Cont'd - NHL makes 12-year/$5.2 billion Canadian TV deal w/ Sportsnet, CBC, TSN out

[DyerMaker66*]

Monopolies have no discernible demand and supply scales and never have. There is no competition, what exactly would be the motive behind Sportsnet lowering prices? 12 years of free reign

Public backlash which could lead to declining revenue.

 

[Habsawce]

Public backlash which could lead to declining revenue.

Public backlash is irrelevant when the public has no other option to watch hockey. Think about in terms of the lockout, how many people were flipping out over the lockout and how many actually stopped watching when it came back?

Rogers was just handed keys to a government money maker for their own personal agenda's and nothing has been said about it. Deal just happened today, so I'm going to hold faith that someone in this porous government says something about it but I'm not overly optimistic.

 

[Vegeta]

Good deal for the league but **** for us fans. **** sportsnet, I'll just watch streams.

 

[saskganesh]

Hey except for a few the great majority have always criticized the CBC for blowing money on hockey. Certainly I didn't feel that way but the great majority of posters here have.

I don't think that's true. They just tend to be loud and repeat themselves a lot, largely relying on a few canned talking points.

 

[Ernie]

You know now Canadian teams can just continually jack up ticket prices year after year?

That's basically the same position that Sportsnet is in now.

 

[thom]

For a country like Canada in which 35 million live a 5 billion dollar deal controlled by 1 corp seems pretty steep.I guess owners and players are happy but for middle class canadians I see little benefit.I guess I wrong about last lock out I thought layers were selfish but I guess they knew there was much more money coming and they were right

 

[Melrose Munch]

Public backlash which could lead to declining revenue.

I hope you don't believe hockey will be king forever. It won't be, and that's for sure now with what has happened today.

 

[FakeKidPoker*]

I hope you don't believe hockey will be king forever. It won't be, and that's for sure now with what has happened today.

haha.. yes it will.

Hockey is just as big up here if not bigger than the NFL down in the States.

Nothing is taking down the NHL and hockey in our lifetimes... who knows maybe in 200 or 300 years but not now.

 

[Alexistheman]

Any chance this doesnt get ratified by the BoG?

Also any chance it gets denied by the CRTC?

 

[FakeKidPoker*]

To put it in perspective.

Rogers is paying 433 million per year in this current agreement

The NFL gets what 4 billion per year in TV rights in the states.

USA is 10x the size of Canada... so per capita Canada pays more for their TV rights than everyone combined in the US for the NFL the worlds best run league.

 

[Fenway]

No taxpayer money is involved - CBC is simply giving Rogers the channel in return for promoting other CBC shows.

It is important to remember that HNIC has only been owned by CBC for 10-15 years.

It used to be owned by MacLaren Advertising which was the ad agency for Imperial Esso ( which simply bought the time from CBC ) and then in the 80's Molstar took over.

Bell crunched the numbers and walked.

 

[Jonas1235]

a better comparison is that the NBA signed a 7.4 billion deal not that long ago, and the NHL just signed a 5.2 billion one in a country a ninth the size.

 

[LadyStanley]

awfulannouncing 7:22pm via TweetDeck NHL COO John Collins spoke to our @stevelepore about the landmark billion dollar TV deal with Rogers. http://t.co/PgaSynjE5N

 

[Habsawce]

To put it in perspective.

Rogers is paying 433 million per year in this current agreement

The NFL gets what 4 billion per year in TV rights in the states.

USA is 10x the size of Canada... so per capita Canada pays more for their TV rights than everyone combined in the US for the NFL the worlds best run league.

Overall annual broadcast revenue for the NFL will jump from an annual average of $1.9 billion in the 2007-2013 period to nearly $3.1 billion for 2014-22. Including deals with ESPN and satellite broadcaster DirecTV, the NFL will collect about $6 billion a year in total TV revenue beginning in 2014, a figure that will likely increase the following year after the DirecTV deal expires.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204026804577098774037075832

6 billion a year and much fewer games, not really comparable. The NFL is a completely different beast

 

[Fenway]

Any chance this doesnt get ratified by the BoG?

Also any chance it gets denied by the CRTC?

1 - NO

2 - CRTC would only get involved if Bell cried foul - and given recent history I don't think Bell wants anymore CRTC actions for awhile.

 

[Jack Bauer]

The costs of having Sportsnet will go way down as fans demand the games. This is pretty basic logic.

