beIN SPORT 1 CANADA - speculation thread (Canada specific info ONLY)

reason why i posted here is because they don't allow me to post in usa bein tread. what this guy was saying to oliver is to stop with hypocrasy oliver was saying how top 6 teams in epl(give me a break) can drow 200k against any team and in spain people only watch two matches

 

Oliver accusing someone else of being a blowhard?

 

That really is the key point that Oliver can't grasp:

Folks like Rogers and ESPN just don't care that much about the EPL in the Big Picture.

Granted, the EPL is Oliver's entire Life not that his high stakes poker is in the crapper. But for Big Media in the US and Canada, they don't amount to a whole lot. If BeIn were able to overpay for them and chose to, Big Media in those countries will let them do it. And lose a ton of money. And then look to buy in the next cycle when BeIn has flopped massively and The Good Sheik goes onto other things. That is one of the great things about the EPL deal: it's just three years. That's a blink of an eye for folks like Fox and ESPN.

 

Yep, just look at the 2010/12 Olympics. Bell/Rogers desperately overbid on them. Lost lots of money. Weren't interested in 2014/16. CBC got them back for around what they paid in 2006/08.

 

and that is why i am saying epl is a dead wish for any channel that takes it you will pay ridiculous amount of money for nothing really. you will be bleading money probably around 400-600mill and if you stay with serie a la liga and ligue un you will be loosing in first couple of years maybe 150-200 mill

 

You say a ridiculous amount of money for nothing, yet EPL turns in fairly consistent 70-100k ratings on Saturday mornings for Sportsnet. Nothing else they show at that time of day will do the same. Heck, even basketball or an all-US baseball game will struggle to do that many times. Serie A and Liga aren't as worth it to mainstream Canadian sports networks because the timeslots are bad (afternoon when hockey/baseball/NFL is on instead of morning) and they just simply aren't as popular. La Liga certainly isn't, probably partly due to low numbers of Spanish-speaking Canadians (in comparison to the US, for example). Same for Ligue 1, especially in English Canada. Sportsnet World dropped it the other year because delayed Premier League/Championship/rugby games were more cost-effective on Sunday afternoons. There is an argument for Serie A, but it has certainly lost fans in the past 5-10 years.

Not sure how you came up with the numbers. Could you explain?

Really has little to do with this thread anyway. Don't think Canadian soccer fans are concerned about where EPL will air next season. Many are probably reading this thread to find out where Serie A, La Liga and Ligue 1 will air this season in Canada. Unlike in America where you already have Bein, we have nothing. No channel. The prospective channel (that Oliver keeps referring to) is in shambles. Terribly run. No HD. Brutal picture quality. And as of next week, no original programming except for anything in TLN's archives that fits its license.

 

If he was to apply my guess is he would not get approval from the Crtc as to does compete with Sportsnet/Tsn/Gol.

 

This sucks. Soccer coverage in this country has been getting better and better every year and the past 5 years especially we've been lucky enough to have all the major leagues on different networks and not interfering with each other. Then this company came along and ruined everything and now we are going to miss the first couple of games in the Serie A and La Liga, which no matter what anyone says still has a large following in Canada because of all the immigrants. EPL draws the casual viewers but Serie A and La Liga are loved by all soccer fans and most of us do sit and watch a Valencia vs Bilbao because we love the game. The oil money has ruined so much about the game we love and now we are feeling it at home as well. I hope Sportsnet/TSN/TheScore partner up to make sure this joke of a network doesn't get the EPL and eventually the Champions League as well because this is getting ridiculous.

 

The question is the Value of those Viewers vs the Cost of the Content.

Nothing gets more viewers in the US than the Super Bowl. But you can't spend $20B buying it for a year and make money off it. Move it to PPV and charge $100 a pop, and you'll lose money. Run advertising during it... and it won't be enough because to price you can charge is driven down by the lost viewers who aren't willing to pay $100 to watch it. Put in on some-such-free-channel and you aren't going to make enough advertising to earn back $20B. So...

