Al Jazeera bid for Premier League TV rights is a realistic prospect, says ESPN chief

[tototoner]

would really shake Sky up if they lost the rights to huge chunk of Premiership TV fixtures

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...mier-League-TV-rights-realistic-prospect.html

Disney-owned ESPN will not get involved in a bidding war if Arab TV channel Al Jazeera takes on Satellite broadcaster BSkyB for exclusive live coverage of Barclays Premier League football.

The current three-season TV deal which saw Sky and ESPN pay a total of £1.78billion to screen 138 top-flight live games per year ends in May 2013.

It is understood that senior figures within Al Jazeera, which is owned by the Qatari royal family, are contemplating a bid for the rights when they are put out to tender next year.

The move would be a serious blow to Rupert Murdoch’s Sky TV service which is heavily dependent on the revenues it earns from the millions of subscribers who tune into its exclusive football coverage.

At present ESPN is a junior partner to Sky showing 23 matches, for which it is believed to have paid in the region of £160million.

And new head of ESPN for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Ross Hair told the London Evening Standard: 'We’re expecting another Premier League auction in April or May. An Al Jazeera bid is a realistic prospect.

They have done something very interesting in France in buying first division football against the incumbent satellite broadcaster Canal Plus and we’ve also looked at what they’ve done in other markets.

'You can draw parallels with the upcoming auction in the UK. Al Jazeera have the ambition to grow further in sport and into other markets.'

Sky and the American broadcaster ESPN currently share UK pay-for-view coverage following the £1.78 billion deal for the rights to cover matches between 2010 and 2013. Sky holds five of the six 23-game packages.

Qatar’s interest in football has mushroomed since last December when it won the right to stage the 2022 finals.

Some purists were angered by the decision to award the event to a nation with so little interest in football. There were also claims that the country’s hot temperatures could even pose a health and safety risk to players.

But since then Qatar has become the shirt sponsors of Spain’s best club, Barcelona, and a Qatari investment firm has bought one of France’s most famous clubs, Paris St Germain.

Al Jazeera has already established itself as a major player in the market for televised sports.

In the summer it bought some of the domestic rights to screen matches from France's top division, Ligue 1.

The broadcaster also owns regional TV rights for the next three World Cups and to the Champions League, with the BBC’s Gary Lineker fronting their coverage.

 

[dav3j]

I thought that competition rules meant that no one broadcaster could have exclusivity on all PL fixtures?

 

[hellava_tough]

I thought that competition rules meant that no one broadcaster could have exclusivity on all PL fixtures?

Yes, but Al-J can still own 5 of the 6 23 match packages

 

[Real_madyidd]

So, how do you watch Al-J (as we seem to be calling it)? I assume this would still require satelite tv so sky still gets subsciptions?

 

[Kingellesar]

Yeah, I guess it would still have to go through Sky. I don't think they will though, Sky would pretty much lose a large portion of Sky Sports subscribers if they lost the football.

Maybe they will just do a joint thing like ESPN, have 1 of the 23 packages to start out with.

 

[riggi]

Aint dem Al Jazeera folk some sorta terrorists?

 

[spursandbarca]

thought the government passed some legislation against allowing foriegn/non eu companies bidding for these things

 

[tobi]

ESPN at the very least will get one more pack, no way will Sky allow new competition to trump them.

 

[ethanedwards]

Aint dem Al Jazeera folk some sorta terrorists?

Is this a serious question?

 

[Kendall]

:lol: LOL Riggi

Of course they are, they used to do all them videos for bin laden. They're knee-deep in taliban!

 

[thinktank]

Lineker is laughing.

 

[Rocksuperstar]

Al Jazeera, to their credit, provide what is possibly the easiest and least patronising news coverage on TV right now. It doesn't aspire to be like the American broadcasters, like the BBC News appears to, so if they could apply the same kind of logical, no-nonsense, no frills approach to their football coverage then i'm all for it :up:

 

[Wellspurs]

Brilliant, beheadings at half-time?

 

[riggi]

Is this a serious question?

Was 9/11 a serious question?

 

[Hoddle_Ledge]

They took errr jerbs!!

 

[miles_64]

Derka, derka Mohamed Zidan

 

[tototoner]

Al Jazeera, to their credit, provide what is possibly the easiest and least patronising news coverage on TV right now. It doesn't aspire to be like the American broadcasters, like the BBC News appears to, so if they could apply the same kind of logical, no-nonsense, no frills approach to their football coverage then i'm all for it :up:

very true

 

[tototoner]

Brilliant, beheadings at half-time?

well I would hope we get a few stonings at least

cannot beat a good stoning

 

[tototoner]

Yeah, I guess it would still have to go through Sky. I don't think they will though, Sky would pretty much lose a large portion of Sky Sports subscribers if they lost the football.

Maybe they will just do a joint thing like ESPN, have 1 of the 23 packages to start out with.

Sky, VirginMedia, BT, TalkTalk would all broadcast AJ Sports or whatever they call the channel.

These guys have far more money than Murdoch so would not surprise me at all if the won a majority of the TV Rights

 

[tobi]

ESPN went about it the right way, be 'friendly' with Sky, introduce yourself to the market whilst positioning themselves for the next auction.

If these guys do actually bid then I predict that Sky will get three (main) packs, ESPN will get two and Al Jazeera will get one.

AJ may have more money than Murdoch but Sky will pay whatever it takes to remain the market leader thus maintaining their subscriber base. ESPN are also backed by Disney , money isn't an issue for these companies. It just boils down to how serious the other two are.