MUMBAI: And so it proved. With Silicon Valley tech giants not ready to enter the bidding fray for the next round of Premier League media rights, incumbents Sky Sports and BT Sport have secured five of seven live packages up for grabs for a combined £4.464 billion, significantly less in REAL value than the record £5.136 billion they paid in the 2015 auction.
Sky Sports has extended its Premier League TV rights up to 2022 after buying four packages for £3.579 billion and BT Sport one package for £885 million to broadcast the matches over three seasons.
Sky Sports is to broadcast 128 games per season, including 32 matches on a Saturday at 17:30 while BT Sport has won the rights to broadcast 32 matches per season on a Saturday at 12:30.
The bidding process covers 200 games per season between 2019 and 2021, which is 32 more games a season than in the 2016-2018 cycle. As already mentioned, so far the total value for Premier League rights is £4.464 billion, which means it will surpass the current record of £5.1 billion. But that increase is only because of the 32 extra games and in line with inflation. For context, in the current three-year rights cycle, the massive £5.1 billion Sky and BT between them coughed represented a 70 per cent increase on the previous contract.
Bidding for the remaining two rights packages are ongoing and BT has stated it will “continue to engage with the Premier League regarding the remaining rights”.
The two remaining packages includes 40 games of Bank Holiday and three midweek programs.
For BT, the new rights deal will cost £295 million per season. A deposit of £26.5 million is payable this month followed by six instalments of around £145 million starting in July 2019, payable every six months until December 2021.
Sky said it is now paying less, and that it “will show more matches than ever before”. As it stands, the broadcaster will pay £9.3 million per game, whereas in the previous cycle it paid about £11 million per game, BBC reports.
BT however, is paying less in total, but more per game than at the last auction, where it paid £960 million for 42 games per season. That worked out at £7.6 million per game as against £9.2 million per game it will pay under the new deal, BBC reports.
The “correction” in Premier League rights value was always on the cards once Sky and BT reached an agreement in December to sell their channels on each other’s platforms. And it was confirmed once reports emerged that tech giants Facebook, Google, Amazon and Netflix would not be “playing ball”.
Under the December deal, BT agreed to supply its sports channels, which show Uefa Champions League and Europa League fixtures, to Sky. BT was also able to sell Sky’s Now TV service, which includes Sky Sports, to its customers.
Analyst Paolo Pescatore at CCS Insight told Reuters that the auction result would come as a huge sigh of relief for both companies, and was great news for consumers. “Despite more games being available, the Premier League has failed to maximise its prized asset,” he said. “This suggests that there is clearly a ceiling that consumers are willing to pay for watching Premier League games and subsequently what providers are willing to bid for.”
Stephen van Rooyen, Sky’s UK chief executive, said: “We continue to invest in content that our customers value and which complements our strategy to broaden our offer. Not only do we remain the home of Premier League football but also the home of top quality drama, entertainment, comedy and other sports. Our disciplined approach means we continue to have the flexibility to invest in each of these areas as we choose, underlining our position as Europe’s largest investor in content.”
A statement issued by BT Sport after securing its new deal reads:
“BT Sport will continue to show games at 5.30pm on Saturdays next season and then move to Saturday lunchtime fixtures from August 2019.
“BT has remained financially disciplined during this process and remains in a strong position to make a return on this investment through subscription, wholesale, commercial and advertising revenues, especially following the acquisition of EE, which more than doubled BT’s customer base.
“BT recently agreed a multi-year agency deal to market and sell Sky’s NOW TV service to BT customers, which includes Sky Sports, from early 2019.”
BT Sport won rights for one package of the Saturday lunchtime slot and paid 885 million pounds.
