The Sport Thread

[BcastCornwall]

Viaplay deal to acquire Premier Sports complete

https://advanced-television.com/2022/07/...er-sports/

[Rdd]

Here’s the press release.

https://www.viaplaygroup.com/sites/defau...9645-1.pdf

A few questions arise, and the big one is whether the Irish operation (totally integrated with the U.K. one - in fact the U.K. operation is based in Ireland!) is also included. Previously it was thought Viaplay didn’t intend to launch in Ireland at this point. Possible that, if O’Rourke is hanging onto the Irish operation, we get a situation similar to what happened between 2016-2019 where eir Sport effectively acted as an Irish affiliate to Premier Sports even though they were no longer under common ownership (in fact eir Sport 2 was during that period an exact simulcast of Premier Sports 1).

Secondly, the U.K. GAA rights; will Viaplay have the same interest in broadcasting the GAA to Britain as Premier Sports as an Irish company did?

Thirdly there is the mystery, just two weeks out, of what has happened to the Premier League rights for Ireland, no mention by the FAPL of any renewal or auction of the rights for 2022-2025 and allied to this, Premier Sports has not published the usual list of 3pm fixtures (though the FAPL is at least listing Sky and BT games on its broadcast schedule for Ireland).

[RR]

A few points I noticed:

1 - long-term distribution agreements with Sky, Virgin, Amazon and Netgem TV, and these will continue to be available with the new Viaplay branding;
2 - 220,000 current subscribers; and
3 - the content line-up available on the TV channels will, in due course, be expanded to include Viaplay's broader series and film offering.

This does make them more than a streamer, and it sounds as if their full set of content will be available on their linear channels. Via Sky at least Premier Sport is a direct subscription for the channels, and hence their online player is part of the subscription, via Virgin it is part of Virgin's offerings (as are all channels on Virgin Media), and so their online player is not part of the subscription.

[gottago]

3 - the content line-up available on the TV channels will, in due course, be expanded to include Viaplay's broader series and film offering.

This does make them more than a streamer, and it sounds as if their full set of content will be available on their linear channels.

This is what I can't get my head around, unless they've managed to somehow secure some sort of significant English language movie and drama library rights package this service is surely going to be nothing more than a bizarre mix of less popular sport and Nordic drama series? The crossover between the two audiences must be tiny!

And if they're planning on showing any of that drama on linear would that not require a license change from 'sport' to 'general entertainment' and a change in EPG position? Not quite sure how Ofcom's licensing rules work on stuff like this and if it's actually that limiting.

[Brekkie]

Easy enough for them to add a non-sports linear channel if they want, or convert Freesports. Music channels have moved to general entertainment and Sky Sports Mix was there for a bit IIRC, so it's easy enough to do if needed.

[Rdd]

3 - the content line-up available on the TV channels will, in due course, be expanded to include Viaplay's broader series and film offering.

This does make them more than a streamer, and it sounds as if their full set of content will be available on their linear channels.

This is what I can't get my head around, unless they've managed to somehow secure some sort of significant English language movie and drama library rights package this service is surely going to be nothing more than a bizarre mix of less popular sport and Nordic drama series? The crossover between the two audiences must be tiny!

And if they're planning on showing any of that drama on linear would that not require a license change from 'sport' to 'general entertainment' and a change in EPG position? Not quite sure how Ofcom's licensing rules work on stuff like this and if it's actually that limiting.

The Premier Sports channels are still BAI-licensed, I think? Certainly it’s the Irish complaints process I see here (they could be using IP-detection mind you, but nothing else about that website suggests they are using it).

https://www.premiersports.com/complaints-policy 

Mind you I would have thought they’d need an Ofcom license too now post Brexit.

If anything the BAI licensing conditions are *way* more restrictive than Ofcom’s - witness the hastle UTV Ireland had to go through (and why apart from Discovery virtually every U.K. broadcaster has gone to Holland, Luxembourg or Germany, rather than Ireland, to get the EU license they need post Brexit to continue to broadcast to Ireland).

Mind you a good while - maybe the guts of a decade — ago, while still under Setanta branding, Setanta Ireland broadcast some films during the sport-light summer months. Not sure how if any that affected their license but it didn’t affect their EPG position.

[RR]

Premier have OFCOM licences, e.g.:

http://static.ofcom.org.uk/static/radiol...ports1.htm

Such licences don't distinguish between types of content - the main question will be the EPG position under Sky's (and Virgin's) rules. It may be that they use a different channel for the drama, and put that elsewhere.

[Hatton Cross]

I wonder if this news has made Sky Sports slightly nervous over retaining F1 rights after they current deal with Liberty/FOM runs out at the end of the 2024 season.?
Viaplay have the live rights to show the sport in the Netherlands, home of the current world champion (sorry, Lewis fans) and this deal could make them stronger when talks start.

Although, to destroy my own thought - FOM TV and Sky Sports F1 do seem to be quite tightly linked with plenty of co-operation between the two, so maybe not.

[Rdd]

I would have thought the fact that the owner of Formula One also controls the company that owns 50% of Sky’s biggest competitor would have been a way bigger fear factor in that regard.

[Brekkie]

I wonder if this news has made Sky Sports slightly nervous over retaining F1 rights after they current deal with Liberty/FOM runs out at the end of the 2024 season.?
Viaplay have the live rights to show the sport in the Netherlands, home of the current world champion (sorry, Lewis fans) and this deal could make them stronger when talks start.

Although, to destroy my own thought - FOM TV and Sky Sports F1 do seem to be quite tightly linked with plenty of co-operation between the two, so maybe not.

Viaplay having live rights in one or more territory is irrelevant - Sky have rights in the bigger markets.   And so far Viaplay's strategy isn't to go for the more expensive rights in the UK - F1 could bankrupt the operation before it even begins.

[TMD_24]

Some issues with Sky Sports F1 at the moment. Didn't go on air at 12:30pm for Practice 1 coverage and left with filters currently.

EDIT: Back ok air at 12:50pm.

[BcastCornwall]

Coming next week - a new channel

Sky Sports Main Event UHD HDR.

to augment the red button UHD Services.

[Michael]

Judging by the highlights, the score gfx failed in the Women's Matchplay darts final, replaced briefly by a picture-in-picture live shot of the in-arena scoreboard complete with jaunty angle

[Brekkie]

That seems to happen quite often at the darts, usually with that contingency the solution that is clearly planned for as they usually get it on screen quite quickly. Not something that I think really happens with other sports - can't recall seeing a picture in picture of the scoreboard at the football or cricket for example.

[Rdd]

It happens sometimes with the clock in an American football match - they’ll substitute in a live image of the stadium clock on those rare occasions.