ESPN 'eyes Premier League rights'

[truetrini]

ESPN 'eyes Premier League rights' 
 
Premiership games have massive interest worldwide.
US sports cable network ESPN is "absolutely interested" in buying the UK rights to broadcast Premier League football, its president has said.
The comments by George Bodenheimer to the Financial Times signal efforts by the network to boost its European audience, analysts say.

BSkyB and Setanta hold the UK rights to show live Premier League games until the end of the 2009/10 season.

The duo paid a record £1.7bn for the three-season contract.

BSkyB is paying about £4.8m per game and Setanta £2.8m under the deal.

The league also agreed a new £625m deal for overseas television rights, swelling the coffers of Premier League clubs.

'Top product'

Mr Bodenheimer described the league as "fabulous property" for a broadcaster to have.

"We're going to work on getting as local as we can. We want to deliver product that is relevant in each country," he told the FT.

"It's a country-by-country approach. We want to be investors wherever the top sports product is."

ESPN currently reaches about 10 million homes in Europe, but winning rights to the Premier League would encourage a much bigger take up, observers say.

It would be likely to face tough competition - with both BSkyB and Setanta seeing football as a key asset in winning and retaining subscribers.

Disney-owned ESPN has been on a spending spree, recently boosting its online sports presence by buying cricket website Cricinfo and rugby site Scrum.com.

In the US it has long-term deals to broadcast the country's three key sports - American football, baseball and basketball.



 

[Bakes]

How de ass Setanta paying less than BSkyB per match and they always have the premium games??

[RedDevils]

How de ass Setanta paying less than BSkyB per match and they always have the premium games??

De bigger question is why de ass i not getting Setanta on my cable ?? Cablevision really sticking dread, i switching to satelite yes.

[Small Magician aka Wazza]

i wish i had setanta

[Andre]

i wish i had setanta

$15 US a month for boradband access.

http://play.www.setanta.servecast.net/setanta/us/default.aspx?aff=1

[Mr Mc]

I wouldnt sell to ESPN jus out of spite and bad mind.
Them could show all kinda foolishness, cheerleading competition, in Germany i actually watched Dominoes World Championships, but kill them dead if they could show a soccer clip that does not involve Beckham.

[JDB]

I could do without ESPN getting these games as well.

They have the CL and they are still not maximizing the broadcats to English speakers.

Two games a week is much better than 5 years ago but still not good enough.

The market for these games is still too small for ESPN so they best leave them with Fox.

[JDB]

How de ass Setanta paying less than BSkyB per match and they always have the premium games??

Premium games over here bt I not sure about England.

The "Super Sunday" games are on Sky.

Also Setanta probably focused on the Intl rights or rights in specific markets where the games make less money which will be less competitive than the home nation rights so they get the pick of the games broadcast in the US.

[Toppa]

I wouldnt sell to ESPN jus out of spite and bad mind.
Them could show all kinda foolishness, cheerleading competition, in Germany i actually watched Dominoes World Championships, but kill them dead if they could show a soccer clip that does not involve Beckham.

 

[grskywalker]

IS ABOUT FLICKING TIME 10yrs here and all i could see is a few chupid MLS games and women games and a trickle of international.
They have bout 90 espn channels and ah cah get some decent soccer coverage!! All kinda NFL, PGA, NBA, NASCAR, DOG RACING, DOG PAGENT, LACROSSE, BOAT RACING, XTREME SPORTS BUT NO BALL

[Trini Madness]

I wouldnt sell to ESPN jus out of spite and bad mind.
Them could show all kinda foolishness, cheerleading competition, in Germany i actually watched Dominoes World Championships, but kill them dead if they could show a soccer clip that does not involve Beckham.

 

 

i notice also on de ticker on de bottom of the screen when sportscenter is showing, you'll never see epl scores or la liga scores nothing nada, but when u switch to espn deportes and check de sportcenter there, they showing everything. yuh getting epl scores la liga scores everything. espn could stay right dey yes.

[giggsy11]

i wish i had setanta

Check out ITVN

[giggsy11]

I wouldnt sell to ESPN jus out of spite and bad mind.
Them could show all kinda foolishness, cheerleading competition, in Germany i actually watched Dominoes World Championships, but kill them dead if they could show a soccer clip that does not involve Beckham.

I agree dread, I pray dey doh get dey hands on d EPL. Dey will f&ck it up by bring sh!t after dey show all the other sports like wood chopping, curling and bowling! And god forbid dey decide to use US commentators to call the game! Plus do everything to cater to people who doh give a flick about d sport! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[Blue]

How de ass Setanta paying less than BSkyB per match and they always have the premium games??

1. In the UK, BSkyB has almost all the big games, Setanta is an afterthought (I guess its different in your part of the world)

2. They pay less because of the way the bidding process works....cant remember the exact details, but the Premiership put up something like 6 packages for sale and no broadcaster is able to buy more than 4 or 5 (anti-monopoly laws)...so BSkyB paid a shitload to make sure they got the maximum number they could, but the prices for the residual packages were significantly since everyone knew BSkyB couldnt win all 6 packages so the other competetitors could afford to put in lower bids (I think the only other broadcaster in the running were the BBC, who aren't really allowed to bid massive amounts for anything unless they can demonstrate that its in the public interest).

[Blue]

Realistically, ESPN couldnt ever afford to buy the UK Premiership rights. As big as the company is, it would be a disaster.There is no way they could ever make that money back.

