Why BT’s Acquisition of Champions League Rights Won’t Change a Thing
With the news this week that BT have acquired the rights to the Champions League from 2015 in a deal worth nearly £900m, football fans and customers of Sky and BT have got to be wondering, how will this change things for me?
When the news was announced there was the same cries of the monopoly being broken as there was when BT acquired the rights to some Premier League match this season, but does this really break Sky’s monopoly on the sport in this country or does it simply turn it into an oligopoly? In this scenario, the only people losing out will be the fans and their wallets. BT’s service is currently free for BT broadband subscribers, and can be attained for a small fee for those not with BT. I think it is very unlikely that this will continue as BT will need to find a way to pay for the rights. So the chances are they will hugely jack up the price of their service in order to pay for it. So surely that means Sky’s prices will drop since you will be getting less content from their sports package? This also seems unlikely as they will have to cover the costs of not having the Champions League and Europa League games.
The general economic theory when it comes to competition is that more is always better, but in this case it could do the exact opposite and could leave customers and football fans paying more than twice as much for the same content. Surely moves like this will only push more people towards the increasingly popular illegal online streams. BT and Sky will have to rely on people sticking with them and their price increases if they want to turn a profit.
It is a shame as a football fan to see the sport being nudged more and more out of reach of the every day fan. With ticket prices increasing and extortionate TV packages coming up. Who’s to say that in 5 years time, another large company won’t decide to buy into the Premier League or Champions League rights. A three way split could further drive prices up and fans would have no choice but to either pay up or stop watching football. Nowadays football does appear to be 100% driven by money, and to a certain point there is nothing wrong with that if it provides needed boosts to your club, but it is fast becoming a game for the haves and not for the have nots as the gap between upper and working class grows in this country.
Photo by Rameez Sadikot
About the Author
SYC Matt A football fan just like the rest of us. Battling with the usual ups and downs that come with supporting one of the less glamorous teams. Crusader for footballing justice.
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