Olympics rights sold to Discovery for 2018 (2022 in UK) - 2024.

icdg

Completely shocked at this turn of events - the Olympics are going to pay-TV.

Could mean problems for BBC carriage in Ireland during the 2020 Games if the IOC were to try to enforce Eurosport's rights.

http://m.olympic.org/mobile/news/ioc-awards-all-tv-and-multiplatform-broadcast-rights-in-europe-to-discovery-and-eurosport-for-2018-2024-olympic-games/246462

AndyBoBandy

Just seen on RTE as well

http://www.rte.ie/sport/athletics/2015/0629/711365-olympic-tv-rights/

turns out all are not invited to the olympic party anymore!

marvsins

http://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-awards-all-tv-and-multiplatform-broadcast-rights-in-europe-to-discovery-and-eurosport-for-2018-2024-olympic-games/246462

kooga

however there will be some FTA

AndyBoBandy

kooga wrote: »

however there will be some FTA

I wonder with the 100m final's be FTA??? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

icdg

They are A-listed so I forsee a challenge if Discovery decides that a limited number of hours will be made available FTA.

lertsnim

Don't the BBC already have the next two summer Olympics (and presumably the Winter games) already? I presume that will continue FTA on satellite as per usual.

icdg

Yes, that why the UK (and France too) are excluded from the deal until 2022. However if the IOC were to demand it we could see the BBC move to FTV for the duration of these games. If it was anyone else I wouldn't be worried but we're talking about an organisation that won't even let other stations show clips in news bulettins as every other sporting organisation does.

ftakeith

lertsnim wrote: »

Don't the BBC already have the next two summer Olympics (and presumably the Winter games) already? I presume that will continue FTA on satellite as per usual.

its from 2022 for bbctv

after 2016 no more on RTEtv

Eurosport might come to saorview

lertsnim

icdg wrote: »

However if the IOC were to demand it we could see the BBC move to FTV for the duration of these games.

They might have a tough time demanding that if the contracts have already been signed. Going FTV on satellite for any period of time would deny BBC service to anyone with Freesat only.

Harry Palmr

With any luck the IOC will be less money-grubbing by 2022. Ha what am I saying?

icdg

The other odd thing of course is that while Ireland is included from 2018, the flavour of Eurosport distributed in Ireland is now British Eurosport, for whom the deal doesn't kick in until 2022.

channelsurfer2

Does it mean either Discovery must show it FTA in Ireland or sell it to a FTA broadcaster. for the moment the Full Olympics is listed as live on FTA in Ireland.

http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/Broadcasting/Designation+of+sporting+events/

icdg

Yes. It seems the plan is for Eurosport to sublicence some rights but I don't know whether they'll get away with that - there's no qualifications in the list, it just says "The Summer Olympics". They'll be able to show the Winter Games exclusively though as the list only protects the Summer games.

An Ciarraioch

icdg wrote: »

Yes. It seems the plan is for Eurosport to sublicence some rights but I don't know whether they'll get away with that - there's no qualifications in the list, it just says "The Summer Olympics". They'll be able to show the Winter Games exclusively though as the list only protects the Summer games.

In theory, all four FTA networks could tender to Eurosport for service as per list requirements, but in practice, RTE couldn't afford to lose even sublicenced rights, so will offer Discovery crazy money.

STB.

Eurosport DE is FTA on 19.2E.

The Summer Olympics is protected in Ireland. The article is about Pan European rights on satellite.

The terrestrial rights that exist in member states will continue as required. ie FTA. I don't think one country doesn't have them listed. THE IOC could not be that stupid.

PacMan

It was a bit of a shock all right. No mention on the rumourmill.

My take on this is as follows.
Liberty Global own Discovery Networks, which own Eurosport. And do they own UPC also ?
If so, the possible sale of TV3 to UPC might mean that the Olympics may be shown on TV3,

icdg

No, Malone is a non-executive director of Discovery and personally holds a minority stake, but doesn't control the company.

