Just been on Sky News..... 7 Packages were up for sale..... Sky Sports won 4 packages, although £200m a season less paid than current deal BT Sports won 1 package. 2 Packages were unsold, however negotiations still ongoing. Rumoured to be Amazon and Netflix.
The PL shot themselves in the foot here. The remaining packages are the midweek games and they’ve structured them differently this time hoping it’d made Sky and BT bid more for them when in fact it’s had the opposite effect. As a result, nobody bid what the PL felt they were worth and negotiations continue with Sky, BT and Amazon. BT bid for two packages but essentially couldn’t afford both under their current strategy so had to settle for one. BT are now paying as much per game as Sky are (last time Sky were paying double). The money Sky saved has already been plunged into cricket (plus their WWE contract is nearly up). There were rumours for a long time that one of the packages would become Free to Air TV only. I think this will be the next step the PL take to force BT and Sky to bid more next time by essentially forcing one of the packages from them meaning they’ll bid more for what’s left. Sky can now show games at Fri 7:45, Sat 5:30, Sat 7:45, Sun 2:00, Sun 4:30 and Mon 8:00. BT have the Sat 12:45 slot. Sky have all the first picks for every weekend meaning they’ll still have best games.
Sat 7:45 We don't need football every possible hour of the day. With a Champions and Europa League week, there'll be matches every day and basically all of Saturday.
But it's not football as I know it ...... twas a real game 60's through to mid 80's then went off .... carpet slipper boots .... shin pads thinner than a Tena Ladies whatsit ... and don't get me started on rule changes or diving
I was listenting to TS on my drive back. They were talking about Amazon. They haven't really entered the fray yet (dabbling) , but are by far the biggest potential player in the Premier League and when they do it will be to buy the global rights. As such, they were saying that the bubble is still blowing up and is nowhere near bursting.
And then Disney are likely to take over Sky too. I suspect my interest in football will have long gone by the time the bubble bursts. Will still be supporting City and Allams will have long gone too. Problem is I'm just wishing my life away
The overseas rights will increase so there won' t be any drop. I think 3pm Saturday prem games will become very thin on The ground indeed.
I think they did bid for these smaller midweek packages. I think they expected to win them too. The PL have said nobody met their valuation though so they haven’t been awarded. Amazon may leave it too late to wait until the next round because Sky will be owned by Disney then and have that financial firepower behind them.
This is the danger with more and more games being added to packages. The PL clubs left it to Richard Scudamore to decide how many live games will be allowed this time (max 210). That’s a worry when each tender he will just keep upping the amount.
There must be falling numbers of viewers in the UK !! I know I never sit and watch more than a few minutes of a game. Id rather watch a documentary or a drama.
Ratings remain as stable for Sky while BTs were growing (though I suspect with their price rise and lesser in quality games, that may plateau). Sky will be testing our Saturday evening games in this tender. They had a game there earlier this season and it rated well (even against Strictly which dominates Saturday evenings towards Christmas).
Absolutely agree. I hate this new commodity they call football. I had Sky Sports package for years, was paying £60 odd pm and realised I was probably half watching a couple of games a month. Feel cleansed now
