{"id":10084,"date":"2022-07-28T10:50:17","date_gmt":"2022-07-28T10:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/sport-business\/?post_type=article&p=10084"},"modified":"2022-07-28T13:05:33","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T13:05:33","slug":"broadcast-disruptors-bulletin-how-sky-sports-builds-rights-holder-relationships-fanduel-plans-for-a-watch-and-wager-network-and-picking-over-the-launch-of-nfl","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/sport-business\/articles\/broadcast-disruptors-bulletin-how-sky-sports-builds-rights-holder-relationships-fanduel-plans-for-a-watch-and-wager-network-and-picking-over-the-launch-of-nfl\/","title":{"rendered":"Broadcast Disruptors Bulletin: How Sky Sports builds rights holder relationships; FanDuel plans for a \u2018watch and wager\u2019 network; and picking over the launch of NFL+"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 28 Jul 2022 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Broadcast Disruptors Bulletin: How Sky Sports builds rights holder relationships; FanDuel plans for a \u2018watch and wager\u2019 network; and picking over the launch of NFL+<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category <\/div>\n Digital & Media<\/a> <\/div>\n
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28 July 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

Broadcast Disruptors Bulletin: what you need to know today about the shifting sports media landscape<\/p>\n

By James Emmett<\/a> and David Cushnan<\/a><\/h6>\n
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If you haven’t already, sign up for free<\/a> to receive the bulletin straight to your inbox every second Thursday.<\/p>\n

Bulletin length: 2,575 words \u2013 it\u2019s an 8-minute read<\/p>\n

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Short form<\/strong><\/p>\n

Broadcast Disruptor of the week: New Mercedes F1 Head of Digital Penny Harrison
\nViaplay and BT\/Warner Bros. Discovery reshaping the UK rights scene
\nPicking over the NFL+ launch
\nFanDuel mulls over 24\/7 \u2018watch and wager\u2019 network
\nMLB\u2019s Manfred outlines frictionless broadcast ambition
\nCommonwealth Games broadcast briefing
\nSky Sports\u2019 Yath Gangakumaran on deep and meaningful rights holder relationships<\/p>\n

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Long form<\/strong><\/p>\n

LEADERS BROADCAST DISRUPTOR OF THE WEEK<\/strong><\/p>\n

Who?<\/strong> Penny Harrison
\nWhat?<\/strong> Head of Digital, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team
\nWhy?<\/strong> For the past three years, Harrison has been one of the driving forces behind the launch and growth of W Series, the all-female motorsport championship, as Head of Digital and Social Media. She\u2019s led the charge on promoting and raising awareness of drivers and the W Series\u2019 wider mission to promote female involvement in motorsport in all areas. Now, she\u2019s returning to F1 (she previously spent four years in McLaren\u2019s social and digital team) as Head of Digital at Mercedes, where she\u2019ll be leading on the next phase of the world champion\u2019s already-sophisticated social and digital content output.<\/p>\n