LibertyGlobal do own UPC.

my friend

Discovery will go legal and EU courts will strike down the anticompetitive ministerial 'order' re free to air

icdg

STB. wrote: »

Eurosport DE is FTA on 19.2E.

The Summer Olympics is protected in Ireland. The article is about Pan European rights on satellite.

No it really is exclusive rights across all platforms, in all European countries except Russia, and except in the UK and France until 2022. The Summer Games (but not the Winter Games) are listed, which means Discovery will have to offer rights to a qualifying broadcaster (in reality means RTE, TV3, TG4, or UTV.

Sever Tomorrow

Irish viewers should still be able to watch on BBC til 2022 via Sky and the likes, right?

icdg

my friend wrote: »

Discovery will go legal and EU courts will strike down the anticompetitive ministerial 'order' re free to air

Already upheld in UEFA v European Commission.

STB.

my friend wrote: »

Discovery will go legal and EU courts will strike down the anticompetitive ministerial 'order' re free to air

European legislation which safeguards a European citizen’s right to access to events of national significance trumps the rights holders who would happily give the event to the highest bidder and deprive millions access.

ICDG has already quoted a failed case.

STB.

icdg wrote: »

No it really is exclusive rights across all platforms, in all European countries except Russia, and except in the UK and France until 2022. The Summer Games (but not the Winter Games) are listed, which means Discovery will have to offer rights to a qualifying broadcaster (in reality means RTE, TV3, TG4, or UTV.

Hmmm. There will be some backlash from this for the IOC. It goes against the whole ethos of the games themselves, even if it is the Winter Games.

So tell all your friends. If its not protected IT WILL be sold and only those that can pay can view. 6 Nations will be next, mark my words.

my friend

STB. wrote: »

European legislation which safeguards a European citizen’s right to access to events of national significance trumps the rights holders who would happily give the event to the highest bidder and deprive millions access.

ICDG has already quoted a failed case.

'Read my lips'

STB.

my friend wrote: »

'Read my lips'

I am on the internet pal. I cannot see you unless you spit it out in text. What do you have to tell me that might be so fascinating ?

@ ICDG. Now that I have read the press release and some of the coverage I see the deal is that Discovery have the right for both the summer and winter olympics.

Because of the TVWF Directive (Audiovisual etc) Discovery will still have to broadcast the entire winter and summer Games free to air in the markets where protection already applies.

Given the Major Event legislation transpoing that very directive in Ireland protects the Summer games and given that they are not a broadcaster in Ireland and given how FTA is defined in our Broadcasting Legislation, I cannot see how they can achieve this, short of getting on a Mux!

icdg

They will have to sublicence. Even if they broadcast FTA on satellite they still wouldn't make the 95% threshold to be a qualifying broadcaster. They'd still need Saorview.

The question is how much they sublicence. Indeed I suspect that they may not sublicence online coverage, for example.

STB.

icdg wrote: »

They will have to sublicence. Even if they broadcast FTA on satellite they still wouldn't make the 95% threshold to be a qualifying broadcaster. They'd still need Saorview.

The question is how much they sublicence. Indeed I suspect that they may not sublicence online coverage, for example.

Not necessarily.

The last crowd that had the rights also sub licenced. What could change here is if TV3 was aqcuired by Discovery then they would have a vehicle that satisfies FTA legislation in this country and would not have to sub licence anything. Why they would do that would be anyones guess!

my friend

STB. wrote: »

I am on the internet pal. I cannot see you unless you spit it out in text. What do you have to tell me that might be so fascinating ?

@ ICDG. Now that I have read the press release and some of the coverage I see the deal is that Discovery have the right for both the summer and winter olympics.

Because of the TVWF Directive (Audiovisual etc) Discovery will still have to broadcast the entire winter and summer Games free to air in the markets where protection already applies.

