View Full Version : NEw EPL TV deal...what does this mean for the US?
jammybastard
17 Nov 2005, 03:08 PM
on manutd.com:
Nature of Televisied Football To Change
The TV deal for live broadcast of English Premier League games is set to change after a new ruling by the European Commission today.
After the current deal ends in 2006/07, broadcasters can bid for six packages of content. No one bidder will be allowed to screen all six packages, as is the case with BSkyB under the current deal.
European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said the new system would provide football fans with "greater choice and better value. The commitments offered by the Premier League should ensure that the media rights are sold in a fair and transparent manner.”
The current package of live matches runs until 2007, under a £1.024bn ($1.77bn) deal agreed with the Premier League in 2003.
So what does this mean for viewers outside of the UK?
billf
17 Nov 2005, 04:25 PM
Probably nothing since the rights in the US are a separate deal and probably not subject to this ruling. I doubt the EU cares much about competition for rights in the US or any other non-European market.
striker
17 Nov 2005, 05:08 PM
Probably nothing since the rights in the US are a separate deal and probably not subject to this ruling. I doubt the EU cares much about competition for rights in the US or any other non-European market.
They may care about the Asian market, where English, Italian, and to a lesser degree Spanish, soccer is very popular.
RichardL
17 Nov 2005, 05:39 PM
They may care about the Asian market, where English, Italian, and to a lesser degree Spanish, soccer is very popular.
No. The ruling was brought in to allow a variety of TV companies to get a slice of the market, rather than having just one broadcaster (in this case SKY) having sole exclusive TV rights to live matches.
The EU, on the other hand, does not give a toss about the rights of smaller foriegn broadcasters.
billf
17 Nov 2005, 06:21 PM
They may care about the Asian market, where English, Italian, and to a lesser degree Spanish, soccer is very popular.
Why the heck would the EU care about making sure more than one company owns the Asian rights to the EPL? That's a matter for Asian regulators. As far as the EU is concerned, it wants to make sure Europeans aren't forced to subscribe to one company's service to access games.
joebloe888
17 Nov 2005, 06:49 PM
on manutd.com:
So what does this mean for viewers outside of the UK?
The FAPL Limited offered 2 international TV packages last time.
"The consortium" (NewsCorp, Canal Plus, TWI, etc.) bought both of them.
The European Commission has juristiction over TV rights to the EPL throughout Europe, but not outside Europe.
Expect EPL international TV rights to be separated by The FAPL Limited into multiple packages to comply with European Commission ruling.
Whether "the consortium" will gang up and buy them all or not remains to be seen.
NewsCorp, in particular, wants as much EPL as possible in Asia (ESPN Star Sports and Japan Sky Sports), Australia (FOX Sports Australia), and North America (FOX Soccer Channel and various Canadian sublicensees).
DAGSports
17 Nov 2005, 11:49 PM
The FAPL Limited offered 2 international TV packages last time.
"The consortium" (NewsCorp, Canal Plus, TWI, etc.) bought both of them.
The European Commission has juristiction over TV rights to the EPL throughout Europe, but not outside Europe.
Expect EPL international TV rights to be separated by The FAPL Limited into multiple packages to comply with European Commission ruling.
Whether "the consortium" will gang up and buy them all or not remains to be seen.
NewsCorp, in particular, wants as much EPL as possible in Asia (ESPN Star Sports and Japan Sky Sports), Australia (FOX Sports Australia), and North America (FOX Soccer Channel and various Canadian sublicensees).
Pretty much it right there. I'd be stunned if anybody can or would want to swim with NewsCorp and Canal Plus, possibly except in Ireland where Setanta has the infrastructure to do it (they launched a channel in Ireland that retransmitts their exclusive SPL coverage and apparently carries a 3:00 Saturday game from the EPL, among other things).
The EPL drives subscriptions for so much of NewsCorp's business, just as the NFL and MLB made their US network (FOX) something that virtually all markets had at least one station wanting to become an affiliate.
stockmanjr
18 Nov 2005, 03:33 AM
My gut feeling is that in the UK bbc or itv will end up with one or two of the packages