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Is it time to think about SPFL TV?


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I think the idea of PPV takes us right back to the notion of "SPL TV" that was mooted many years ago. It would be very hard to break away from receiving a set amount of millions from Sky et al with really, very little notion of how good an uptake on (what would now be) SPFL TV. Perhaps the recent events have shed some light on the situation?

There's a lot of potential in the idea of a centralised streaming service imo. Especially now as connection speeds and streaming technology is becoming more reliable. There could be multiple tiers offered:

  • Full access - Gets every game in every league (granted the lower leagues would have to be recorded by a guy with a smartphone)
  • Team access - Gets access to every game their team plays + special content as is currently the case for most teams
  • PPV - Pick and choose games on an ad hoc basis

There are potential downsides of course.

  • Lack of guaranteed income from the likes of Sky (arseholes)
  • Potentially reduced crowds at games
  • Security - i.e. password sharing etc

But I also think there are many upsides:

  • We own our game - no lunchtime games on a Sunday because Sky say so
  • No guaranteed 4 Old Firm* games a season...because every game is shown
  • Opens up the league to the ex pats (and potentially brand new markets)

I think the downsides can all be mitigated. For example, you could mitigate the number of people skipping out on season tickets through pricing structure. To use an approximation to Aberdeen figures; £400 for a season ticket, £300 for "Team Access". Add £100 to your season ticket you get the "Team Access" as well. Ultimately, people who want to go to games, they'll go.

Security; how hard would it be to issue people with a card and a card reader like the banks do?

Interested to hear thoughts on this. I'm sure we can work together to come up with solutions to the problems.

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As others have said cannot see the Glasgow bigots agreeing to this so it’s dead anyway but another issue would be 3pm broadcasting block which has only been temporarily suspended in the U.K. until fans back in the grounds. Once fans back in the ground I would expect this to be put back in place so you are back to having to move kick offs around if you want to show them live. 
 

Personally I only buy the PPV just now because I cannot attend a game in person. Once fans are allowed back to games I will be stopping that. Season tickets are expensive enough. Really think you will struggle to convince folk to pay extra on top of their season ticket for a service they won’t use if they are attending games. 

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I also think this idea then makes you lose casual fans. There are people out there that but Sky Sports for the whole package but there main sport may be golf or F1 but they also enjoy football, these people may watch games as they have already paid for it but they won't subscribe to a PPV channel. Casual fans still count towards viewing figures which drives market value.

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If it were possible for leagues to make more money by selling games directly to fans instead of selling rights to broadcasters, the big European leagues would have done it by now.

Spoiler alert: none have.

There's far too many hidden costs for it to be viable, not least the cost of production. The cost to Sky of producing a single SPFL game will be considerably lower than it would be for "SPFL TV", because Sky can get better deals from the various production companies; the amount of content they show brings down the per-production cost.

It's the same economics that stop small corner shops from competing with Asda and Tesco. 

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I think we are a bit off SPFL tv quite yet but the PPV thing will 100% give the clubs a thought to experiment for the next few years.

Aberdeen for example I think will continue to dabble with PPV for games we have control over e.g. certainly Europa League qualifiers and maybe a cup match v lower leagues where the gates are shared and it can be a mutual agreement (and if not a Saturday 3pm game).

I certainly think when we get to the next tv deal it would make sense to ask broadcasters to bid on exclusive deals and non exclusive deals.

Not sure what Sky would think but I think BBC would be pleased to pay less for their radio and highlights to lose the exclusive nature of them.

We'd then weigh up the bids to decide if it was best to give them exclusive highlights (of the non tv games) or not.

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17 minutes ago, The Master said:

If it were possible for leagues to make more money by selling games directly to fans instead of selling rights to broadcasters, the big European leagues would have done it by now.

Spoiler alert: none have.

There's far too many hidden costs for it to be viable, not least the cost of production. The cost to Sky of producing a single SPFL game will be considerably lower than it would be for "SPFL TV", because Sky can get better deals from the various production companies; the amount of content they show brings down the per-production cost.

