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Roy Masters | September 8, 2007
Sport, Rupert Murdoch once boasted, would be his battering ram to knock down the door to television's free-to-air castle, driving subscribers to pay TV. News Ltd's BSkyB delivered with English Premier League matches, while rugby league has driven subscriptions on Fox Sports - returning the pay TV network increasing profits.
Despite NRL being shunted to the less accessible Fox Sports 3 channel to push AFL subscriptions, league still generated growth this year. AFL viewers on Fox Sports jumped from an average of 102,000 a match last year to 164,000, while the NRL increased from 220,000 to 245,000.
How soon before the code, often taken for granted by its part-owner, News Ltd, becomes the next battering ram for pay per view where fans subscribe to Fox Sports but pay additional for selected matches, or extra to download to Foxsports.com.au matches they missed? :shock:
The Warriors-Eels match in Auckland last night was seen on pay TV and mobile phone, with Vodafone advertising a $3 charge for subscribers to watch the entire semi-final match.
Insiders insist high-level talks are taking place for Telstra/News Ltd to buy the now segmented PBL Media, bundling free-to-air, pay TV, broadband and mobile rights into one, effectively turning $500million of rights into a $1billion entity. The NRL, Nine and Foxtel all insist this is impossible, with the rights owned separately and the NRL empowered to determine broadcast times
lol: ).
James Packer has sold out of Nine but retained half ownership of Fox Sports with News Ltd, which has recently sold a 50 percent share in the website Foxsports.com.au for $50million, an extremely high figure unless you examine the possible future pay-per-view and download revenues. Pay TV has already made moves to take control of the production of all NRL games. Fox Sports chief David Malone conceded that, saying: "There hasn't been a proposal made but there have been discussions regarding the potential for Fox Sports to do all matches."
Pay per view is a possibility if three games are scheduled for 7.30pm on Saturday and three for 3pm on Sunday. Suppose the programmed Saturday game is Warriors versus Raiders but Sydney wants to see the Rabbitohs and Roosters, and Brisbane is keen on Broncos versus Cowboys. Could we watch our preferred game simply for an additional $5?
Malone pointed out we can already do that for nothing, with a viewer's choice option operating on the two 7.30pm Saturday games. Told that pay TV has a history of offering services free and then charging, Malone said: "There is no plan to do that with NRL."
Its chief executive David Gallop also dismissed the possibility, pointing out the league determined match schedulinglol: ). "There are 11 timeslots specified and matches must be played in eight of 11," he said. "Therefore, except for the two Saturday night games, it's not possible to have an overlap of matches." But the NRL is half-owned by News Ltd which owns half of Fox Sports, and the next rights deal will be negotiated in the next two years.
The broadcast and sport bosses are more ambivalent over video streaming. We live in an instant society: fast food, six-minute abdominal muscles and our favourite sport on demand.
Suppose you receive a text message at 10pm on Friday: "U must c Dragons v Eels". The game has finished on Nine and Fox Sports can't show it until the double-header is over.
Telstra broadband can't show the match until the 24-hour embargo expires. But what if Nine/Fox Sports do a deal with Telstra where the games are downloaded onto their websites, or into a Foxtel Main Event channel for a $5 charge and the fee is shared? Maybe Foxsports.com.au, or ninemsn.com.au will become the itunes of sports downloads.
Gallop knows from the treatment of NRL on Fox Sports 3 that the network is capable of program switches to maximise revenue, but is equally determined to optimise the code's incomelol: ). "If you drive more traffic to the website, you increase the value of your web rights but you dilute the value of your broadcast rights. It's a matter of maintaining value in total and that is a balancing act."
Of the possibility of downloading games, Malone said: "The nature of our business is meeting customers' needs. "We know from Fox Sports replay service ratings there is a demand for catch-up TV. There's consumer demand for that style of delivery. Live is live." But he rejects NRL video on demand. "We haven't explored that," he said. "Telstra holds those rights."
Malone said the Premier League was already available on demand on Foxsports.com.au for $7.95 per week. Maybe English football will be a trojan horse, rather than a battering ram, for NRL pay per view or games on demand.
