Sports Extra (TNT/Premier)

dublinman1990

Viaplay have recently gone into some major financial trouble. Anders Jensen who was the previous CEO has resigned with immediate effect.

They appointed a new CEO immediately to oversee their new economic outlook in the meantime.

https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2023/06/05/major-turbulence-hits-viaplay/

The slowdown in growth for Viaplay was due to decreases in D2C subscriptions and lower advertising revenue in the broadcasting market which is being linked to the cost of living crisis.

Their next set of accounts will be published in late July.

Manc-Red_

For me once you’re not Sky Sports or BT/TNT, you’re open to going down hill rapidly in the UK without Premier League or European Cups live.

I respect Viaplay and use to have it years ago when I lived in Sweden for UK live stuff but in the UK I just can’t see them lasting without a massive rights win over the above 2 monsters.

Good sale by Premier in my opinion

Infoanon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120679810#Comment_120679810

Viaplay currently selling annual subs for £59 pa , DAZN in the UK is operating at a loss while Premier seem completely reliant on the Premier League for any advertising revenue and probably without the Sky deal would not be financially viable .

Butson

Sky is the only show in town really.

However, the amount of IPTV'ing going on must be seriously hurting them and it's only going to grow.

icdg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120684608#Comment_120684608

The Sky deal gives as it’s presently constructed them them the benefit of being able to hang on BT/TNT’s coattails; in Ireland, you can’t take BT/TNT without also taking Premier as well. I’ll be interested to see whether that survives the current FAPL TV rights period, if WBD’s long term aim is to retail TNT Sports as part of Discovery+.

icdg

BT Sport about to sign off for the final time with the Champions League post game, may be some on air acknowledgment of this. It’s their last studio show before the changeover to TNT in about five weeks time.

Premier Sports rights pick up - seems they’ve picked up Wimbledon which eir and Setanta previously aired.

Top 14 final (Toulouse v La Rochelle, Saturday 8pm) is not at the moment scheduled for live broadcast on Premier Sports - live football European Qualifiers scheduled on both channels instead - it will get a delayed showing on the Sunday. This isn’t really satisfactory tbh, but there is fortunately an alternative from TV5 Monde, albeit with French commentary.

Acosta

This evenings Serie A relegation play-off between Spezia and Verona is the last live football on BT.

Infoanon

I an open to correction but there was no live sport on Premier this weekend with only live European football next weekend

Apart from that the schedule is repeats , the Wimbledon right are of little value

fman

For tennis fans, particularly those worn down by the BBC's home town bias, premier's coverage might be a nice alternative. Also some relief to the BBC's constant switching between channels if premier do something like sticking to just centre court.

icdg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120702139#Comment_120702139

Both Top14 semi finals were live this weekend.

Once the international break is over it will be slim pickings over the summer, until the FAPL resumes in August. The club rugby season will be very late back due to the RWC. I’m sure they had their reasons for picking up Wimbledon, they’ll know more or less what numbers it got for Setanta and eir in the past given they’ve the same management. I presume it didn’t cost them much.

Wonder if they’ve put in a bid for the RWC warm up game rights, it might be of interest to them. They have gone to Prime Video in the U.K. but an ROI announcement appears to be delayed.

mike2084

Reached out to Premier today to see if there was any chances of the schedule being changed to show the Top 14 final live and received the following:

"thanks for getting in touch. Unfortunately the scheduling cannot be changed on either of our channels, to facilitate the Top 14 final. However the Top 14 final is being shown on Premier Sports 1 at 10:45am and on Premier Sports 2 at 4:30am or 6:30pm. We do have plans going forward to introduce a streaming Premier Player service, but unfortunately this cannot be done this weekend unfortunately."

I can only presume it's some UEFA contract clause that they get priority. As pointed out above TV5 Monde is available online, does anyone know if there is a decent Chromecast with Google TV app available that has the live channel on it? The only apps I can find just have catchup, nothing happens when I click the live programme.

Digifriendly

Poor indeed that no live coverage of the final of a competition they have been covering all season.

icdg

It’s particularly ridiculous because (a) both PS channels are showing football (b) neither game involves the Republic of Ireland and (c) Belgium v Austria is on VMTV Two as well.

Nor do I get that a channel that’s known for ridiculously late scheduling changes couldn’t change the schedule now.

Maybe it really is the case that the UEFA contract takes priority over all else, it isn’t even an exclusive contract and VMTV have some of the same rights. I really think it’s simply the case that they think football will rate better.

