Originally Posted by hendero:
“And are people really going to sign up for BT on top of Sky just for the ok but not great Premier League matches they have and one night of CL football?”
This is the thing, I think, I know it's going a long way back but ITV Digital had Champions League rights and it didn't do much for them. Different era, I know, and the fact they weren't on the Sky platform was a massive factor, but in terms of week in week out action, I don't know if it's such a massive driver of subscriptions.
If you're a Man U fan, you'd obviously want to see their matches, but will you have already subscribed to BT to see their Premier League coverage? Especially if they end up sharing the rights with someone. If they only had first pick on one night, they could show Man U three times at most. Is that enough to justify Man U fans that haven't already signed up to sign up? I'm not sure. And if your team isn't in the Champions League, what then? There are big games you'd like to see as a football fan, but are there enough?
That's why I think the status quo will prevail. I think you need all of it, or at least all the pay rights, to be worth it. If BT only had some of it, first picks or no, most people would be happy enough sticking with Sky. At least with the Premier League you have content virtually every week of the season. I don't think BT will get all of it, so I don't think they'll get any of it, and I think ITV will keep what they have. As it stands UEFA get a FTA shop window and also plenty of money from Sky who get virtually all of it. It's a system that works for them.