BSkyB can only afford it because they are a cable company and so people have to sign up to their cable service (of 100+ channels for £50+ per month) in order to watch the football. Its a great way of getting people to sign up, and a great way of retaining customers. ESPN has a 0% market share in England (that is, if they even exist here yet, I dont think they do) and no matter how fast they could grow, would never be able to charge enough money to recoup their investment. Not to mention, ESPN would have to be shown through the BSkyB cable service which most cable viewers currently subscribe to, so BSkyB could easily screw them over.

[Bakes]

Realistically, ESPN couldnt ever afford to buy the UK Premiership rights. As big as the company is, it would be a disaster.There is no way they could ever make that money back.

BSkyB can only afford it because they are a cable company and so people have to sign up to their cable service (of 100+ channels for £50+ per month) in order to watch the football. Its a great way of getting people to sign up, and a great way of retaining customers. ESPN has a 0% market share in England (that is, if they even exist here yet, I dont think they do) and no matter how fast they could grow, would never be able to charge enough money to recoup their investment. Not to mention, ESPN would have to be shown through the BSkyB cable service which most cable viewers currently subscribe to, so BSkyB could easily screw them over.

You clearly don't know how much money ESPN's parent company, Disney has.

[Blue]

Realistically, ESPN couldnt ever afford to buy the UK Premiership rights. As big as the company is, it would be a disaster.There is no way they could ever make that money back.

BSkyB can only afford it because they are a cable company and so people have to sign up to their cable service (of 100+ channels for £50+ per month) in order to watch the football. Its a great way of getting people to sign up, and a great way of retaining customers. ESPN has a 0% market share in England (that is, if they even exist here yet, I dont think they do) and no matter how fast they could grow, would never be able to charge enough money to recoup their investment. Not to mention, ESPN would have to be shown through the BSkyB cable service which most cable viewers currently subscribe to, so BSkyB could easily screw them over.

You clearly don't know how much money ESPN's parent company, Disney has.

Believe it or not, Disney are a company thats looking to make a profit like everyone else. They invest based on a business plan, not on how much money they have

[Bakes]

Realistically, ESPN couldnt ever afford to buy the UK Premiership rights. As big as the company is, it would be a disaster.There is no way they could ever make that money back.

BSkyB can only afford it because they are a cable company and so people have to sign up to their cable service (of 100+ channels for £50+ per month) in order to watch the football. Its a great way of getting people to sign up, and a great way of retaining customers. ESPN has a 0% market share in England (that is, if they even exist here yet, I dont think they do) and no matter how fast they could grow, would never be able to charge enough money to recoup their investment. Not to mention, ESPN would have to be shown through the BSkyB cable service which most cable viewers currently subscribe to, so BSkyB could easily screw them over.

You clearly don't know how much money ESPN's parent company, Disney has.

Believe it or not, Disney are a company thats looking to make a profit like everyone else. They invest based on a business plan, not on how much money they have

Believe it or not, with assets such as the Disney brand, the global Disney properties, Disney Pictures, Touchstone, Pixar and Miramax Studios, the number one television network (ABC) in the US, The History Channel, A&E Networks...the list goes on and on.  Second to Time Warner, Disney is the #2 largest media conglomerate in the world...dwarfing BSkyB.  I think, not only can they afford to put out the money, but added to the Ad revenue Disney's cable business is currently bringing in  ($1.89 billion in revenue last year)... I think the potential boost in revenue will more than justify the investment.

Additionally...BSkyB is unlikely to 'screw ESPN over' should they acquire the broadcast rights as you suggested above.

[fishs]

 Belive it or not ah fed up watching EPL with Russian commentary

[Bakes]

 Belive it or not ah fed up watching EPL with Russian commentary

Lol...


Well, I all for the move because ESPN's sports production and coverage is top-notch and I believe them saavy enough to know that should they acquire the rights to the broadcasts...that they'll know that they can't put Wynalda and the rest of the babbling idiots currently on their soccer broadcasts in the booth.

[Bakes]

How de ass Setanta paying less than BSkyB per match and they always have the premium games??

1. In the UK, BSkyB has almost all the big games, Setanta is an afterthought (I guess its different in your part of the world)

2. They pay less because of the way the bidding process works....cant remember the exact details, but the Premiership put up something like 6 packages for sale and no broadcaster is able to buy more than 4 or 5 (anti-monopoly laws)...so BSkyB paid a shitload to make sure they got the maximum number they could, but the prices for the residual packages were significantly since everyone knew BSkyB couldnt win all 6 packages so the other competetitors could afford to put in lower bids (I think the only other broadcaster in the running were the BBC, who aren't really allowed to bid massive amounts for anything unless they can demonstrate that its in the public interest).

Thanks for this tidbit btw...(same for JDB), good info 

I forgot that I'm looking at the broadcasts on FSC (and not BSkyB).  Setanta usually has the better match-ups for some reason and only occasionally does FSC show the big teams when they play head to head.  I'm sure FSC buys the games as a package from BSkyB or something...or it's possible that the EPL sells the broadcast rights seperately for the international feeds.

[Bakes]

I could do without ESPN getting these games as well.

They have the CL and they are still not maximizing the broadcats to English speakers.

Two games a week is much better than 5 years ago but still not good enough.

The market for these games is still too small for ESPN so they best leave them with Fox.

The market is too small as you said ('unrecognized' would be a better term if you ask me) hence why it's not yet maximized.  I think they're becoming more and more appreciative of the growing popularity of the sport here though and this very much could be a move on their part to capitalize on that promise and lock up the rights while still affordable.  Albeit the article specifically speaks about the UK broadcast rights.