I don’t know about a Chromecast with Google TV app for TV5, I know there’s no Apple TV one. The iOS app is a bit finicky to use, you need to click the menu button in the top left corner then TV5 Monde to access the live stream (which can be casted and Airplayed).

lertsnim

They had a streaming service already but didn't offer it here so I would take that news with a pinch of salt. It is a poor show from them to show rugby delayed.

Digifriendly

Why no streaming service for ROI I wonder?

icdg

The nature of the Sky deal is that Premier and BT have handed Sky full control of their wholesale distribution in the ROI market - they’re not allowed market D2C while it remains in place.

As I say I’m not convinced the deal will last in that form post July 2025, although I think that will be because TNT will want to get out, rather than Premier. The deal’s a good one for Premier in that they basically get subscribers on the basis of BT’s content not just their own.

icdg

Apparently a change of heart at Premier over the Top14 final:

https://twitter.com/premsportsirl/status/1669679083242790912?s=46&t=fR3aq5_Tiburuz2NuiBouQ

mike2084

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120722200#Comment_120722200

Who would have thought that there would be a change of mind in Premier's scheduling department 😂

lertsnim

But what happened to

Unfortunately the scheduling cannot be changed on either of our channels, to facilitate the Top 14 final.

Common sense prevails.

fman

There's a story on the Irish times about the premier/Wimbledon coverage, promising coverage of up to 5 courts every day. Both linear channels and 3 red button feeds ( which we all know always works when its needed).

Assuming it does work, it will be of benefit with BBC going almost all in on iPlayer ahead of adding extra red button feeds this year.

icdg

Here’s the article for those with a sub.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2023/06/17/mickey-orourkes-premier-sports-secures-live-rights-to-wimbledon/

Now that the U.K. operation is gone they’re trumpeting how Irish they are instead of trying to hide it. How times change.

But yeah, I’d share that concern about the red button - it seems to go wrong virtually every time they use it.

mike2084

Top 14 final was a cracker, can't believe they even had to think about showing it!

lertsnim

One thing I noticed last night watching the rugby was there was no adverts, just promos and highlights of La Liga games. If Sky Sports Extra goes then how long will they survive.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120728362#Comment_120728362

Oh nice, a red button service only available to some of their subscribers.

Tigerandahalf

Hi

What is the story with the champions cup rugby on bt/now tv going forward for next season?

I cancelled my now subscription (bt and premier only) and was given an offer for 6 months for 10eur p/m. Thinking it is a bit cheap.

Thanks

timothydec77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120741050#Comment_120741050

TNT inherits the TV Rights obligations of BT Sports.

Nothing changes for now except the name.

icdg

There’s some suggestion the ESPN content (mostly US college sports) will be dropped at the end of July when the ESPN affiliation apparently expires but I’ve seen nothing official to confirm that.

As for the EPCR Champions Cup (as I guess we have to call it, with Heineken apparently exiting stage left) this coming season will be the second of a two year deal.

timothydec77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120742134#Comment_120742134

US College sports are mostly niche interests. For the few that value that content ESPN Plus is far better value.

It is no secret that the then BT Sports overpaid for its Rugby Content. I would surprised if the new TNT started to focus on Rugby.

icdg

Did they? If you mean PRL, let’s recap : PRL tried to make them think they were in a bidding war with Amazon, they didn’t fall for it, and as a result PRL got less than they were looking for. Now arguably the rights are not worth now what they paid for them, but they didn’t know at that point that three clubs were going to go under.

As for the EPCR rights, there’s no indication that there was anyone else interested in those either, or at least in being the primary host broadcaster in the U.K. & Ireland. Sky is more or less out of rugby now, at least as a host broadcaster. I don’t think it was ever revealed what BT paid for those rights this time around.

When you say “focus on rugby” I don’t think any broadcaster would be wise putting their eggs in one basket, and I don’t think TNT will. No 1 is retaining FAPL rights above all else. No 2 is retaining Uefa Champions League rights, which they have through to 2027. Rugby only even begins to enter the picture after those two.

timothydec77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120745885#Comment_120745885

i picked my words poorly.

What i meant is that BT/TNT will take a hard look at its Rugby content. They will drive a hard bargin for all Rugby Rights.

I agree with you the Premier League in particular and Champions League to lesser extent is the focus of BT/ TNT.

Stewball

I was talking to a Sky agent today and they told me that Sky will be selling the Sports Extra package next season with BT/TNT & PS - is that true?

They were trying to sell me the sports package for a further six months so I wasn't fully believing their spiel.