The new, new broadband sport rights and the new, new model for the English soccer Premier League  

Sportev's chief executive Will Muirhead examines the options available to the English soccer Premier League regarding its new media rights.

Before the English Premiership soccer season kicks off again in mid-august, the Premier League is going to have to make a decision that could radically change the sports rights landscape and have long-term consequences for both the federation and the soccer clubs that it represents.
As well as the potentially far-reaching anti-competitive legislation from the European Commission in Brussels, the suits at Premier League headquarters in Connaught Place, London are having to get their heads round what has become a perennial problem of UK sport broadcasting - the internet. Or more specifically, who is allowed to show what video online and when.
On the European continent, the Spanish, Italian and German soccer leagues have all got a solution of sorts up and running. The majority of clubs sell their online rights collectively and as a result are developing new revenue streams from international sales while continuing to provide highlights on their club sites for their fans. Amazingly, these rights are available internationally on a one-hour delay. Amazingly because the idea of the Premier League allowing such freedom with its intellectual property has until now seemed very unlikely. This is partly because of a traditional unwillingness to upset its broadcast partners, but also because of a fundamental lack of control over its online media rights. At present internet users have had to wait up to 56 hours before they can watch highlights of their team online.
But even if the Premier League wanted to sell or market the rights to all Premiership matches, under the terms of the current agreement, it would not be able to.

Decision time looms

This summer in the UK the Premier League has a chance to decide whether the internet video rights to the Premiership will continue to be solely under the control of the clubs or whether they will be able to exploit the rights as a collective media property. Ironically, some of the arguments that it is using to defend its TV rights deals could be used to promote and secure this strategy.
At present, the Premiere League is arguing that the collective bargaining power that the current TV rights deal allows is crucial to maintaining its investment in the grass roots of the game. It argues, with some justification, that if Mario Monti, the European Competition commissioner, takes this power away from the League, the bigger clubs will get their hands on the majority of this TV cash.
This is exactly what might happen with the internet rights. Bearing in mind that within 2.5 years, the UK will have 5m broadband subscribers and that within seven years, the market size will be knocking on pay TV's door, the Premier League is in danger of selling off an important chunk of collectively-earned future revenue before the market has had a chance to develop.
If pro-collective selling is the Premier League's argument for maintaining the structure of its TV rights deals, it seems peculiar, and perhaps irresponsible, not to apply the same approach to the ownership and marketing rights of what will surely become one of the most valuable broadband properties in the world.

Contact Will Muirhead, chief executive of broadband solutions provider Sportev at: will@sportev.com

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