Originally Posted by
mistaTea
Also important to remember - this is 5 years away, and a lot can happen in 5 years. It is not even certain that Spark Sport will still be around.
I agree that rugby is important content. It provides great content for about 10 months of the year.
And despite Ogg's assertion that rugby is just for young people 'with no money'... the majority of rugby fans are males over 40 with disposable income.
I don't agree with the doom and gloom scenarios whereby a loss of rugby leads to a mass exodus. I could be wrong on that, but in a scenario like this it is fair to say that Sky Sport monthly subscription costs would drop from ~$30/month to $15-$20/month most likely. Provided they still have enough other good content across football, league, tennis, cyccling, boxing, super cars etc...I think they can hold onto more customers than people give credit for.
I am a rugby fan myself (neither 'young' nor 'broke' as Ogg would assert) and would much prefer Sky hang onto the rights when they come up for negotiation in 5 years time. I believe the contract is set in such a way that we get first rights of exclusive negotiation...and only if we don't land an agreement by a certain date can the rights go out to the wider market.
So, depending on how things are in the world in 5 years time...it is still possible that Sky could lock the rights up again. I am just not sure that it is probable from where we are sitting here in 2021.
And, no mater how wonderful a piece of content is..nothing is worth an infinite price. Ultimately, we have to pay a price that makes sense (and allows us to make a living).