Originally Posted by bluesdiamond:
“Or trying to get people to subscribe to the full Sky Sports portfolio?
How many people ,in the past would have had Sky Sports 1, happy it might show a range of sports. Now you want Golf/Tennis you need Sky Sports 2.”
Sky don't report that data any more but when they did last report it (around approx 2007 from memory) 98% of those Sky customers who subscribed to Sky Sports in any form took the whole Sky Sports pack.
ie Only 2% took SS1 standalone (or SS2 standalone).
I imagine there may be a slightly higher % of standalones on VM (not sure if standalone possible on BT?).
So I don't think encouraging standalone upgrades is a significant factor in putting the golf on SS4.
As for The Masters I think it's more about denying it to BT (and only giving it to VM in SD).
But I'm still surprised by the move - especially with Sky's (and BBC's) rights expiring this year. I would have thought Sky would want to maximise the prominence of The Masters this year to help in negotiations to take it 100% exclusive from next year - and whilst putting it on SS4 may not make much of a difference it is bound to reduce the audience to some degree.
It has to be considered a significant move in the sense that it is surely the highest profile content Sky Sports has ever not put on SS1/2. I guess it could be argued that F1 is similar but I would actually put The Masters above that in terms of a one-off event - certainly in the sense of what Sky pays for it.