FIFA and UEFA have been granting the rights for television broadcasts of the competitions that they organize to various TV and Radio organizations under strict rules. One of those rules was that each organization could not submit offers for more than one events at a time. However, this way of trading is contrary to the European Union rules for free trade and increased competition. Therefore, they are now considering a radical change about how they will grant those broadcasting rights. A change that may even have an impact on the live streaming that all top Asian and European bookmakers have incorporated in their sites.
It will start with the Champions League
According to Bloomberg, UEFA is considering granting broadcasting rights to live streaming operators like Amazon and Netflix, along with changing the rules about the possibility of submitting offers for more than one events at the same time. Furthermore, they are considering long term contracts, to abide by the directives of the European Counsil about three-year agreements, hoping to increase the competitiveness of the bids.
In fact, through the new premise, they may even consider global scope offers which would allow one operator to broadcast an event to the entire world. The success of the experiment that granted Paramount the rights to show the matches of the Champions League to the United States after a 9-year contract worth one and a half billion dollars, persuaded the members of the board to consider further changes along with this train of thought.
It will also change things for the broadcasters
While it is an undeniable fact that the streamers have been getting more and more matches to transmit, up to now, they were getting evens of major importance, rather than complete packages for an entire season. UEFA and FIFA hope that through the new arrangements, the live streaming operators will make greater bids for more matches, thus, increasing the revenue by a considerable margin.
Of course, the idea sparked heated debates from its supporters and those who see quite a number of problems rising from an implementation of such a plan. Understandably, more money for UEFA means more money for the clubs, and consequently, buying better players to be more competitive. However, the protestors see another side of the coin.
It’s all for the money and only for the money
According to the opposition for the plan, it will exclude those that cannot afford to pay subscriptions from watching the matches. There is already a big issue with poor countries whose people either gather in one house to watch an important event, or fill up cafes and other public places. Governments will also have a problem if they do not allow for television through subscription and insist that all broadcasts are free for everyone (which of course increases the revenue from advertising). Live streaming will mean a circumvention of those restrictions, and they may choose to restrict the whole premise altogether.
It is also a fact that the vast majority of the common people, do consider this as another idea for forcing them to pay up. While the most revenue comes from advertising, there is a ceiling to the amounts that they contribute. There are only so many ads that can be presented during a live broadcast. Hence, the only way to increase the revenue is to make more people pay.
For the bettors it’s a turn to live betting
Another undeniable fact is that live betting is far more exciting than the standard pre-match placement of wagers. Taking into account the technical issues that exist in converting the TV waves into a digital form for live streaming, getting agreements with the streamers will save a lot of trouble for the bookmakers and will increase the number of events that they can broadcast through their sites. More matches mean more betting and more opportunities to those that will choose to open an account at the best betting software.
