Coliseum Sports - EPL Overlords

DAMN! Them getting F1 would've been perfect then A-League, All Whites & Triathlon would be the only remaining things keeping me tied to Sky Sport...

EDIT: How long has the F1 TV rights been re-signed for?

remembered my parents get the SST, so got my mum to take some photos of the article here it is http://imgur.com/a/6pazH#0
interesting about the new territories they have got

For me it's a lot worse than Sky considering it's now a worse quality product and is more hassle to get it on your large screen non-Samsung TV. It doesn't really make sense to me that in 2014 we can no longer watch EPL in HD, but maybe that's just me. But it's the only legal option in NZ (unless you support one of the big clubs and are prepared to wait and avoid results for sometimes 24 hours or more until the delayed club tv offering screens on Sky/Sommet), so as Dougie says the hardcore who can't go without it like us will subscribe, but they'll miss out on most of the casuals who may have watched games on Sky but don't support any team enough to be bothered with the hassle of it. They have also ruled out the rural population who can't get broadband and many older people or pensioners who either don't use computers/internet or can't cope with setting this up.

But I am thankful we can at least see it at all in this country. Imagine if noone had bid and we'd have to be doing the dodgy live stream thing for every game.

This is coming from a supporter of a team whose games were always shown though. I do see how much better it is for fans of other clubs who may not have got to see their team every week. Can't please everyone.

That sounds excellent, improved service, chasing other rights.

Definitely think Sky's monopoly is in serious danger with the changes coming. Going to be a great time to be following Sport in NZ, might be more expensive to start with, but definitely going to win out in the end. :)

Skys arrogance will only blink on the day there is murmerings about losing Thugby. And that isn't going to happen. We can all look forward to being treated with continued contempt.

Any chance of a podcast poll to determine if this is here to stay? Smithy, news, 2nd best and el Garp, which of you brought this package last year? Considering the passion that you have for football, the fact you all seem to know what the internet is and your disposable income (which you dont mind spending on beverages and football) I would think that collesium sports would need at least a  75 per cent conversion rate to survive. What say you?

The article had Tim Martin saying subscriber numbers were 'slightly less than they'd budgeted for' (paraphrasing)...

Be interested to see how they will grow that number given it now has a more expensive entry point ($199 v $149)

Really interesting stuff in that article.  Think it goes to show what I have been saying that competition isn't always good for the consumer.  If the F1 rights are now 400% higher then that cost needs to be born somewhere - that's either lower profit margins or increased subscriptions.  As SKY is a listed company I think where know where that pressure will come to bear.  

And let's say you were an F1 fan and Coliseum had got the rights.  You now pay $200 for football, $200 for F1 - SKY still has league, cricket, rugby and A-League.  How is this now better for you? 

in the short run of course it costs more (though you do get a better service for that, especially with the EPL). 

In the long run consumers would be better off. 

You're also ignoring those who quit sky because it's no longer worth it and save themselves $800-1000 in the process.

Sure, for those people (who get Sky only for Premier league and F1) it's a great outcome.  For everyone else it just costs more but with additional content and more flexibility, you're right there.  Will be interesting to see how it plays out, I agree.  They need to get HD sorted because that's just market standard now.  And the tech shouldn't be a battle.  I may be moving back to NZ soon so I've become very interested in this topic!

The $200 has put me off. I keep Sky so the kids can have their cartoons. There'd be a riot Sherriff Cali was abandoned! And we all know a 3 & a 2 year old double tantrum is just not worth the hassel.

Why is everyone saying they don't do HD?

It started mid-way through last season... 

From what I read on here Paul is that they do HD but you largely get a stuttery feed so effectively, they don't do HD (they do but very poorly)

I actually found HD to not be stuttery. They did a fix midway through the season which made SD not stuttery too. 

I don't know what is going on with ajc28's - but mine was in great quality HD. Especially if I plugged the internet cable straight into the laptop. 

Yeah it was weird because it was a really good quality picture on the laptop but when connected with HDMI to the TV it was stuttery and looked as if it was filmed on a handheld camcorder. I don't think my equipment is the problem as I've used the same method to watch Arsenal Player, Sky Go and others and not had the same issue. So is there something to do with PLP's encoding that doesn't seem to like my setup? Was hoping there were some settings either on the laptop or TV I could tweak to improve it but there don't seem to be. Hopefully it will improve this season. I'm keen to try Apple TV (and convince my partner to let me use her ipod touch!) but am trying to find someone who has it and will let me borrow it for a day or 2 to test it out before buying it and finding it's no better.

If an LG TV app is not possible then some apps for games consoles like TVNZ and Quickflix have would be ideal for me.

I'm amazed you manage to watch skygo without stutter - its the worst!

That's where we disagree as for me it's been a worse service given the difficulty I've found in getting a high quality viewing experience on my TV. There's also the technical issues such as the hassle required to start a game from the beginning while it's still playing if you haven't got up early enough for kickoff, although I assume that's something that wouldnt be too complicated to resolve.

As for the long run, now that there's competition between Sky, Coliseum and Sommet (who I believe also bid more than Sky for EPL), how likely are one provider to get everything in future? It's most likely you're always going to be subscribing to multiple services so I can't see that you will be better off financially. As we have now seen with F1 going for four times the previous amount, Sky are able and prepared to blow Coliseum out of the water when needed (and I'd probably expect them to do so for EPL when it's up for bidding again after next season). So you know they won't be letting rugby, their flagship, go when it comes up for renewal next year. So if Coliseum go in hard for it, could that also go for four, five, even ten times the previous amount? If similar happens for all the popular sports and the rights cost several times more, it's us who will ultimately have to pay for it.

