TV new deal?

[topaz325 1,853]

1 hour ago, Heathcote said:

I would say a lot more people in this country have access to Eurosport than BT Sport. Eurosport comes as part of any basic sky package let alone even subscribing to sky sports. Just going by the viewing figures alone for football across the platforms, sky sports regularly has viewing figures in the 100s of thousands for any live football match, whereas as BT sport can only muster up viewing figures in the 10s of thousands even for champions leagues games, thus showing far more people have Sky than BT, therefore far more people have Eurosport than BT

No it does not come with basic sky package.

[OveFundinFan 4,137]

So SKY is not free for Eurosprt, neither is BT, neither is Eurosport Player. Is there a free way of viewing Eurosport???

I with BT and get access to the Speedway GP's and MotoGP and World Superbikes. Plus I can watch World Rally Cross so I am happy with that. I can lose British `Premiership without shedding any tears.

[Badge 5,122]

3 minutes ago, OveFundinFan said:

So SKY is not free for Eurosprt, neither is BT, neither is Eurosport Player. Is there a free way of viewing Eurosport???

I with BT and get access to the Speedway GP's and MotoGP and World Superbikes. Plus I can watch World Rally Cross so I am happy with that. I can lose British `Premiership without shedding any tears.

I'm with bt and get all the eurosport channels 

[Skidder1 7,632]

I'm with Virgin Media and get all the Eurosport and BT channels in HD unlike several of the SKY Sports channels.

[HenryW 1,178]

38 minutes ago, topaz325 said:

No it does not come with basic sky package.

Sky's website says that Eurosport is included with the basic £22 package. 

[HenryW 1,178]

2 hours ago, Heathcote said:

I would say a lot more people in this country have access to Eurosport than BT Sport. Eurosport comes as part of any basic sky package let alone even subscribing to sky sports. Just going by the viewing figures alone for football across the platforms, sky sports regularly has viewing figures in the 100s of thousands for any live football match, whereas as BT sport can only muster up viewing figures in the 10s of thousands even for champions leagues games, thus showing far more people have Sky than BT, therefore far more people have Eurosport than BT

Champions league coverage on the Tuesday for the most recent week that figures are available has a viewing figure of 806,000 on BT Sport 2. 

[DBP 64]

Eurosport included in bt and Plusnet basic TV package.

[flagrag 704]

Even this evening during BTs Champions league matches they showed an advert for the Speedway play offs and the final GP i do have to admit that they promote the sport well even better than Sky did. 

Although Eurosport may be a pan Europe broadcaster I am unsure that the big Polish sponsors will want to have banners and boards at British tracks or get involved in club sponsorship even if the racing is shown live in Poland.

It has to be remembered that people will only spend so much time watching Speedway on TV and with all Polish Extraliga meetings broadcast along with lots of other meetings I’m unsure how many will watch UK racing. I know Orange sport in Poland found this when they took the Swedish league that they didn’t get the viewers they expected.

[Pirates Of Poole 761]

20 minutes ago, flagrag said:

Even this evening during BTs Champions league matches they showed an advert for the Speedway play offs and the final GP i do have to admit that they promote the sport well even better than Sky did. 

Although Eurosport may be a pan Europe broadcaster I am unsure that the big Polish sponsors will want to have banners and boards at British tracks or get involved in club sponsorship even if the racing is shown live in Poland.

It has to be remembered that people will only spend so much time watching Speedway on TV and with all Polish Extraliga meetings broadcast along with lots of other meetings I’m unsure how many will watch UK racing. I know Orange sport in Poland found this when they took the Swedish league that they didn’t get the viewers they expected.

I think there would be an interest if more ‘top’ poles returned to UK racing.

[poolebolton 464]

5 hours ago, RobMcCaffery said:

So we repeat the error of earning the money then handing it straight over to riders to have glorified practice sessions while their best efforts and bikes are elsewhere? 

Of course with Eurosport NOT being a premium sports channel it has far more subscribers, mainly those getting it as part of a basic pay-TV package but I suspect BT get higher viewing figures. Many people receive Eurosport without ever bothering to watch it. 

A five year deal is fine so long as it's a benefit and not blocking better options over the five years. If, somehow the sport were to see an upturn it would be locked-into a bargain deal. 

Regarding potential sponsors, I take it you're referring to the claim that we may tap into Polish sponsors. Why would Polish brands like Nice, Get Well, Mr Garden, Fogo want to advertise to the UK? 

Eurosport's inability to maintain a stable schedule, which has been the case for 30 years, plus its lack of channels and contracts like the Olympics to be taken care of in high season it threatens to be a highly disjointed service, although hopefully not lamentable enough to start live coverage at heat 19!

