Originally Posted by casinoman13:
“But people will sign up, there is very little doubt about that, much like when Sky first acquired so many rights people where up in arms about costs but look what happened?
If as seems the case BT get more Prem packages next time around then their subscriptions will rocket no matter what the price.”
I've no doubt people will sign up but not necessarily as fast or in the numbers required. Even though Setanta and ESPN had decent offerings they both struggled to get much over 1m paying subscribers.
Clearly BT's CL offering may be better in pure footballing terms given its exclusive nature but assuming that most people who will be interested in it already have Sky Sports subs for their Premier League and other sports coverage or are already getting the rest of BT Sport for free will they be willing to stump up an extra tenner a month just to see CL football.
In the first season of CL on BT the bulk of EPL games will still be on Sky and that might continue after 2016 as well so it isn't a simple BT or Sky choice. And Sky didn't start with the level of subscribers it has now either in terms of sport or generally. And they were the only pay option when they started and were offering something you hadn't been able to view in quantity on FTA.
Also the football card can be a bit overplayed at times - not everyone who has Sky Sports is only there for EPL or CL. It is a factor but as I say around 80% at least of Sky Sports subscribers refused to pay extra for the football they could only see on Setanta or ESPN.
There will not be that many who ditch Sky altogether for BT because Sky has much more than just football or sport. For most it will be a question of whether they pay for BT CL coverage in addition.
If BT gets more EPL that may be more of a game changer but paying mega bucks in light of some of the factors above is a risky strategy. And realistically, having started with a strategy of using BT Sport as a "freebie" if you sign up for or renew Broadband with BT, they run a big risk if they backtrack on that policy. There is little evidence that most of their current so called "subscribers" would be willing to pay for BT Sport.