On the subject of talkSPORT acquiring international radio rights to all 380 Premier League games over the next four seasons, the
Media Guardian article I linked to in post
#2023 has been updated since Tuesday afternoon (I'm guessing fairly recently given the typos) to include the following paragraphs:
Quote:
“TalkSport will broadcast commentary in three languages from its London studios via the internet and mobile apps, using a branded radio player. The broadcaster's London premises will be expanded to accommodate the extra work.
It is understood that the BBC World Service will continue to hold the rights to broadcast the second half of two matches a week – one that kicks off at 3pm on a Saturday and one Sunday game.
UTV said that set up and pre-launch costs will be about £800,000. The company said that in the first year the service is expected to make a loss of about £1m, in year two it will hit break even and the remaining two years of the deal it will return a profit.
TalkSport is looking to recruit about 40 new staff – 20 part time – to be able to handle the increase in broadcasts. The company expects to broadcast 21 live commentaries on the opening day of the new Premier League season in August.
The increase in staff numbers euqates to about a 30% increase in the 120 staff employed by TalkSport.
"I'm really excited about the potential for TalkSport as a global brand, invoking the same passion in listeners and advertisers overseas as it does in the UK," said the TalkSport chief executive, Scott Taunton.
The digital radio player will be ad funded in the first year, but UTV will look at the possibilty of launching a paid-for app for a premium service.
The global Talksport player could also be offered as a radio service via deals to embed it on other popular sites, with Perform-owned Goal.com cited as an example of a good fit although no talks are currently in progress.
"Premier League is saying 'go and prove the model'," he said. "We have a good relationship with them and no one has tried this – it is up to us to build the model."
Taunton added that the three launch languages are the tip of the iceberg and if there is a commercial or joint venture partner – the company is in talks with several in different markets – there is the possibility of launching in languages such as Portugese, Indonesian or Thai.
UTV is also in talks with rights holders over adding other football rights to the service, as well as other sports to make it a more universal sport radio player.”
All of the additions above are either factual details, things that have been mentioned in other articles or questions that have been asked with clarifications. I actually mentioned the Perform Group (although not Goal.com) as being a good fit for talkSPORT's service on here, so I wonder if I'm the Guardian's citation.
