Is it time to think about SPFL TV?

[Illgresi]

2 hours 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. 

I think the saving grace here is that we already have a lot of infrastructure in place at the clubs from their own streeaming services. Aberdeen's has certainly taken a big step up this season.

To use your analogy, we already have the shop we just need a business plan, some stock, and planning permission. Corner shops might not compete with supermarkets, but they still exist. From the owner's perspective, they probably still make as much (if not more) money as they would working the checkouts at Tesco. And they get to be their own boss!

[Steve McQueen]

Isn't it the case that we don't get better international TV deals because Rangers & Celtic (mainly) already stream their games?

[craigkillie]

Isn't it the case that we don't get better international TV deals because Rangers & Celtic (mainly) already stream their games?

I'd imagine it's also because very few folk outside Scotland give a f**k, just like we aren't flocking to watch Belgian, Turkish or Polish football here.

[G51]

4 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

I'd imagine it's also because very few folk outside Scotland give a f**k, just like we aren't flocking to watch Belgian, Turkish or Polish football here.

Correct. The only place you're going to get any kind of minor interest in our league will be places where Scots have historically emigrated - Canada, Australia, America, New Zealand etc. Even then, it's not going to pull in huge numbers of viewers.

 

[Junior_Arab]

On 23/10/2020 at 09:10, 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.

I’m pretty sure Italy are in the process of doing it. 

[Ray Patterson]

On 23/10/2020 at 09:10, 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. 

The only example of it working was the Eredivisie, which is where it forced Fox Sports to come in with a massive bid of €1bn for 12 seasons - which was good at the time but is starting to look quite low in the current climate as Belgium is now considerably higher than that at £95m per season.

It's a big gamble. Could only work if the SPFL did it in conjunction with the likes of STV or someone, which would never happen as STV's higher-ups hate sport for some weird reason. The only thing it does is the threat of it could get an extra £5m or so from Sky next time the rights are up.

Sidenote: I'll put a hefty bet on Premier coming in with a decent bid in 2025, as they slowly look to take back "Premium" rights; as will BT if they're still in the game, so we could have a decent bidding war on our hands. Still think that the SPFL massively fucked up by signing a five year deal tho. Most deals are usually 3 or 4 years.

EDIT: We should under no circumstances let Premier win the rights. That would be a fucking disaster.

Edited October 27, 2020 by ArabAuslander

[ahemps]

48 minutes ago, ArabAuslander said:

Sidenote: I'll put a hefty bet on Premier coming in with a decent bid in 2025, as they slowly look to take back "Premium" rights; as will BT if they're still in the game, so we could have a decent bidding war on our hands. Still think that the SPFL massively fucked up by signing a five year deal tho. Most deals are usually 3 or 4 years.

EDIT: We should under no circumstances let Premier win the rights. That would be a fucking disaster.

Was there a bidding war last time??? I thought Sky was pretty much the only offer on the table in the end. With that being the case they probably feel they overpaid. I doubt we'll get much of an increase next time round.

[Ray Patterson]

2 minutes ago, ahemps said:

Was there a bidding war last time??? I thought Sky was pretty much the only offer on the table in the end. With that being the case they probably feel they overpaid. I doubt we'll get much of an increase next time round.

Well the big issue was that BT were without a Chief Executive at the time and so couldn't put a proper bid together hence they offered about £18m a season. I think Sky will think it's good Value for Money especially since it gave them something to show in August. Plus in terms of "pounds per view" it's much better value than the PL or EFL for Sky. Premier were in no position to bid, having just spunked £15m on Pro14, but opted to bid for the League Cup and Scottish Cup rights instead at about £4-5m per season apparently.

There's also the off chance that Eurosport might head in for a bid, they've increased their spending in the UK and have gone for Football rights in other markets such as Norway, Sweden and Germany. There's also DAZN who are looking to launch in the UK in late 2021, and Amazon as well. Plenty of players out there if the League is frugal.

Although I personally think that offering 48 games a season is too small a package to be taken seriously by broadcasters. Needs to be closer to 75-80. Fortunately, with Covid, it's worked out quite well.