Yep. That's why the NFL charges for NFL Sunday Ticket. Not enough demand to see the games for a lower cost.

It's also clearly Rogers strategy to make less money over the course of the deal by attracting more fans to their platforms.

I hear the Leafs are about to cut the cost of tickets to $1.50 because of the demand.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Public backlash which could lead to declining revenue.

Until the backlash became strong enough that hundreds of thousands of people started cancelling cable entirely, it won't have an effect. Rogers now controls the distribution of cable, and the distribution of the most important chunk of content to many Canadians, which is NHL coverage.

Even if there was a big backlash from people who decided not to order any Sportsnet channels, that lost revenue will be recouped by simply upping the price of other content. The only way they truly get hurt is if enough people decide to forego television entirely.

With the way internet TV is growing, there is some possibility this could start to happen. But...wait for it....Rogers is the main provider of internet service in Canada. So even if their cable TV empire starts to crumble, they will still prop themselves up with higher internet costs.

This is why some of us in here are worried, and rightfully so. Television and the internet is ingrained in our culture to the point that it has become a borderline essential service for most people. Today, one company took a big step towards monopolizing that entire industry. Now we can argue over whether or not TV and the internet is indeed an "essential service" worthy of the same consumer protection measures afforded to other essential services, but that's a debate for another time and place.

 

[Warden of the North]

Any chance this doesnt get ratified by the BoG?

Also any chance it gets denied by the CRTC?

I would say no. Its a PILE of money for a lot of teams. A very important pile.

Bettman was on Sportsnet radio this aft, and he essentially said some some of the governors he spoke too yesterday, before the deal was announced were speechless at how much money it was worth.

What I do find interesting is the Leafs. Bell and Rogers own an equal share. That would make for an interesting meeting on which way to vote

 

[Kyle McMahon]

No taxpayer money is involved - CBC is simply giving Rogers the channel in return for promoting other CBC shows.

It is important to remember that HNIC has only been owned by CBC for 10-15 years.

It used to be owned by MacLaren Advertising which was the ad agency for Imperial Esso ( which simply bought the time from CBC ) and then in the 80's Molstar took over.

Bell crunched the numbers and walked.

Rogers gets to keep all advertising revenue generated from HNIC broadcasts. The CBC has used that huge piece of revenue to make up for the fact that they lose money on most of their other content. That other content must now be propped up entirely by Canadian taxpayers. CBC already costs taxpayers a lot of money, and now they've lost the one big money-maker they did have.

 

[Warden of the North]

Will the effect of this deal be seen in the cap next season, or will it be in 2015-16?

 

[Melrose Munch]

haha.. yes it will.

Hockey is just as big up here if not bigger than the NFL down in the States.

Nothing is taking down the NHL and hockey in our lifetimes... who knows maybe in 200 or 300 years but not now.

Things will be real ugly 5 years from now. Sportsnet is going to ruin hockey in canada.

 

[FakeKidPoker*]

Things will be real ugly 5 years from now. Sportsnet is going to ruin hockey in canada.

I doubt that with Scott Moore former president of CBC Sports in charge.

 

[Habsawce]

Will the effect of this deal be seen in the cap next season, or will it be in 2015-16?

It's been posted already that the cap implications which woudln't take affect till after next season will be minimal (2-3 milloin increase)

 

[Rude Dog]

As a business I get it. Bettman sold to the highest bidder. But of the three, Sportsnet is by far and away the worst. Total bush league programming compared to TSN. One notch better then Leafs TV and that isn't saying much.

Wish Gary showed more loyalty to two broadcasters who were instrumental in growing the game of hockey to kids and fans everywhere. If Sportsnet is serious, they better start with replacing their cast of clowns with TSN's panel. Can Buffalo pls hire McLean as their new GM so I don't have to listen to him and his Mercedes Benz or condo plugs anymore. Ugh. Sad day for hockey in the country, but great day for the owners pockets.

 

[SomeSortOfHockey]

Just want to point out that this is a bad deal for fans for one very simple reason. Rogers now has a near total monopoly on the coverage of NHL games in Canada, on all platforms. They are a ISP, a content producer and a content provider. Believe me that a monopoly is never, and I mean never, good for consumers. Especially one like this.

This is the worst thing that could have happened for fans in Canada, just wait and see.