saved to bid for something else
So, that'll be ESPN screwed ...
and
it's subscribers, meaning football fans that want to follow the entire Premier League
have to subscribe to yet another different sports channel, and maybe also add yet another new box under the telly, assuming BT decide to keep the matches they won the rights to, exclusive to their own BTVision service.
The fans currently subscribing to ESPN for Premier League will simply stop, they loose out on nothing apart from Ray Stubbs, as suing he doesn't sign for BT. The incidations from BT are also it will be available on other platforms.
Well I guess that means phone bills will be going up.
It's not the phone part that's doing it, unless it goes very very badly it shouldn't affect prices for the other divisions.
They'll have done a business plan and bid what they can make back in the years of the contract
Quote:
It does make BT Vision now a serious player in the market and I wonder whether they will even consider Sky carrying their channel in the short term.
After the fuss over Sky not letting them have Sky Sports I'd have thought so. They've said they will offer it to other platforms and as all football fans and pubs have a Sky dish then it's almost certain that Sky will have it
"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."
Looking at ESPN and the Premiership Rugby rights come to an end next year. I'd have thought they'll be auctioned off this summer as Setanta won the previous lot but went into administration a year before the deal would have started. FA Cup is to 2014 - not sure about other rights but no Premier League makes it pretty difficult to attract subscribers and there isn't really anything else at the moment they can bit for which could replace it, although the UEFA qualifying rights come in for the 2014/15 season, as will a new FA Cup deal.
It's also worth noting that although this deal is definitely not great news for Sky in terms of picks that it's Premier League schedule will actually remain relatively familar, with only the Saturday lunchtime games moving to evenings (and presumably football league games switching the other way).
How long until BT Vision's encryption is cracked under mysterious circumstances by a subsidiary of News Corp?
When I first heard BT were involved I rolled my eyes as everything they create is generally pretty dire - but if BT put this on YouView and the platform gets a boost I'm all for it.
Sky's shares hit very hard this morning, understandably so as they are paying considerably more for a worse contract than what they have now. With 18 first choice matches, their own platform and an established UK brand-name, BT will be a far superior challenger than Setanta or ESPN.
Speaking of YouView, if Sky put Now TV on YouView as has been suggested then it will offer a good deal of Premier League football. Sky's press release yesterday said that the new rights would be made available on Now TV - although obviously pricing and the nature of Now TV's offering (Pay as you go/subscription) has yet to be revealed.
So, that'll be ESPN screwed ...
and
it's subscribers, meaning football fans that want to follow the entire Premier League
have to subscribe to yet another different sports channel, and maybe also add yet another new box under the telly,
assuming BT decide to keep the matches they won the rights to, exclusive to their own BTVision service.
I'm glad I don't follow football, especially the entirely greed driven and utterly over-rated Premier League.
They might 'ehamce' it for their own customers, but they can't afford to keep it off the biggest pay TV platform.