There is one aspect of the BT deal that is overlooked. BT take speedway seriously in its channel promotions. One moment you can be watching a top football premiership match, the next it's the next speedway event being mentioned. There were  regular promotions for speedway during their Champions League coverage including the final. You see a constant flow of promos for major sports, and speedway's right in there. I wouldn't liike to even try to estimate the cost of having to pay for that publicity. 

 

 

Fogo and Cash broker(Gorzow main sponsor) are both British companies. Polish divisions just choose to sponsor speedway. 
 

BT might have done loads of advertising. Not making a single difference to gate revenue. Great for BT getting more people watching TV. So if you were a club you are getting more money than you were before. And a chance at more sponsorship than has been available before. 
 

I don’t understand how the league isn’t sponsored and anything else which could be sponsored across the board isnt. 

Bet Fred Premiership for example. 

A deal with a hotel company, Fuel, Tyre, Van( harder due to lots of clubs been sponsored by local van providers). If they want to save costs then look at the simple stuff before watering down a league and making us all pay more .

[Bald Bloke 3,281]

4 hours ago, Badge said:

I'm with bt and get all the eurosport channels 

The Mrs has BT Sport app on the ipad for £5 a month. That's how I watch the speedway. Never tried to see if I can get Eurosport on it.

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

1 hour ago, poolebolton said:

Fogo and Cash broker(Gorzow main sponsor) are both British companies. Polish divisions just choose to sponsor speedway. 
 

BT might have done loads of advertising. Not making a single difference to gate revenue. Great for BT getting more people watching TV. So if you were a club you are getting more money than you were before. And a chance at more sponsorship than has been available before. 
 

I don’t understand how the league isn’t sponsored and anything else which could be sponsored across the board isnt. 

Bet Fred Premiership for example. 

A deal with a hotel company, Fuel, Tyre, Van( harder due to lots of clubs been sponsored by local van providers). If they want to save costs then look at the simple stuff before watering down a league and making us all pay more .

Well Fogo keep their UK activities rather quiet, along with the other Polish sponsors. Not familiar with Cash Broker. 

Working on your basis that the free advertising on BT has made no effect on gate reveniues then presumably the same has to be said of the match coverage, so why bother at all? Have you considered that gates might be even worse without TV exposure? It's a rather simplistic argument without detailed market research which is an alien concept to British Speedway. 

As for this persistent understanding of what gets called "watering down", have you considered the disaster we would be really in if we were trying to keep u[p with Polish pay and attract the top stars without Sky money? The sport doesn't run on Monopoply money, you know ;-)

I do fear that yet again short term thinking and just chasing the wonga could see us tied into a five year deal when we have no continuity of coverage and the quality can only be guessed at. I simply cannot see speedway getting any airtime during the Olympics or whenever a major event is taking place in Eurosport's major sports like cycling or the various other forms of motorcycle racing. 

As flagrag acknowledges BT Sport take the sport seriously and firmly include it as a major sport. If only their bid reflected this. Sometimes you have to look at the wider picture.

Philip Rising mentions that under Discover Eurosport is likely to be a very different animal. Discovery first took a minority interest in 2012, increasing to a majority stake in 2014 and a full stake in 2015. Well, it's been four years and apart from buying significant rights which need multiple temporary channels to service, I haven't seen much change. It's pretty much the same as when the French (TF1) had control. 

It really is about time that the BSPA took professional advice on their media rights, rather than just grabbing the biggest cheque. Back in the 80s it was only the cheque from Screen Sport that the BSPA were interested in, and they paid scant attention to the exposure we could have given them. Sadly the slow development of cable at the time and the development of Sky killed the channel before we had the chance to see where we both could go. We were all speedway fans so the intention was certainly there!

 

Edited October 1, 2019 by RobMcCaffery

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

6 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said:

DON'T forget that Eurosport is or will be a very different animal under the wing of Discovery who, apparently, have access to 56 countries. That might appeal to Polish sponsors.

They've always had access to multiple countries since the 80s. Eurosport started out as part of the Eurovision* service so had access to material from national broadcasters all over Europe and their geographical availability reflected this. 

*Yes there's a lot more to Eurovision than a song contest!

[Hodgy 976]

Fogo are a Polish Generator manufacturer. 

[iainb 4,962]

15 hours ago, RobMcCaffery said:

Regarding potential sponsors, I take it you're referring to the claim that we may tap into Polish sponsors. Why would Polish brands like Nice, Get Well, Mr Garden, Fogo want to advertise to the UK?

The same reason Chinese companies sponsor PL Football

8 hours ago, RobMcCaffery said:

It really is about time that the BSPA took professional advice on their media rights

They do don't they... Mr Terry Russell