It appears that Now Broadband TV have secured the rights to the English Premier League from next season (from yesterday's Standard). Their initial bid was significantly higher than anyone else, so under the rules of the auction there will be no 2nd round, and they are now in exclusive negotiations with the EPL to finalise the contract. The Standard think the successful bid was HK$1.56bn, whereas the SCMP goes for HK$2bn. Whichever is correct, it's more than double what i-Cable paid last time.
How will they get back the money? I expect that they will offer a dedicated EPL channel, with a video-on-demand service so that any game will be available at any time (via Now TV and now.com.hk). Possibly they could offer some games on a pay-per-view basis. They can also provide content on the 3G network they acquired from Sunday, but I don't think I'd fancy watching games on a tiny screen.
It's not clear whether this will be a joint venture with ESPN/Star Sports, but it would make sense if it were. Assuming ESPN/Star continue to have the rights in other parts of Asia, there is an obvious benefit in offering Hong Kong viewers the same coverage - though presumably with a Chinese language alternative.
I-Cable are putting a brave face on it, arguing that it made no sense to pay so much for the rights. Well, they would say that, wouldn't they? They will end up with fewer subscribers paying less money, which is probably not the direction they wish to go, but the impact on the bottom line might not be so bad - and maybe they can invest the money they are no longer paying to the EPL on some other programming.
Meanwhile, I was rather surprised to see some highlights from the Championship (originally Division Two, then Division One) on Bus TV. The rights are owned by TVB Pay Vision (which has also been through several name changes over the years), so I am not sure whether is a sub-licensing deal or intended to promote the TVB service - the channel is not available on Now Broadband TV so you would need to subscribe directly to get it.
apparently, the chinese press (apple daily) reported yesterday that NOWtv have an offer for all new subscribers to ESPN before december..if they subscribe for the next 2 years, they will get EPL access for free.
time for me to subscribe to ESPN methinks.
Posted by: henry | November 17, 2006 at 09:44 AM