No one pays that much despite it being far and away the most valuable television property in the US.

Are those morning viewers worth $100M to Rogers?

No.

 

Just to reiterate, this is Saturday morning, when competition is Dora the Explorer and religious services of various denominations/languages. People that are watching TV at that hour (keep in mind, start times are somewhat OK for Ontario or Quebec or NB, but it's 7am BC time and 8am Alberta time) are also, I suspect, not a hugely coveted demographic, or they would've been out spending their disposable income on Friday night. Sure, Sportsnet would be happy to keep raking in those viewers for the money they currently spend on rights, but it's a blip on their radar if they don't.

 

Boots the monkey crosses...Dora header....GOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!

 

Oh, I'm not saying they'd spend a crazy amount. Remember theScore has outbid them before, in different circumstances. I'm just saying that EPL is a worthy property. Much more worthy than the other leagues which don't fit well on general sports channels. I think they will do all they can (that makes financial sense) to keep a piece of the league. That could mean partnering with TSN and/or GolTV. There were rumours that Gol was interested in EPL last time around. Now that they've (presumably) lost La Liga, I'd expect their interested as increased. If MLSE plans to keep the channel running past 2015, that is.

 

But, you don't even know that a company will partner with Bein Sports to launch a Canadian channel. You just said so yourself. I don't see another soccer channel being approved, especially with partial foreign ownership. CBC, Bell, Rogers, MLSE (and maybe others) would all file complaints. You also don't know that a Bein channel (which again, doesn't even exist yet) will pay $50 million. At least let them get a channel in Canada before you speculate on how much said channel will bid for EPL.

As for NHL. Rogers and Bell already saved money for it by letting CBC go alone on the 2014/16 Olympics. CBC's bid was around $75 million. Bell probably would have had to bid $50 million with CBC to get in on the rights (with CBC also paying $50 million). It's quite likely/possible that two networks will bid together on NHL rights. Could be CBC/Rogers, Bell/Rogers or even CBC/Bell. CBC and Rogers announced a deal to sub-license FIFA events through 2014, including the World Cup, to Sportsnet. The two work well together.

 

There is no chance anyone will bid $50 million for EPL rights in Canada because they are not worth that money. No need for convoluted explanations.

 

If what we are discussing is that beIN Sport wants to be absolutely sure they will bid the highest monetary amount, they do not need to reach even $20 million. If beIN Sport wants to be absolutely sure to win the rights, then they should bid the highest and may want to think about getting a channel to show the properties they currently own, to, y'know, convince the EPL they are an actual TV outfit.

 

So it looks BeIn is launching in the US, from my google research today is the big announcement day. I can't find anything on Canada though, anyone have any insight on this.

 

What does everyone think about this???

As you may be aware, there is still some uncertainty generally about La Liga's international broadcast intentions for the upcoming season. This has been reported on extensively in the press. At this time, we continue to monitor the situation and the implications and opportunities as they apply to GOL TV Canada.

We understand and share your concern about La Liga rights in Canada, and will let you know of developments as they can be confirmed.

http://www.goltv.ca/news/la_liga_canada1.aspx

 

Well, BeIN can partner with someone now or they can partner with someone later. The sheikh ain't getting a brand new channel from the CRTC. GolTV Canada is a cheap station to run, so they can survive for a while on TFC and Bundesliga. Telelatino and The Score have other things going for them, they are not primarily soccer operations.

So, to sum up, I think the sheikh is being unbelievably stupid, since he is going to have to sublease sooner or later, and the later he does it the less money he is getting for it.

My half-joking but half-serious prediction? He realizes he screwed up, stops payment to the LFP and Serie A for their rights in Canada, and walks away. Another Al-Thani did it not long ago.

 

Or they could just sub-license rights to those leagues to the interested channels in Canada (TLN, theScore and/or GolTV). I think that's still the most likely, to be honest. I understand theScore and GolTV are at least somewhat interested in retaining what they had last season.