SKY

[Guest johngreen4]

I think that if the new rules do not change sky might pull out in a few years

[Daniel Smith 5,645]

sky will never pull the plug on speedway because of the G.P.s and the fact that they wouldn't want to lose the rights to any of there sports to rival company's.

[Guest johngreen4]

Sky will be more than happy to axe Speedway, if viewers start to decline, unless it improved drastically, at Coventry there is half the crowd that were there last Season.

[RogH 0]

A couple of thoughts about SKY:

 

1. The new deal with SKY bet is for this season and next, previously we had a five year deal. Surely we could have got another 5 year deal, or are SKY not confident about the sport's future ? I get the impression that we grab the first thing that's on offer, and don't really negotiate.

 

2. Why is it that with SKY's deals with soccer and rugby league, it is well known what the clubs are getting from the deal, whereas in speedway this is shrouded in secrecy. I read somewhere Mr Russell said that this is a private business matter for the clubs, surely that applies to the other sports as well. I suspect it's another example of speedway's built in long standing secrecy culture. I don't suppose Mr Russell wants people to get an idea of his "remuneration" from the deal.

[mark cox 1]

Do we worry too much about this. Many of us still can't believe that we can watch speedway every week on the box and soon top grand prix events every month.

Maybe it doesn't compare too good with the viewing figures of the major sports on SKY, but there is still an amazing of cra.. well shall I say minority viewing sports on the channel - even more so than speedway!

So would they want rid of us?

Fair point about the secrecy aspect of our leaders. They don't have to change so will they ever...

[Tsunami 10,219]

Its official that Speedway is Sky's second biggest sport and they have the figures to prove it. All soccer matches, compilations, and magazine programmes are tops followed by Speedway programmes. We are ahead of cricket, rugby, athletics, horse and dog racing,etc.

Sky will want Speedway for some considerable time unless of course we seriously shoot ourselves in the foot over something.

 

[Peter 0]

Its official that Speedway is Sky's second biggest sport and they have the figures to prove it.

Is there a website where you can see the viewing figures?

[bobtasker 0]

I'm pretty sure we can "rely" on the administrators to have changed the rules on numerous occasions before Sky (quote "might pull the plug in a few years") - leaving them alone until the end of a season would almost be out of character!

 

As far as disclosure is concerned, the fact that a number of football clubs are Plc.s makes their finances a lot more transparent, which is why the Sky cash is well known. That entity obviously doesn't apply to any of the speedway clubs, as far as I know.

 

It'll be interesting to see how many "runaway" matches are actually turned into "nailbiters" by this nonsensical rule ("Tactical Ride: so half-baked, they couldn't even come up with a decent name!). The more matches it influences would provide ammunition for its retention!

 

Those matches that remain one-sided highlight what a joke it is:

 

Tonight: Berwick 58, Workington 36

or, with "real" point scoring:

Berwick 58, Workington 32

 

Wow! How many hours were spent during the winter coming up with THAT radical idea to make matches more "exciting"???????

 

Cheers,

Bob

[RogH 0]

I know some soccer clubs are PLCs but I don't know any rugby league clubs that are.

I feel that as a sport we are still in awe of SKY and feel they are doing us a massive favour by televising us, and this inhibits our leaders from extracting a realistic amount of cash from SKY. They are getting speedway on the cheap.

Rugby League got £55 million for 5 years super league, why couldn't we get say £30 million for a similar deal. Think of what that kind of money could do to secure the future of clubs, and encourage new ones to open.

[Brian 63]

The future of televised speedway is dependent on viewing figures, as the number of people watching determines the advertising revenue because the more viewers, the higher the advertising fees.

 

At the moment, Sky are probably getting good value for their outlay, although it would be interesting to see the viewing figures as no Sky programme is in the same league as terrestrial television.

[Mr Snackette 190]

The future of televised speedway is dependent on viewing figures, as the number of people watching determines the advertising revenue because the more viewers, the higher the advertising fees.

 

At the moment, Sky are probably getting good value for their outlay, although it would be interesting to see the viewing figures as no Sky programme is in the same league as terrestrial television.

Not only are viewing figures important, but the type of viewer. As mentioned in a previous thread, advertisers are seeking a significant proportion of viewers from socio economic groups ABC1. These are the groups that have individuals / families with the highest level of disposable income, and consequently are demanded by advertisers, who will pay a premium to reach this audience.

 

According to the last figures I saw, a large proportion of the speedway audience is in the less attractive C2DE grouping. This is much less attractive to potential advertisers.

 

It probably also explains that despite live television coverage, a major sponsorship deal with a major PLC has not been forthcoming.

 

As result rugby union, horse racing, and cricket will always been seen as more important in the Sky portfolio.

[Star Lady 5,400]

Presenter, interesting points about the economic groups etc. Now I understand them but I'm not sure exactly how companies find out who watches what. Are such facts gathered by opinion poll, data held by SKy or those silly consumer questionaire things that sometimes arrive unsolicited in the post.

If it's the latter I suggest it is the duty of every speedway fan on this forum to LIE and state that they earn £30K+ have two ponies and platinum credit cards (all except Shovlar of course, he can tell the truth ).

[Trees 2,814]

£30K Starlady, most of those in the ABC1 group are earning considerably more than that Agreed, many of us are not in their league nor likely to be, nor want to be, many of them are crooks anyhow!

[Mr Snackette 190]

................. Now I understand them but I'm not sure exactly how companies find out who watches what. Are such facts gathered by opinion poll, data held by SKy or those silly consumer questionaire things that sometimes arrive unsolicited in the post...................

Companies use many sources to get accurate audience information. In fact you may remember a few years ago El Presindente organised a survey at tracks to determine the type of people that watched speedway. That was in the days before the Sky deal, and he hoped to use this info to strengthen his case. Sadly it didn't provide the results he was looking for.

 

A major source of consumer information are the BARB figures. They use various methods to collect data, amongst which includes having a representative sample of viewers and monitor their viewing. I have had experience of this as the family of the former Mrs. Snackette ware part of the sample.

 

If you’re interested a good source of info can be found at:

 

http://www.viewingfigures.com

[Nevs 4]

Arrogance and complacency can, and has been, the downfall of many, no matter how much they patted themselves on the back about how much their business partners needed them in their eyes, only to suddenly lose the floor beneath them in one foul swoop.

 

Dont kid yourselves that Sky will always be there for Speedway--Sure hope they are or someone else is prepared to step in.

 

And Sky should maybe think about their viewers from economic groups as mentioned before.

We for example missed one meeting a month at the track to enable us to afford the upgrade to Sky Sports to see 4 meetings on TV and 6 in GP months.--Put the cost of Sky up or track prices up much more next season and both will be losers in some way.

 

Lower attendances at tracks combined with less viewers on Sky.

 

Hopefully they can broker a deal for many more years that enable all economic groups to enjoy what they can when they can.

 

Speedway got complacent with ITV in the 70s and it took a few years to adjust without that monetary input from them and it took 20 years to get it back on TV.