Originally Posted by The Full Sparky:
“ ....We don't know how much they paid though, given that audiences seeing their company logos in the second biggest market in Europe are going to be a fraction of what they were previously. ....
I'd suggest the games on BT showcase may end up being sublicensed to itv if those low audiences continue.....”
No, but we know that UEFA and most of the sponsors were able to factor it in when agreeing sponsorships.
EPG slot/channel awareness is crucial to a large-scale free-to-air audience, and I don't see that the UK free-to-air audience reduction would come as a surprise to sponsors.
Whilst it's the first time that no live coverage has been on a mainstream free-to-air channel, reduction of such audiences isn't a new experience as Sky took a hold of more of the first and second choice match rights that had previously been held by ITV.
BT are actively selling services on the basis that the rights are exclusive to BT and will no longer be shown on Sky or ITV, so I see sub-licensing to ITV as unlikely, though not impossible if BT thought such an arrangement would help their overall objectives.
In terms of sponsors influence, however, media reports suggested that Nissan paid approximately £50 million per season for sponsorship rights across all territories. BT's deal with UEFA for UK Champions League & Europa League rights is worth approximately £300 million per season.
Per UEFA (relating to last season when ITV had some live rights) :
Quote:
“The gross commercial revenue from the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League and the 2014 UEFA Super Cup for this campaign is estimated at around €1.34bn.”
(about £970 million)
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionslea...d=2146867.html
It seems to me, that in terms of revenue contribution to UEFA, BT will be contributing a very significant proportion.