Roy Masters | September 8, 2007
Sport, Rupert Murdoch once boasted, would be his battering ram to knock down the door to television's free-to-air castle, driving subscribers to pay TV. News Ltd's BSkyB delivered with English Premier League matches, while rugby league has driven subscriptions on Fox Sports - returning the pay TV network increasing profits.
Despite NRL being shunted to the less accessible Fox Sports 3 channel to push AFL subscriptions, league still generated growth this year. AFL viewers on Fox Sports jumped from an average of 102,000 a match last year to 164,000, while the NRL increased from 220,000 to 245,000.
How soon before the code, often taken for granted by its part-owner, News Ltd, becomes the next battering ram for pay per view where fans subscribe to Fox Sports but pay additional for selected matches, or extra to download to Foxsports.com.au matches they missed? :shock:
The Warriors-Eels match in Auckland last night was seen on pay TV and mobile phone, with Vodafone advertising a $3 charge for subscribers to watch the entire semi-final match.
Insiders insist high-level talks are taking place for Telstra/News Ltd to buy the now segmented PBL Media, bundling free-to-air, pay TV, broadband and mobile rights into one, effectively turning $500million of rights into a $1billion entity. The NRL, Nine and Foxtel all insist this is impossible, with the rights owned separately and the NRL empowered to determine broadcast times
lol: ).James Packer has sold out of Nine but retained half ownership of Fox Sports with News Ltd, which has recently sold a 50 percent share in the website Foxsports.com.au for $50million, an extremely high figure unless you examine the possible future pay-per-view and download revenues. Pay TV has already made moves to take control of the production of all NRL games. Fox Sports chief David Malone conceded that, saying: "There hasn't been a proposal made but there have been discussions regarding the potential for Fox Sports to do all matches."
Pay per view is a possibility if three games are scheduled for 7.30pm on Saturday and three for 3pm on Sunday. Suppose the programmed Saturday game is Warriors versus Raiders but Sydney wants to see the Rabbitohs and Roosters, and Brisbane is keen on Broncos versus Cowboys. Could we watch our preferred game simply for an additional $5?
Malone pointed out we can already do that for nothing, with a viewer's choice option operating on the two 7.30pm Saturday games. Told that pay TV has a history of offering services free and then charging, Malone said: "There is no plan to do that with NRL."
Its chief executive David Gallop also dismissed the possibility, pointing out the league determined match scheduling
lol: ). "There are 11 timeslots specified and matches must be played in eight of 11," he said. "Therefore, except for the two Saturday night games, it's not possible to have an overlap of matches." But the NRL is half-owned by News Ltd which owns half of Fox Sports, and the next rights deal will be negotiated in the next two years.The broadcast and sport bosses are more ambivalent over video streaming. We live in an instant society: fast food, six-minute abdominal muscles and our favourite sport on demand.
Suppose you receive a text message at 10pm on Friday: "U must c Dragons v Eels". The game has finished on Nine and Fox Sports can't show it until the double-header is over.
Telstra broadband can't show the match until the 24-hour embargo expires. But what if Nine/Fox Sports do a deal with Telstra where the games are downloaded onto their websites, or into a Foxtel Main Event channel for a $5 charge and the fee is shared? Maybe Foxsports.com.au, or ninemsn.com.au will become the itunes of sports downloads.
Gallop knows from the treatment of NRL on Fox Sports 3 that the network is capable of program switches to maximise revenue, but is equally determined to optimise the code's income
lol: ). "If you drive more traffic to the website, you increase the value of your web rights but you dilute the value of your broadcast rights. It's a matter of maintaining value in total and that is a balancing act."Of the possibility of downloading games, Malone said: "The nature of our business is meeting customers' needs. "We know from Fox Sports replay service ratings there is a demand for catch-up TV. There's consumer demand for that style of delivery. Live is live." But he rejects NRL video on demand. "We haven't explored that," he said. "Telstra holds those rights."
Malone said the Premier League was already available on demand on Foxsports.com.au for $7.95 per week. Maybe English football will be a trojan horse, rather than a battering ram, for NRL pay per view or games on demand.
