Having written about the good times Sky execs are enjoying
in my last post, today's news that they have landed a fifth (of the six) live
football TV rights packages in the latest Premier League auction tops off the
week quite nicely, thank you very much.
Murdoch's pay-TV powerhouse has paid a princely £1.6bn for
the rights, but to secure the driving force behind the company's solid
performance this year (and for the last 17 years) it's a price worth paying.
The cost will no doubt grate with the subsequent victims of
BSkyB major shareholder News Corp's rigirous cost-cutting, but it's those at rival
pay-TV operator Setanta who must now be shifting most uneasily on the bench.
The lost package may only be 23 games, but it amounts to
half Setanta's live Premier League output. Yes, it has lower league, Scottish
football and some exclusive internationals, and when its full sports offering
is taken into consideration, the broadcaster still has a decent roster. But
when it comes to football, it's not the Blue Square Premier League that gets
punters parting with their cash - just ask any chairman of a Blue Square
Premier League club.
How Setanta deals with its loss will be interesting. No
doubt it will come out fighting, whether through reduced package deals or a
revised business plan that offsets lower subscription revenue against the
cost-savings of paying for and producing fewer live matches. Or it may use the
cash saved to ramp up its other sports output.
Whatever happens in the long run, today's loss to rival Sky
will not have Setanta execs reaching for the Champagne. Meanwhile, Sky is proving that it
will not easily be parted from the crown jewels of its Pay-TV offering.