Given the Major Event legislation transpoing that very directive in Ireland protects the Summer games and given that they are not a broadcaster in Ireland and given how FTA is defined in our Broadcasting Legislation, I cannot see how they can achieve this, short of getting on a Mux!

Your thinking is linear with respect to getting the content to the customer

STB.

my friend wrote: »

Your thinking is linear with respect to getting the content to the customer

"Broadcasting Services" within the meaning of the Broadcasting Act 2009 and within the context of "free to air" does not allow for services to be provided in a non-linear manner.

Your move.

my friend

STB. wrote: »

"Broadcasting Services" within the meaning of the Broadcasting Act 2009 and within the context of "free to air" does not allow for services to be provided in a non-linear manner.

Your move.

That's your interpretation of the 'context'

icdg

Can we please stop the speaking in riddles please

An Ciarraioch

my friend wrote: »

That's your interpretation of the 'context'

In that case, why haven't the World Cup, All-Ireland Finals etc, migrated to solely being broadcasted online? FTA listing under legislation is designed to ensure coverage on FTA TV, so unless Eurosport apply to broadcast on Saorview, they will have to negotiate with one of the four Irish networks.

STB.

my friend wrote: »

That's your interpretation of the 'context'

The context of my response is in response to your claim that my thinking is linear with respect to getting the content to the customer. I am afraid there is no way of misinterpretating broadcasting legislation when the terms "Free to Air" and "Broadcasting Service" are clearly defined and cross referenced within Irish legislation.

“free-to-air service” means a broadcasting service for the reception of which no charge is made by the person providing the service

“broadcasting service” means a service which comprises a compilation of programme material of any description and which is transmitted, relayed or distributed by means of an electronic communications network, directly or indirectly for simultaneous or near-simultaneous reception by the general public, whether that material is actually received or not, and where the programmes are provided in a pre-scheduled and linear order, but does not include:

(a) a service provided in a non-linear manner where each user of the service chooses a programme from a catalogue of programmes, or

(b) other audio and audiovisual services provided by way of the Internet;

Riddle me this. What non linear way of broadcasting the protected games do you forsee that can bypass these requirements, given that the only "qualifying broadcasters" that negotiations can be agreed with are those that are FTA.

STB.

An Ciarraioch wrote: »

In that case, why haven't the World Cup, All-Ireland Finals etc, migrated to solely being broadcasted online? FTA listing under legislation is designed to ensure coverage on FTA TV, so unless Eurosport apply to broadcast on Saorview, they will have to negotiate with one of the four Irish networks.

This chap is lost I am afraid.

As you know and I know the only "broadcasters" considered to be "qualifying broadcasters" for showing "designated events" are those who provide a "free to air service" on a "near universal coverage basis" ie coverage of 95% of the country. RTE, TG4, TV3 and UTV.

Discovery/Eurosport will have to negotiate with the Irish Broadcasters. If only one shows interest then they could get it at a "reasonable market rate". I can only see 2 broadcasters being interested.

gordongekko

STB. wrote: »

This chap is lost I am afraid.

As you know and I know the only "broadcasters" considered to be "qualifying broadcasters" for showing "designated events" are those who provide a "free to air service" on a "near universal coverage basis" ie coverage of 95% of the country. RTE, TG4, TV3 and UTV.

Discovery/Eurosport will have to negotiate with the Irish Broadcasters. If only one shows interest then they could get it at a "reasonable market rate". I can only see 2 broadcasters being interested.

Don't forget 3e

The Cush

STB. wrote: »

The last crowd that had the rights also sub licenced.

They were in a different situation to Discovery though, SportFive, an international sports rights marketing agency, didn't have a pan-European network of its own to broadcast on (http://www.olympic.org/content/news/media-resources/manual-news/1999-2009/20091/02/18/ioc-agrees-european-broadcast-rights-contract-for-2014-and-2016-olympic-games/).