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THE BIG PICTURE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks for clicking and for joining us \u2013 this is the Broadcast Disruptors Bulletin, your regular briefing on all the crucial bits of sports media and content creation, production, monetisation and distribution. As usual, throw it forward \u2013 ideally to a top colleague or associate.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Keep our spirits up during the long, hot summer by continuing to send us thoughts, ideas, news, gossip and data (we love data) – we\u2019re available almost immediately at <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>james.emmett@leadersinsport.com<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>david.cushnan@leadersinsport.com<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And whilst you\u2019re here, have a look at our new membership for aspiring leaders in the sports industry \u2013 refer a colleague or come on down and join the Leaders Club <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The pieces on the UK pay TV sports rights chessboard shifted again last week, with two significant moves. First, the UK competition authority approved the formation of the new joint venture between BT and Warner Bros. Discovery, which will see a new sports offering created later this year combining the best of BT Sport and Eurosport. A new, single brand is coming, but not immediately, and Marc Allera, CEO of BT\u2019s consumer division will be the first chair of the new venture \u2013 the chair will rotate. Andrew Georgiou, who runs Eurosport as President and Managing Director for Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe will lead the management and delivery.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, Viaplay, the Scandinavian media company until recently known as NENT, confirmed an agreement to acquire Premier Sports, a significant strengthening of its proposition ahead of its already-planned UK launch this autumn. Premier Sports has been broadcasting since 2009, rising out of the ashes of Setanta Sports GB. It has quietly picked up a number of secondary sports rights, notably LaLiga, Scottish cup football competition, the United Rugby Championship and, later this year, a share of games from the Rugby League World Cup, as well as a variety of US sports including Nascar, NHL and Major League Soccer. A press release announcing the agreement says Premier Sports currently has 220,000 paying subscribers \u2013 it also runs free service FreeSports. And, crucially for Viaplay, it has long-term, existing distribution agreements with Sky, Virgin and Amazon, something it had been lacking as it plots its own entry to the UK market. DAZN\u2019s Ed Breeze has been picked as the company\u2019s new Head of Sports, UK. He\u2019ll join in October and report to <\/span>Peter N\u00f8rrelund, Viaplay Group Chief Sports Officer<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It all makes the medium term picture in the UK\u2019s pay TV sports media market somewhat clearer. Two major players in (Comcast-owned) Sky Sports and BT\/Warner Bros. Discovery; a well-funded and not-to-be-underestimated insurgent in Viaplay looking to make a mark (and its existing relationship with the Premier League in Scandinavia should not be overlooked when the next rights cycle rolls around); Amazon Prime Video demonstrating a growing willingness to pick up key rights; and DAZN, currently looking to tie up a deal to acquire Eleven Sports, still somewhere on the sidelines but still keen to join the party. More options for rights holders with live sport to place, more (potential) outlay for consumers and more competition between a series of really serious media players.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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THE TICKER<\/strong><\/p>\n

Barcelona sells further chunk of future media rights revenue<\/span><\/a> \/\/ <\/span>StreamAMG to power Inter\u2019s OTT platform<\/span><\/a> \/\/ <\/span>James Rushton in new DAZN advisory role<\/span><\/a> \/\/ <\/span>Eredivisie and IMG renew global rights deal<\/span><\/a> \/\/ <\/span>Disney opens Web3 accelerator programme<\/span><\/a> \/\/ <\/span>Amazon in Prime Video redesign<\/span><\/a> \/\/ <\/span>Cricket Australia sells Indian broadcast rights to Disney<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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EYES ON THIS<\/strong> – Watch how these three things develop to understand the future<\/em><\/p>\n

Get your plus pass<\/span><\/b>: It\u2019s not an inventive name (for <\/span>solid reasons<\/span><\/a>) and it\u2019s not, on the face of it, particularly innovative as far as streaming offerings go, but the speed at which the NFL has, with NFL+, turned an industry rumour into a fully-fleshed out offering for consumers is undeniably impressive. And when the NFL moves in any sphere, the rest of sport takes notice. Our colleague at SBJ<\/em>, John Ourand, has some must-read analysis of the announcement <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>. In big picture terms, NFL+ now joins NFL Network, NFL RedZone, NFL Films, the NFL official website and the NFL app under the NFL Media umbrella, which was created in 2003. And, writing recently (before NFL+ was formally launched) in a Sports Illustrated<\/em> op-ed that\u2019s well worth your time, the league\u2019s Chief Business and Media Officer Brian Rolapp hinted at a revamped overall offering before too long. \u2018The change and consolidation occurring across the media landscape is creating opportunities for us to take NFL Media to its next stage of growth and provide fans with even greater coverage of their favourite sport. In the not-too-distant future, you will see a whole new NFL Media, allowing fans to access an even better NFL Network, NFL Films and NFL RedZone on your terms.\u2019 The NFL has, of course, tied up its media rights for the next decade with the usual assortment of America\u2019s biggest media networks and Amazon Prime Video. Whether the development of NFL+ over the few years \u2013 with, as Ourand suggests, the addition of exclusive live regular season games a possible first step – is such that it becomes a genuine point of leverage for the league in any future media rights negotiation is up for debate, but for now at least the NFL\u2019s own media offering continues to all be additive to the traditional live game broadcast.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

