Football channels to cost $11 a month extra; sold separately from Sky Sports

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Sphyre

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#196827 14-Jun-2016 13:22

per http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/81047631/football-channels-will-cost-1196-a-month-sold-separately-from-skys-other-services:

Sky Television has struck a deal to get English Premier League football back onto its satellite television service when the next season kicks off in August.

After months of speculation, spokeswoman Kirsty Way said Sky had secured the rights to show two football channels from Dubai-based broadcaster and EPL rights-holder Bein Sports, which is run by Al-Jazeera.

One channel will show EPL games, highlights and related shows in HD. The other channel will show matches from Spain's La Liga and France's Ligue 1, as well as games from the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and England's Championship League.

The two channels, together, will cost $11.96 a month and will be sold separately to Sky Sports.

What a joke. Oh well, the inexorable march towards this dinosaur of a company dying continues.

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#1571640 14-Jun-2016 13:30

Nothing wrong with this - options for both Sky and non-Sky users, and no need to sign up to the monolithic sports channels. Very niche and very nice!

sbiddle

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#1571641 14-Jun-2016 13:34

Sphyre:

per http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/81047631/football-channels-will-cost-1196-a-month-sold-separately-from-skys-other-services:

Sky Television has struck a deal to get English Premier League football back onto its satellite television service when the next season kicks off in August.

After months of speculation, spokeswoman Kirsty Way said Sky had secured the rights to show two football channels from Dubai-based broadcaster and EPL rights-holder Bein Sports, which is run by Al-Jazeera.

One channel will show EPL games, highlights and related shows in HD. The other channel will show matches from Spain's La Liga and France's Ligue 1, as well as games from the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and England's Championship League.

The two channels, together, will cost $11.96 a month and will be sold separately to Sky Sports.

What a joke. Oh well, the inexorable march towards this dinosaur of a company dying continues.

How is it Sky's fault that the EPL is one of the world's biggest cash cow with broadcast rights that generate billions in income?

If it's costing them millions to buy the rights they need to recover this a) by putting Sky sport prices up or b) charging for an EPL channel and I'm sure those who don't watch EPL would prefer option B.

Sam91

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#1571645 14-Jun-2016 13:44

Sky Sport used to broadcast one or two live games at a time from memory. I believe they plan to have 4 pop up channels for live games now. As your post states, there's also La Liga coverage, CL etc.

So instead of a watered down offering at no extra cost, for $11.96 they're going to offer the full coverage that many fans have demanded for years.

You can also subscribe to Bein directly for $18 per month, so you're not forced to subscribe to Sky.

Talkiet

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#1571646 14-Jun-2016 13:45

sbiddle:

[snip]

How is it Sky's fault that the EPL is one of the world's biggest cash cow with broadcast rights that generate billions in income?

If it's costing them millions to buy the rights they need to recover this a) by putting Sky sport prices up or b) charging for an EPL channel and I'm sure those who don't watch EPL would prefer option B.

Chuckle, but the people that want to watch it and are Sky customers are upset becuase it's costing THEM way more than if the cost was averaged across all sports customers...

Strangely the winners here are those that don't care and don't want to watch the football.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

mattwnz

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#1571651 14-Jun-2016 13:56

Its funny because if there wasn't any competition in the market, sky would never have lost the Football, and would likely still be showing them for free. It is possibility because they had to bid against competition and therefore pay more to gt them, that they are now passing the cost onto the consumer. Win for the distributor. The problem is that there is no competition in the content, only in the content delivery companies. So while that continues, expect to pay addon costs for content that you currently get bundled, as different companies bidding will only push up the price.

Andib

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#1571652 14-Jun-2016 13:57

I see nothing wrong with this.

If you want to watch most of the European rugby you have to pay extra for the rugby channel which requires you to have the sports package. This give Sky customers who only want EPL a cheaper option.

I personally don't watch soccer so am bias when I say I prefer this method of charging the people that watch it instead of raising the price for all customers(or the Sports package).