For anyone interested I've attached the press release of the ECJ, which dismissed the appeal brought by FIFA and UEFA against the judgments of the General Court on television broadcasts of the World Cup and the Euro Championship finals in July 2013, it includes links to the various judgements.

channelsurfer2

according to the Daily Mail today, in the UK Discovery/Eurosport plan to have a Freeview channel in place for the duration of the Olympics thus enabling them to have FTA 95% coverage. Bad news for Irish viewers if that is the case as there is no mention of Freesat etc.

mikeym

I doubt Eurosport/Discovery will launch a Saorview channel just for the olympic games.

Dont forget Setanta showed the European games in Azerbaijan so they could do a deal with Eurosport/Discovery to show events involving Irish Athletes.

icdg

The European Games aren't A-listed, and Setanta aren't a qualifying broadcaster. Only RTE, TV3, TG4, and UTV are.

Elmo

icdg wrote: »

The European Games aren't A-listed, and Setanta aren't a qualifying broadcaster. Only RTE, TV3, TG4, and UTV are.

Setanta could always do what they do for the Sound and Vision Fund. Go FTA FTV for a few hours.

my friend

The IOC rights trump the demands of a tinpot traditional broadcast law

It's laughable scrolling this thread, serious RTE mentality among the most aggressive posters.

Let's see where we are in 12 years let alone 4!

Elmo

my friend wrote: »

The IOC rights trump the demands of a tinpot traditional broadcast law

It's laughable scrolling this thread, serious RTE mentality among the most aggressive posters.

Let's see where we are in 12 years let alone 4!

Still IOC made 1.3b on tinpot rights

icdg

Elmo wrote: »

Setanta could always do what they do for the Sound and Vision Fund. Go FTA FTV for a few hours.

It still wouldn't make them a qualifying broadcaster. Recievable by 95% of the population? Unless there's a mass take up of Astra dishes in the next five years they won't meet that criteria. And it would need to be full FTA not FTV to meet the criteria.

TAFKAlawhec

icdg wrote: »

Yes, that why the UK (and France too) are excluded from the deal until 2022. However if the IOC were to demand it we could see the BBC move to FTV for the duration of these games. If it was anyone else I wouldn't be worried but we're talking about an organisation that won't even let other stations show clips in news bulettins as every other sporting organisation does.

Normally I would think "never say never" but in this case there wouldn't be a hope in hell of the BBC somehow encrypting their satellite broadcasts in this case. According to Freesat's own figures they have a presence of close to two million UK households at present. If push came to shove and a gun was held to the Beeb's head, it would be more likely that the BBC would simply not show the content via satellite, restricting it to terrestrial, cable & iPlayer live streaming only. That's what ARD & ZDF in Germany did last year concerning the World Cup - BeIN sports complained that the exclusive rights they had for the event covering the MENA was potentially being compromised by the German PSB's covering every game themselves with the two channels being available on Hot Bird which has extensive coverage into the Middle East & Central Asia. In the end, ARD & ZDF's coverage went on as normal on Astra 1 (where MENA coverage of their channels is restricted to North Africa without using some ridiculous dish sizes) while on Hot Bird, for the duration of the tournament ARD simply just put up a static image explaining that programming was suspended for the duration of the tournament, while ZDF switched to showing ZDF_neo during the same time frame - not sure why either broadcaster could have just not blacked-out or provided an alternative during game coverage only, but I'd say there were good reasons - ARD & ZDF are really only on Hot Bird to give coverage to German expats in places that Astra doesn't reach, as well as reaching German Armed Forces that are part of NATO contingents in Afghanistan.

my friend wrote: »

The IOC rights trump the demands of a tinpot traditional broadcast law

Says who?

