Yesterday saw the announcement of Optus’ plans for broadcasting the English Premier League in Australia from the commencement of the 2016-17 season.
Optus – who had beaten Fox Sports to secure the rights in November of 2015 – will be broadcasting every game on their upcoming dedicated football channel and also on mobile platforms thanks to a dedicated EPL app. However, the biggest news was the announcement that SBS would be allowed to show one EPL game on Free-to-Air each week, under an agreement made with Optus.
The current deal with SBS runs for the next three years, ending in 2019, and will see each Premier League side on FTA over the course of the season. However, the deal saw Optus take the exclusive rights to all FIFA events over the next three years, including but not limited to the 2017 Confederations Cup, the 2019 Women’s World Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. SBS will still retain the rights to broadcast 25 matches of the 2018 World Cup, including the opening match and all Australian games should they qualify for Russia.
POPULAR ARTICLES
A-League – Match Preview – Wellington Phoenix vs Perth Glory
Kosta Barbarouses’ return home a marker of Wellington’s changing fortunes
Melbourne Victory struggles when they usually would strive
This deal between SBS and Optus is interesting for a number of reasons. First and foremost, this deal all but shut outs any chance of Foxtel retaining any rights to broadcast the EPL, something which was originally discussed in November 2015 when Optus first won the rights. This is another in a long line of rights losses for the company, who now will most likely seek to push the A-League as their key figurehead.
The deal also drew a mixed criticism from fans online after the announcement was made. While many are glad to see SBS secure the rights to bring the EPL to FTA, there is a consensus that letting the exclusive rights of FIFA events go to Optus is somewhat of a mistake. In a country such as Australia, where online-only TV is becoming more and more popular thanks to platforms like Netflix and Stan, there is still no real question as to how the streaming of games will work.
A football viewer with poor internet speeds or even no internet access at all will struggle to watch all the World Cup matches, unlike in the past where all one was required to do was turn on SBS. While Optus has had some success recently in streaming Cricket using an online-only platform, this deal secures the belief that the days of waking up early and watching three to four World Cup matches in a row on SBS are gone and it will be a big test for Optus to live up to the service that SBS provided for these events.
However, there may be a lifeline coming for those section of fans. Optus also announced that they are working on a satellite broadcast program for places such as licensed venues who originally appeared to be losing out on this deal when the rights change was first announced. Whether this service will extend to viewers in remote areas or even in larger cities is still unknown, but it is something worth discussing at Optus.
But the biggest thing to take away from this deal is that for the next year at least – the A-League is starting talks over TV rights in April and any new deal will come into place for the 2017-18 season – the football viewing landscape in Australia will be fractured almost beyond belief. As it stands, in order to simply watch the A-League, the World Cup and the UEFA Champions League, then one needs three different subscriptions to Fox Sports, Optus and BeIN Sports respectively.
This could lead to the worrying situation where fans are forced to decide between leagues and international matches purely for the sole reason of saving money. While it is no doubt interesting to see several networks come in and pick up rights, causing a more competitive market for football in Australia, which is nothing but good news, it also has the double edged sword swipe of making access to football a lot harder for fans.
While a portion of fans will follow their side through any and all platforms, there will be many more who turn to other methods of watching their side just because the costs will become too high. Whether this extends to going to the games themselves, heading to a licensed venue to watch or simply turning to illegal streams, fans will find a way to watch football no matter what and this could be worrying for networks who seek to secure rights in the future.
This deal nevertheless is an exciting one, as it sees a welcome return of the EPL to Australian FTA TV. However, this deal could also be seen as a case study in the future as to why too much media fragmentation is a bad thing. Media content, especially football, should not be controlled by one, dictator like network, but at the same time it should not be split over a range of subscription services all with their own prices and viewing systems. Whether this deal is the one that tips over the cart is yet to be known.
What are your thoughts? Let us know by dropping a comment below via our Facebook comment box. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @Outside90 and like us on Facebook.
