Article Taxonomy: Television and Broadcasting

Articles concerning television and broadcasting issues in football.

Football tv revenues will continue to rise

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Tonight sees the first of a regular series of televised Friday night Premier League games between Manchester United and Southampton.   The innovation has not pleased Saints fans, many of whom have had to take time or a day off work to get there.   Those going by coach won’t get home until 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. It demonstrates the power of television companies over the game.

Competition between Sky and BT is likely to continue, pushing prices in an upwards direction.    Down the road, Google, Netflix and Apple might decide to get involved.

Bundesliga gets tv boost

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The four year television rights auction for the Bundesliga generated €4.64bn (£3.63bn), an 85 per cent increase on the previous deal, making it the second wealthiest league in Europe.   It has lagged behind rivals in England, Italy and Spain in commercial terms.   It is still some way behind the Premier League which pocketed £5.1bn in a three year rights auction last year.

Arsenal top money league

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Arsenal became the first team to collect more than £100m in Premier League prize money in the season just ended.   Next year the club that comes 20th is likely to earn that.

Following their £101m came Manchester City with £96.7m, Manchester United with £96.5m and Tottenham Hotspur with £95.2m.  

Title winners Leicester City came in fifth, receiving £93.2m.   Their matches were selected for broadcast only 15 times, compared with 26 at Manchester United and 25 at Manchester City.

European super league ‘inevitable’

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A European super league is ‘iinevitable’, according to Rangers manager Mark Warburton.  He is convinced that the globalisation of sport and an increasingly competitive TV rights market make it a certainty.

‘If Bournemouih are competing with Bayern Munich for players it tells me that the market is skewed, and a European Super League can’t be far away,’ he told The Times.   ‘The big European clubs won’t want to be left behind by smaller ones in England and if you’re a broadcaster, which game would you rather show: Norwich v Leicester, or Arsenal v Rangers?’

PSG dominate French football

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Paris Saint-Germain have a 24 point lead at the top of Ligue 1.  They remain unbeaten this season and they are almost certain to win the French title with more points that any other team in history.

It is now five years since the Qatar Investment Authority bought PSG, a deal that many belive was arranged by Nicolas Sarkozy, then the French president, and a PSG fan.   They were catapulted to the status of a super power in European football.

New clamp down on streaming

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Premier League officials are in talks with cyber-security companies in an effort to stop fans watching their matches on illegal online streams.

In recent years, the number of fans using the internet to stream games shown live by foreign broadcasters has risen sharply.   Some of the most popular broadcasters are in Australia, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates.

United strike deal with film company

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Manchester United have struck the first deal between a football club and a film company.   Major films from 20th Century Fox will be advertised in Premier League matches and in post-match interview backdrops.

Premier League games are broadcast to 730 million homes each week with Manchester United accounting for more than half of the league’s global TV audience.   During the 2013-14 season the club’s biggest match was watched by 82 million people, and it has estimated that its global audience for the season was 3 billion.