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'Netflix of sport': Foxtel boss unveils plans to disrupt its business
Jennifer Duke20 September 2018 — 11:48am
News Corp's Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany is intending to make the pay-TV platform a “Netflix of sport” as part of plans to keep up with the changing way Australians consume content.
Mr Delany said telecommunications companies' sports apps, such as Telstra's AFL Live App, would see the price for digital rights jump in the next round of sports broadcast negotiations as some viewers are substituting traditional TV options for mobile.
“On the other hand we have to monetise our rights … we will be doing that through new and exciting ways soon,” Mr Delany said. “Think about the Netflix of sport.”
The six-year $2.5 billion AFL deal was struck in 2015 between Fox Sports, Seven and Telstra. Telstra paid $300 million of the deal for handset and digital device rights, Seven paid $840 million in cash and $60 million in contra and News Corp paid $1.3 billion.
Australian Football League chief executive Gillon McLachlan said mobile phone media consumption and the different interests of Millennials were major considerations for the sporting code.
“Clearly, where Patrick is going with his Netflix of sport acknowledges that consumption has changed,” he said.
He described the partnerships with Foxtel on pay-TV, Seven West Media as the free-to-air broadcaster for the AFL, and Telstra as the digital partner offering access to games through an app as “complementary”.
“And if you take Friday night’s game last week … the average rating was about 1.7 million people, Foxtel had about 460,000 of those watching a different proposition so it was ad-free siren to siren, it had a much deeper detailed analysis of the game. Channel Seven are more for everyone than just the hardcore football [fans],” he said.
“And then for people who can’t be there, out and about, there’s a streaming service,” he said, noting Telstra’s rights are restrained to seven-inch screens.
Mr McLachlan would not share the figure for how many watched over the app but agreed it was “potentially” hundreds of thousands.
The newly merged Foxtel and Fox Sports company is 35 per cent owned by Telstra and 65 per cent owned by News Corp. Telstra’s share in Foxtel, prior to the merger, was 50 per cent.
Mr Delany said the increased audience on mobile would affect how much media companies would be willing to pay for rights.
“If it’s substituting off the broadcast rights then you could look at it as a degradation of our viewership. You can look at it for the next rights deal there’s a lot more money that has to go into getting those mobile rights because it’s not actually an ever-expanding pie, it’s usually pieces moving around,” he said.
“I do think if there’s millions of people who are activating on their mobile there must be some substitution, which means that gets sorted out in the next rights deal.”
Jennifer Duke attended Telstra Vantage as a guest of Telstra.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/com...-to-disrupt-its-business-20180920-p504w2.html
Jennifer Duke20 September 2018 — 11:48am
News Corp's Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany is intending to make the pay-TV platform a “Netflix of sport” as part of plans to keep up with the changing way Australians consume content.
Mr Delany said telecommunications companies' sports apps, such as Telstra's AFL Live App, would see the price for digital rights jump in the next round of sports broadcast negotiations as some viewers are substituting traditional TV options for mobile.
“On the other hand we have to monetise our rights … we will be doing that through new and exciting ways soon,” Mr Delany said. “Think about the Netflix of sport.”
The six-year $2.5 billion AFL deal was struck in 2015 between Fox Sports, Seven and Telstra. Telstra paid $300 million of the deal for handset and digital device rights, Seven paid $840 million in cash and $60 million in contra and News Corp paid $1.3 billion.
Australian Football League chief executive Gillon McLachlan said mobile phone media consumption and the different interests of Millennials were major considerations for the sporting code.
“Clearly, where Patrick is going with his Netflix of sport acknowledges that consumption has changed,” he said.
He described the partnerships with Foxtel on pay-TV, Seven West Media as the free-to-air broadcaster for the AFL, and Telstra as the digital partner offering access to games through an app as “complementary”.
“And if you take Friday night’s game last week … the average rating was about 1.7 million people, Foxtel had about 460,000 of those watching a different proposition so it was ad-free siren to siren, it had a much deeper detailed analysis of the game. Channel Seven are more for everyone than just the hardcore football [fans],” he said.
“And then for people who can’t be there, out and about, there’s a streaming service,” he said, noting Telstra’s rights are restrained to seven-inch screens.
Mr McLachlan would not share the figure for how many watched over the app but agreed it was “potentially” hundreds of thousands.
The newly merged Foxtel and Fox Sports company is 35 per cent owned by Telstra and 65 per cent owned by News Corp. Telstra’s share in Foxtel, prior to the merger, was 50 per cent.
Mr Delany said the increased audience on mobile would affect how much media companies would be willing to pay for rights.
“If it’s substituting off the broadcast rights then you could look at it as a degradation of our viewership. You can look at it for the next rights deal there’s a lot more money that has to go into getting those mobile rights because it’s not actually an ever-expanding pie, it’s usually pieces moving around,” he said.
“I do think if there’s millions of people who are activating on their mobile there must be some substitution, which means that gets sorted out in the next rights deal.”
Jennifer Duke attended Telstra Vantage as a guest of Telstra.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/com...-to-disrupt-its-business-20180920-p504w2.html
