Originally Posted by VisionMan1:
“Of course they'll bid for the Champions League. They've openly stated such too. The Football League? Not so sure. I suppose it would all depend on the cost. As it only draws low subscriber numbers.
And the 'Strategy A' your talking about won't appear until at least the next EPL auction, imo.”
“Of course they'll bid for the Champions League. They've openly stated such too. The Football League? Not so sure. I suppose it would all depend on the cost. As it only draws low subscriber numbers.
And the 'Strategy A' your talking about won't appear until at least the next EPL auction, imo.”
It's quantity v quality though. The Champions League may be high profile but it's expensive, only offers games in 15 weeks with the top game being FTA (and UEFA seem keen to stick to that where they can) and I suspect viewing figures for the 3rd/4th to 8th choice match quickly falling.
On the other hand the Football League offers games throughout the season at a much better price, all in indivudla time slots. And the number of fans linked to Football League clubs shouldn't be underestimated - there are some big clubs in the lower leagues and I suspect collectively they probably rival the fans of Premiership clubs in numbers - plus by being fans of smaller clubs are probably much more dedicated football fans too. It's the same with the SPL - it gets them subscribers in Scotland.
As for how long BT will be in business I do think it's time the Premiership offered some stability and issued contracts longer than 3 years. In the US most contracts seem to be for a decade or so and had Setanta or ESPN had that sort of security they'd have probably been in a better position to challenge for the rights next time around. At the very least they should offer them for 5 years.




) makes mention of half-price HD, so I reckon I'll try and get that out of them for my TV account. In hindsight, I actually should've asked for something off the BB or line rental and that would've meant, essentially, the same thing.