FanDuel\u2019s next challenge: <\/span><\/b>Reports from the United States at the weekend suggest that FanDuel may be on the verge of launching a new 24-hour sports network, as it looks to build out its content offering. The plan suggests FanDuel will rebrand TVG, the horse racing channel also owned by FanDuel\u2019s parent company Flutter. Documents seen by Legal Sports Report<\/em> show that the rebranding has been pencilled in for September, presumably to coincide with the start of the new NFL season. The TVG2 network will be rebranded FanDuel Racing, while the current TVG app will become FanDuel+. Talent is reportedly being recruited with the overall aim to create the first \u2018watch and wager TV network in the US\u2019. Intriguingly, FanDuel is also believed to be looking at acquiring the live rights to lesser-viewed sports from different markets \u2013 Chinese basketball and Korean football were specifically referenced in the report, as was pickleball \u2013 to broadcast overnight. Daytime programming will be more discussion-based. A FanDuel spokesperson told Legal Sports Report<\/em> there were still \u201clots of moving parts\u201d but the report, combined with the recent promotion of Mike Raffensperger to a newly-created Chief Commercial Officer role with responsibility for content and programming, all the signs point towards American consumers shortly having another new sports media network to choose from.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Commissioner corner: <\/span><\/b>Rob Manfred, in his eighth year as Commissioner of Major League Baseball, gave a fascinating and wide-ranging interview to the Los Angeles Times<\/em> recently, in which he, amongst many other things, elaborated on how he\u2019s thinking about the future of the sports media rights market \u2013 and where it sits in his order of priorities. \u201cIf there is one thing I could wish for, more than anything else,\u201d Manfred said, \u201cit would be the ability to give our fans that frictionless experience of being able to watch what they want to watch, where they want to watch. There is no project that we are spending more time on in the central office.\u201d Pressed for more, Manfred added: \u201cThere is a lot of wood to chop. It\u2019s going to involve fundamental reordering of the control rights in this industry. It is going to involve conversations with our partners in the broadcast space, including RSNs (regional sports networks) and distributors. It\u2019s a massive undertaking, which is the bad news. I think the good news is, there is a realisation in the industry that, in order for this business to be all it can be, we need to undertake an effort to get as close to the model you are talking about as possible.\u201d Manfred was then asked whether it would be a five or ten year project. His answer: \u201cIt will not be a ten. It\u2019s going to happen sooner than that.\u201d The league\u2019s longest current broadcast deals run until 2028.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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THE NUMBERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Commonwealth Games begin today in Birmin<\/span>g<\/span>h<\/span>am,<\/span> with over 5,000 athletes representing 72 nations<\/span> competing at venues across the city \u2013 and beyond. There are scheduled to be 280 medal events<\/span> across 20 sports \u2013 athletics, badminton, boxing, <\/span>basketball,<\/span> beach volleyball, cricket,<\/span> cycling, gymnastics, <\/span>hockey,<\/span> judo,<\/span> lawn bowls, netball,<\/span> para powerlifting,<\/span> rugby sevens, squash, swimming, <\/span>table tennis, <\/span>triathlon, <\/span>weightlifting and <\/span>wrestling.<\/span> Sunset+Vine<\/span> are<\/span> the host broadcaster for a third successive games<\/span>, providing live coverage, a <\/span>24\/7 games highlights channel, a multi-channel service, plus highlights shows and additional content.<\/span> David Tippett is the project director, supported by a team including long-time BBC Sport executive Dave Gordon as Head of Broadcast. The BBC <\/span>and Australia\u2019s <\/span>Seven Network are the two broadcasters providing the most extensive coverage of the Games.<\/span><\/p>\n