Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2012 14:25:21 GMT
Rising cost of Premier League TV rights 'could have knock-on effect'
Barney Francis of Sky Sports talking during the Leaders In Sport conference at Stamford Bridge. Photograph: Tom Shaw/Getty Images
The head of Sky Sports has admitted that the huge inflation in the cost of Premier League rights has led to "tough choices" and could have implications for other sports.
The emergence of BT as a serious challenger to Sky for live Premier League foootball drove a 71% increase in the value of the rights to more than £3bn from the 2013-14 season.
Sky Sports' managing director, Barney Francis, insisted that the cost to the consumer would largely be absorbed by cost savings elsewhere but admitted there would be a knock-on effect for other sports.
"You would expect us to build some inflation into our financial planning and we have flexibility to absorb the bulk of these costs," said Francis, speaking at the Leaders in Football conference.
"But it is a challenge for the whole company and choices have to be made. I can't tell you about the pricing structure but we have absorbed a lot of that cost. That's not necessarily less money for other sports but we have to tighten our belts on some of those."
Sky will pay £2.3bn to air 116 live matches per season under the new deal, around £1bn more than it currently pays for 115 matches. BT will pay £738m for just 38 matches per season but, crucially, its packages contain some of the most attractive games.
Francis admitted that the money saved by not bidding for Premier Rugby matches, which BT has won under a controversial deal that also includes European matches played by English clubs but is subject to challenge by the organising body of the Heineken Cup.
"We had to make some tough choices and one of those was around Premiership Rugby," said Francis. "We have extended our Heineken Cup deal and have the Lions, the autumn internationals, so we are pretty well covered from rugby fans. Premiership Rugby made a decision to go with BT, it wasn't particularly working for us and we were the junior partners."
Francis said Sky was taking BT "very seriously" as a competitor. The telecoms giant has hired Jake Humphrey as its lead presenter but has yet to decide how much its new sports channel will cost or be distributed.
"We like competition, it makes us better, it keeps us on our toes and keeps the customers happy because they expect progress and innovation," Francis said. "But we would back ourselves, and we ended up with the [Premier League] packages we wanted."
www.guardian
Barney Francis of Sky Sports talking during the Leaders In Sport conference at Stamford Bridge. Photograph: Tom Shaw/Getty Images
The head of Sky Sports has admitted that the huge inflation in the cost of Premier League rights has led to "tough choices" and could have implications for other sports.
The emergence of BT as a serious challenger to Sky for live Premier League foootball drove a 71% increase in the value of the rights to more than £3bn from the 2013-14 season.
Sky Sports' managing director, Barney Francis, insisted that the cost to the consumer would largely be absorbed by cost savings elsewhere but admitted there would be a knock-on effect for other sports.
"You would expect us to build some inflation into our financial planning and we have flexibility to absorb the bulk of these costs," said Francis, speaking at the Leaders in Football conference.
"But it is a challenge for the whole company and choices have to be made. I can't tell you about the pricing structure but we have absorbed a lot of that cost. That's not necessarily less money for other sports but we have to tighten our belts on some of those."
Sky will pay £2.3bn to air 116 live matches per season under the new deal, around £1bn more than it currently pays for 115 matches. BT will pay £738m for just 38 matches per season but, crucially, its packages contain some of the most attractive games.
Francis admitted that the money saved by not bidding for Premier Rugby matches, which BT has won under a controversial deal that also includes European matches played by English clubs but is subject to challenge by the organising body of the Heineken Cup.
"We had to make some tough choices and one of those was around Premiership Rugby," said Francis. "We have extended our Heineken Cup deal and have the Lions, the autumn internationals, so we are pretty well covered from rugby fans. Premiership Rugby made a decision to go with BT, it wasn't particularly working for us and we were the junior partners."
Francis said Sky was taking BT "very seriously" as a competitor. The telecoms giant has hired Jake Humphrey as its lead presenter but has yet to decide how much its new sports channel will cost or be distributed.
"We like competition, it makes us better, it keeps us on our toes and keeps the customers happy because they expect progress and innovation," Francis said. "But we would back ourselves, and we ended up with the [Premier League] packages we wanted."
www.guardian