It's the same economics that stop small corner shops from competing with Asda and Tesco. 

Small corner shops do compete with Asda and Tesco though through occupying a slightly different niche in the market.

I'm not suggesting that the spfl should stock out of date space raiders and Razzle, but we're not the mainstream brand that the English premier or bundesliga are, so maybe going through the mainstream channel isn't good for us. We're struggling for shelfspace. 

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If it were possible for leagues to make more money by selling games directly to fans instead of selling rights to broadcasters, the big European leagues would have done it by now.
Spoiler alert: none have.
There's far too many hidden costs for it to be viable, not least the cost of production. The cost to Sky of producing a single SPFL game will be considerably lower than it would be for "SPFL TV", because Sky can get better deals from the various production companies; the amount of content they show brings down the per-production cost.
It's the same economics that stop small corner shops from competing with Asda and Tesco. 

I agree with you in general, but aren't the SPFL doing the production for all the Premiership games this season for the live streams. I'm sure I read that they are, and there certainly does appear to be some consistency with the production.
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37 minutes ago, coprolite said:

Small corner shops do compete with Asda and Tesco though through occupying a slightly different niche in the market.

I'm not suggesting that the spfl should stock out of date space raiders and Razzle, but we're not the mainstream brand that the English premier or bundesliga are, so maybe going through the mainstream channel isn't good for us. We're struggling for shelfspace. 

What about buying multipack cans of coke and selling them individually?

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34 minutes ago, craigkillie said:


I agree with you in general, but aren't the SPFL doing the production for all the Premiership games this season for the live streams. I'm sure I read that they are, and there certainly does appear to be some consistency with the production.

I was talking in terms of production at the ground, i.e. cameras, microphones and everything that goes on inside the trucks parked outside.

For live games that's (obviously) Sky's responsibility; for non-live games, it's the BBC. 

The SPFL might well then do further production down the line in preparation for delivery, but that's small-fry (effort and cost) compared to actually getting the pictures down the line.

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1 hour ago, coprolite said:

Small corner shops do compete with Asda and Tesco though through occupying a slightly different niche in the market.

I'm not suggesting that the spfl should stock out of date space raiders and Razzle, but we're not the mainstream brand that the English premier or bundesliga are, so maybe going through the mainstream channel isn't good for us. We're struggling for shelfspace. 

If you're claiming that the SPFL is niche, then it will always only ever appeal to the same audience whether it be shown on Sky, its own channel or one of the hundreds of random channels on cable and satellite.

It then doesn't matter how much shelf space it gets. 

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6 minutes ago, The Master said:

If you're claiming that the SPFL is niche, then it will always only ever appeal to the same audience whether it be shown on Sky, its own channel or one of the hundreds of random channels on cable and satellite.

It then doesn't matter how much shelf space it gets. 

You're right the Sky deal is great for Scottish football and really promotes our game. Our own authorities marketing the game as a low rent version of england's is definitely the way forward. There's nothing to gain from forging our own identity or being in any way innovative. 

Anyway, the internet hasn't changed the broadcast landscape or the way that people pay for and access entertainment services at all.

We should stick with the 1990s model because it has been a non stop upwards trajectory for the Scoytish game since then. 

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Small corner shops do compete with Asda and Tesco though through occupying a slightly different niche in the market.
I'm not suggesting that the spfl should stock out of date space raiders and Razzle, but we're not the mainstream brand that the English premier or bundesliga are, so maybe going through the mainstream channel isn't good for us. We're struggling for shelfspace. 

Excellent snack/porn combo.

I approve.
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Just now, coprolite said:

You're right the Sky deal is great for Scottish football and really promotes our game. Our own authorities marketing the game as a low rent version of england's is definitely the way forward. There's nothing to gain from forging our own identity or being in any way innovative. 

Anyway, the internet hasn't changed the broadcast landscape or the way that people pay for and access entertainment services at all.

We should stick with the 1990s model because it has been a non stop upwards trajectory for the Scoytish game since then. 

4bUV7Ls.gif 

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