As already mentioned so far in this thread, the European Union's Television Without Frontiers directive already allows member states to draw up a list of events that are deemed of social importance that they can be reserved for broadcasting free-to-air or free-to-view.

events of major importance for society (such as sporting events): the revised Directive sets out conditions allowing events which are considered to be of major importance for society to be broadcast freely to the public. Each Member State may therefore draw up a list of events which have to be broadcast in unencoded form, even if exclusive rights have been purchased by pay-TV channels;

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=URISERV:l24101

Unless Discovery Networks and/or the IOC can demonstrate something different to that when FIFA and UEFA challenged such protected events lists in the ECJ and failed, then they would be wasting their time and money trying to challenge it. And if an organisation like FIFA couldn't get what they wanted in the ECJ, I doubt the IOC would be able to hold any further sway either even with their very anal outlook on their rights footage.

But the European Court of Justice dismissed the challenge, ruling: "It is for the member states alone to determine the events which are of major importance and that the Commission's role in that respect is limited to determining whether the member States have complied with European Union law in exercising their discretion.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/world-cup-and-european-championships-to-remain-freetoair-after-uefa-and-fifa-lose-appeals-8716930.html

The "tinpot traditional broadcast law" has already been shown to trump the commercial operations of international sporting bodies where appropriate, and not in the distant past either.

afatbollix

Eurosport will sub lease the rights

£100 million from Uk
£100 million from Germany
£20 million from Ireland
etc etc

You have paid off for your rights before they have even started.

Id say they bought it for the Eurosport player its the only way they can get it over that 1 million viewers they want on it.

Harry Palmr

afatbollix wrote: »

Eurosport will sub lease the rights

£100 million from Uk
£100 million from Germany
£20 million from Ireland
etc etc

You have paid off for your rights before they have even started.

Id say they bought it for the Eurosport player its the only way they can get it over that 1 million viewers they want on it.

er...rather out of skew as compared to your UK/Germany estimates. Not that RTE would shell out that money for Olympic rights.

dublinman1990

Harry Palmr wrote: »

er...rather out of skew as compared to your UK/Germany estimates. Not that RTE would shell out that money for Olympic rights.

It's not necessarily like that IMO.

Maybe if the Irish rights could be split up between the 4 or 5 main FTA broadcasters here so that they could all get an equal share of the rights at the same time depending on which broadcaster pays for them first and what resources they will have to cater to provide for their coverage.

STB.

afatbollix wrote: »

Eurosport will sub lease the rights

£100 million from Uk
£100 million from Germany
£20 million from Ireland
etc etc

You have paid off for your rights before they have even started.

Id say they bought it for the Eurosport player its the only way they can get it over that 1 million viewers they want on it.

They will not get 20 million from Ireland.

RTE dont have that money and they are the biggest player.

It will end up in a reasonable market rate scenario being enforced by an arbitrator.

Elmo

STB. wrote: »

They will not get 20 million from Ireland.

RTE dont have that money and they are the biggest player.

It will end up in a reasonable market rate scenario being enforced by an arbitrator.

£20million for the 4 games perhaps. RTÉ spend at least €50m on sporting rights per year.

mikeym

Head of Rte Sport optimistic that Olympics will be FTA.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/other-sport/2015/0715/714850-ryle-nugent_rte/

RTÉ Head of Sport Ryle Nugent is optimistic that the Olympic Games will remain free-to-air despite the recent purchase of exclusive pan-European rights by Eurosport.
RTÉ already has exclusive Irish rights to the Rio 2016 Olympics, but the Games in 2020 and 2024 are as yet undecided following the Discovery deal. Discovery, the owner of Eurosport, recently paid €1.3bn for exclusive rights that include the next two Games.
Speaking to Ray Darcy on RTÉ Radio 1, Nugent expanded on what that means for Irish sports fans: “For the summer Games of 2020 and 2024, what they have done is they’ve sold it to a pan-European broadcaster; they’ve sold all the rights to the 52 countries in Europe in all languages, on all platforms to Discovery.
“What Discovery has said is that in some territories they’re going to show it exclusively in that area. In other territories, and they’ve indicated this very clearly, in Ireland they’re going to go to the local market and they’re going to look to enter into some sort of rights sell.