With the news that the England footballs team next match has been sold exclusively to an online media company has got me thinking. Is online the natural home of all PPV sporting events? As always, content is king, and as technologies converge it will soon become less and less important by what device things are viewed on, but what is actually being viewed.
ITV is doing a great job of showing that there is less and less money to made as a traditional broadcaster. As with everything else, people don't consume TV in a linear fashion anymore. They watch what they want, when they want. TV scheduling has been less important.
Surely the next step would be to reduce scheduling even more and actually offer all shows on a PPV basis. I may not want to subscribe to the FX channel, but I may want to see the next series of Dexter, which I would be willing to pay for. I may not want to pay for Sky Sports, but would be happy to pay £5 to watch the odd premiership game. Selling lots of different pieces of content individually, rather than in large packages is definitely the way to go in a fragmented, digital society, and it may just, be more profitable.
Every major broadcaster will be seeing how many people subscribe to the match on Saturday, and if it is a success, we may start seeing many more events offered on a web PPV basis. Which in my opinion is no bad thing.
ITV is doing a great job of showing that there is less and less money to made as a traditional broadcaster. As with everything else, people don't consume TV in a linear fashion anymore. They watch what they want, when they want. TV scheduling has been less important.
Surely the next step would be to reduce scheduling even more and actually offer all shows on a PPV basis. I may not want to subscribe to the FX channel, but I may want to see the next series of Dexter, which I would be willing to pay for. I may not want to pay for Sky Sports, but would be happy to pay £5 to watch the odd premiership game. Selling lots of different pieces of content individually, rather than in large packages is definitely the way to go in a fragmented, digital society, and it may just, be more profitable.
Every major broadcaster will be seeing how many people subscribe to the match on Saturday, and if it is a success, we may start seeing many more events offered on a web PPV basis. Which in my opinion is no bad thing.