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sbiddle

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#1571655 14-Jun-2016 14:01

It's worth noting that TV rights were renewed for the 2016 season with new contracts from 2016 - 2019

EPL will now get £3bn from overseas coverage over these 3 years, up from £2.23bn from the previous 3 years. They get £5.1bn for the UK rights.

andrew027

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#1571656 14-Jun-2016 14:02

Talkiet: Chuckle, but the people that want to watch it and are Sky customers are upset becuase it's costing THEM way more than if the cost was averaged across all sports customers...

Strangely the winners here are those that don't care and don't want to watch the football.

Cheers - N

I'm a Sky customer and will be quite happy to pay ≈$12 more a month for full coverage. Yes, I'd prefer it was free. I'd also prefer my gas, electricity, broadband and petrol was free, but that's not the way the world works. Football is my favourite sport and (IMHO) the Premier League is the best competition to watch. Getting some La Liga and Ligue 1 games will be a bonus, I'm sure I'll watch a few. So well worth it when compared to the more expensive and relatively poor quality product that was Coliseum's Premier League Pass.

And surely it's a better deal than people who are paying ≈$9 per month for the Rugby Channel, when most of the best rugby is on the other Sky Sport channels anyway.

fizzychicken

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#1571675 14-Jun-2016 14:15

Sky said it cost about $18 a month to get the same football channels direct from Bein and its price compared favourably with the $20 monthly fee previously charged by Colesium, which had previously held the New Zealand broadcast rights to the EPL. Sky would have up to three additional "pop-up channels" to show matches when fixtures clashed, Way said.

on PLP I could watch all 10 games at the same time by flicking backwards and forwards, and it would guarantee my team's games would always be showing. 2 channels and 3 popups means someone weeks you are not going to be able to see some games live...or am I wrong?

https://keybase.io/fizzychicken

trig42

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#1571678 14-Jun-2016 14:16

I think it is a good move by Sky.

It would be great if they did this with all the 'major' sports.

And, bring down the cost of Basic. Would be nice to buy packages to the sports you wanted (I'd take Cricket and Rugby, not really worried about the rest)

ockel

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#1571684 14-Jun-2016 14:26

trig42:

I think it is a good move by Sky.

It would be great if they did this with all the 'major' sports.

And, bring down the cost of Basic. Would be nice to buy packages to the sports you wanted (I'd take Cricket and Rugby, not really worried about the rest)

They did last year. You could buy a season pass for each of Super 15, NRL and Formula 1 on FanPas. Discontinued this year due to a lack of interest - and feedback from people wanting the channels streamed.

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rugrat

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#1571700 14-Jun-2016 14:39

I see nothing wrong with this, I wish Sky would do more unbundling. Better then them not offering it at all. If someones main interest is the football then they don't have to pay for the other stuff, at the same time other sports subscribers are not subsidsing expensive football.

I'd like to pay for ESPN by itself but have to pay for all the other sports channels I'd hardly ever watch so I don't bother.

They took it out of basic, reduced price by about $5, and increased sports package by $5. I'd happly pay $5 for ESPN but it's not an option.

myndlyz

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#1571706 14-Jun-2016 14:44

I'm happy with this.

Signed up to Sky yesterday and the installation was completed this morning.

Feel so relieved now that we know we can continue to watch the EPL

invisibleman18

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#1571707 14-Jun-2016 14:45

I'm a Sky customer and obsessive EPL fan and I'm happy with the deal because at least I still get to watch my team without the hassle of hunting down illegal free streams that don't work most of the time. Of course I'd have liked it at no extra cost like previously but that was never a reality given the competition and amount of money required to get it. At slightly less extra cost than with PLP, but with it being in better quality on the TV with also an online option that doesn't require Sky then it's pretty close to best case scenario in my opinion.

invisibleman18

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#1571793 14-Jun-2016 16:26

Article on the NBR website says Sky will receive no revenue from this and that every cent goes to Bein. Seems like the deal has been done to prevent any further backlash from football fans.

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