Did you know that last week three out of the four FA Cup fifth-round replays were broadcast live – not on the TV but on the internet.
And also that the games were not broadcast illegally by foreign sites such as iraqigoals.com but by the FA’s official website and by ITV.com (who I happen to work for).
While many of us who work online would like to think that this heralds the start of something big, the actual reasons behind last Wednesday’s events are much more mundane – The FA have been showing games on their site all season following the collapse of Setanta, while ITV were showing Inter Milan v Chelsea on the same night and couldn’t persuade any of the FA Cup teams to play on Tuesday or Thursday.
That said there are many people who believe the future of football broadcasting lies online.
A story in the Daily Mail last week claimed that the Premier League have decided to set up their own TV operation to service the overseas market and in future could look to go it alone in the domestic market as well. If this were the case there’s no doubt they would look to screen games online using a pay-per-view model.
The FA are also thought to be thinking along the same lines especially following the success of this season’s Cup matches. New chief executive Ian Watmore is known to be a big fan of new media and could decide to go down a new route if the FA fail to attract big offers for the next round of their TV rights. Although this issue is slightly clouded after the FA sold the rights previously held by Setanta to ESPN who begin their FA Cup coverage next season.
And even newspapers could have a stake in a new online future after the relative success of last October’s experiment when England’s World Cup qualifier in Ukraine was broadcast live on a number of national newspaper sites.
It’s clear the technical problems which have previously hampered such plans have now been pretty much solved with online streams offering decent, if not brilliant, picture quality while issues around buffering are not as common as they were.
But for online streaming really to take off, the likes of Sky, ESPN and ITV would have to be persuaded of the economic benefits of moving some of their games exclusively onto the web and at the moment the arguments just don’t exist.
But that’s not to say they never will.
At the moment it’s possible to watch all ITV games live on their website, while you can also watch Sky games live if you’ve bought certain subscription packages so it’s clear that the broadcasters have not completely ruled the web out of the equation.
But, personally, I believe it could be the top clubs who could be the drivers of change although not necessarily in a positive way.
The Premier League may have it faults but its collective bargaining policy where all the league’s teams benefit from TV money is one area where it can be admired.
However I often wonder how much longer the big clubs will tolerate this for, especially given the precarious financial position many find themselves in.
While Manchester United and Chelsea have full-fledged TV channels many other clubs offer smaller online versions on their websites which, with a bit of investment, could be transformed into the broadcasting platforms needed to show live games.
It is coming, but we may have to wait some time before Chelsea v Manchester United is live on your PC.
A very interesting article.
With the increasing availability of high speed broadband at more affordable prices, I've got no doubt that governing bodies, league organisations and clubs will exploit these online opportunities and build online media platforms for live matches.
Pay per view live matches and monthly/annual subscriptions for online media content are most certainly to become big revenue generators for all concerned. It must surely appeal to advertisers too. Users will be potentially one click away from an advertiser's website. I've used Sky Sports in the past for UCL pay per view online, which is great if you're away from home and don't have access to your PPV TV package.
As Ed mentions above, smart phone technology is improving all the time too, generating opportunities for streaming content to users' smart phones. I read recently that BBC Sport will have an iPhone app available in time for the World Cup, enabling iPhone users to watch live games that will be streamed online via the BBC Sport website. Fantastic!
In terms of the collective TV rights, the EPL would be wise to stick with this policy. If you look at Spain and La Liga, TV rights are negotiated individually. The TV rights sold by Real Madrid and Barcelona are massively higher in value than the other clubs lower down the league. In fact, TV revenue is probably a significant factor in Real Madrid topping the money league each year ahead of Man Utd. It's unlikely that there will be a La Liga winner outside of these two clubs for the foreseeable future. At least with the EPL, money is divided equally amongst the 20 (well, 19 this year!) clubs first and then the rest allocated on the basis of league position. Although, the 'Big 4' do have a grip on the game, at least there is some equitable distribution of money to other teams in the league.
The question will be for most associations is how can they ensure they don't miss out and how can it work for their sport. I know a few sports associations who have not got to grip with sponsorship and merchandising never mind online broadcasting and social media.
Football has the ability to generate millions with its position in society not only in the UK but worldwide, of which the EPL takes a massive slice. But can it transfer to other sports?
Hi Mark – nice post. Its an interesting area that I think the broadcasters and clubs need to start experimenting in. As you say, the technology is getting better and once we are all on 100mb broadband and the devices become more condusive to view the games from anywhere (not just at home), which is happenning with better smart phones and the ipad, I think it becomes very interesting. Certainly the big clubs who have hundreds of millions of fans overseas could start to open up a major revenue stream using pay per view and micro payments. If the clubs get wiser on the value of their 'day to day content' to the fans then they could extend the proposition to other forms of engagement and not just the live games.
thanks for sharing!