yachting, then you can start
creating really interesting
advertising models as well.
Could that happen under the
bigger properties as well?
It could do. If you’re just going out
on a pay-TV platform and you want
to hit as many people as you
possibly can, at the moment a TV
network does that a lot better for
you. But in time, yes why not? Will
the clubs in the Premier League say
“Okay, we don’t want to deal with
one broadcaster. We, Man Utd,
want to put our stuff out on Man
Utd over the top TV channel. We’ll
control those rights.” Manchester
United already owns and operates
its own subscription-based TV
channel MUTV. The technology is
there and some sports are
beginning now to recognise the
value of that.
How can rights owners ensure that
the broadcaster is living up to his
side of the bargain?
For large rights holders it’s fairly
straightforward. It’s simply a case
of appointing a company that will
in turn have viewers in each of
those markets watching the World
Cup to report through daily.
If the sponsors feel that they’re
not being treated as they should be
they’ll often report broadcasters to
the rights holders. It’s certainly in
the interests of the rights holders to
make sure licences are being adhered
to because a lot of the contractual
obligations are about preserving
the integrity of the feed or about
preserving the commercial interests
of their sponsors, all of which are
things that you want to protect.
It gets less straightforward
where you’re monitoring for piracy.
The big issue for rights holders and
broadcasters is Internet piracy and
huge amounts of money are being
spent to combat that type of piracy.
There are signs that broadcasters
are beginning to have a little bit
more success in the fight back. Just
to give you an example from the
last World Cup, the Indians, for the
first time ever, got an injunction
from the Indian courts and the ISPs
had no choice but to block certain
websites in India. It was a great
result but it’s not something you’re
ever going to be able to shut down
completely.
Companies like Discovery are
outbidding the unions for rights to
big events. Is that good for sport?
I believe that particularly for big
sports you want to get them out
there to as many people as possible,
particularly young people. As to
the recent Discovery deal, I’m sure
they’ve got minimum commitments
in their obligation. It’s a question of
getting the balance right and if the
balance is right it ensures that a
significant chunk of that event goes
out on free TV, but at the same time
the money that goes back into the
sport rises considerably.
I’m also convinced that a
company like Discovery will do
huge amounts with that property in
terms of support programming, in
terms of promotion, advertising,
whatever it is. They’ll be a really
good partner to the IOC.
Was the Discovery deal a wake-up
call to PSBs?
They are already awake. That
[commercial] dynamic has been in
the market for a long time, and
while I’m sure that a number of free
TV broadcasters would have been
disappointed by that deal, they
would have seen it coming and
knew the threat existed.
What are the key issues in
negotiations?
Every deal is different. Piracy is an
issue that always tends to crop up
because most broadcasters when
they acquire rights are concerned
about preserving the exclusivity in
terms of what actually goes into the
contract, making sure there’s no
opportunity for rights holders to
sell other bits and pieces to
competitors. What happens after
the contract’s been signed is also
key. Is the rights holder going to
help you to fight piracy, to preserve
your exclusivity, to stop
competitors doing what they’re not
supposed to do? A lot of broadcasters
now are acquiring rights across the
park so they’ll be also interested in
what’s going to happen on the
Internet where things are less easy
to govern and manage.
Your advice to broadcasters?
There are things that you would
perhaps expect to be written in a
contract which have been
deliberately left out. It may be that
you think you’re acquiring certain
rights but you’re not actually
acquiring all of them. Be crystal
clear about exactly what it is you
are buying, the manner in which
you can exploit those rights and
lastly be clear how the relationship
with your rights holder is going to
develop moving forward.
Thank you, Julian Moore.
Be clear
about
what it is
you are
buying and
how you
can exploit
those
rights
“
”
THE CHANNEL
|
ISSUE 2 2015
|
43