What I see as likely to happen is Coliseum pick up a few popular sports but Sky will hang onto enough that you'll still need both. Say Coliseum manage to get things like La Liga (or other league like Serie A etc), A League, netball, darts, tennis and golf majors, 6 Nations, UK domestic rugby and super league. Using the $200 for a season of EPL as a benchmark, do you get much change for your $800-$1000 if you want to watch all or most of that? Meanwhile, Sky hang onto the big ones: Super rugby, All Blacks and other internationals including World Cup, NRL/Origin, league internationals, NZ cricket, black caps, and major international series (ie, World Cup, IPL, Ashes, Aus-SA etc), Olympics, World Cup, Euro etc. Effectively you could be paying for two Sky Subscriptions.

If Coliseum manage to get that many sports I assume they would also offer an annual subscription to everything which would be a slightly cheaper than subscribing to each sport individually. But given what they'll have to pay for the rights I'm not sure it will cost you much less than Sky. And then you may still need Sky too.

if I can get good quality A-League stream through my tv, SKY is gone. I will be experimenting this season. This is the only thing holding me back from pushing the eject button and watching that SKY decoder fly away.

Yeah thats also weird. I've only done it a few times when I've forgotten to record something or the weather was so bad that a recording was unwatchable. But while the picture quality is not great, it's smooth and doesn't stutter like PLP does. So if that works ok when going from laptop to TV via HDMI, then surely the higher quality PLP should do.

I'm interested in what the new territory they secured the rights to. 120million population with 40mil internet connections.

Well they said Asia, think Japan is the only nation with 120m, but can't find "connections" stats on them, the usage stats put them at 80% of population about 100m => That'd translate to households of 2.5 people to get 40m connections?

Edit: If we ignore Asia, then the other nation of 120m is Mexico, and they have 44m "internet users"

So depending on definitions either fits the bill, of course it could be a group of countries they have gained that add up to 120m...

I have just taken on beinsports (15 channels of HD sport! ) but i am still going to get PLP as on demand. I hope to acquire A-League this season through livesports.tv and then, yes, sky is gone - roll on the cord cutting.

Sky, wake up and offer the sports channels only via skygo - your days are over.

In the article JD posted (if you're on this thread you need to hurry up and read that), it was suggested that coliseum were looking to the asian market in a big way, and we are just entry level for them. 

On the topic of getting other sports, Sky has just announced a six year deal with NZ Cricket for Black Caps and domestic cricket.

Cricket, Olympics, Football World Cup, European Championships, Champions League - SKY aren't going ANYWHERE 

yeah though having been a monopoly for so long, they probably have a pretty inefficient cost structure. Made worse by costs of rights suddenly going up. 

Adapt or die is probably inching closer. I don't think their current model is sustainable in the long term with technology going the way it is. They may well adapt, and that would be great. 

Thats an optimistic position there Tegal.

not really. I'm not predicting the end of sky.

I'm saying they have to adapt with the times, as all businesses do at some point when technology changes. 

With the Internet lowering costs of being able to broadcast content (lowering the barriers to entry) as well as giving consumers more substitute options (both legal and illegal) it isn't all that outrageous to say that it'll be harder to expect sky to remain a monopoly and they'll have to adapt accordingly. 

Website has now finally been updated and you can subscribe for this season. New feature mentioned is:

"Interactive game timeline makes navigating to important moments inside games a doddle."

They also responded to someone who made a few points on Facebook with:

"over the off-season we had made some improvements that will be to your liking. These include a 'join live' or 'start from beginning' option and an interactive in-player timeline so you can navigate the big moments more easily. Further details soon."

Interested to find out whether the interactive timeline is something you can turn on or it automatically shows as if you are watching as live you may not want to know when things are going to happen.

If it's the same functionality as on other NeuLion sites (which it will be), then if you hit "Scores off" it'll hide all the goals etc on the timeline, and "Scores on" will show them.

Brilliant. The start from beginning option is great. 

Agree about the interactive game timeline, hopefully it doesn't say when/if there are goals. Would prefer it just to be "start of first half" and "start of 2nd half" instead of having to guess. Hopefully there is a different goals or key moments option that you can toggle on/off. 

But it sounds like a great feature. 

Taiwan and the Philippines the new territories 

I cant seem to find how to get the cheaper deal for last years subscribers, can only see the $199 one. Anyone else managed to find it?

From the small picture it looks as though it's just a marker on the timeline that a "key moment" has happened. Useful for people breezing through highlights rather than watching the full game I guess. How they define "key moments" is unclear but assume it means goals, red cards, maybe saves or close chances and anything controversial etc. Should be something you can toggle on or off.

The start from beginning is a good and essential feature as it's something there was no issue with on Sky if you recorded it and got up while it was still going but not early enough for kickoff.

They said the details would be emailed to you. Now that subscriptions have finally opened it will probably come soon.

On NFL GamePass you used to be able to toggle it on and off in settings assume it is similar, but it was just symbols showing "key moments"

Chatting on Twitter to the PL Pass guys. Looks like they have tried to develop apps for both Playstation and Xbox. Discussions with PS are in play but there are apparently issues with the Aussie development arm of Microsoft (or something like that) so this is on the back burner.

With so many points of access, Coliseum are setting themselves up as a fine provider of sporting content!

Thanks for that update, I don't use twitter so wouldn't have seen those posts. I imagine they have had a lot of requests for game console apps. Playstation app would be ideal for me as I would no longer have to connect the laptop to the TV or buy any new equipment.

Further to that there's a Coliseum guy posting over on Geekzone so I asked for more detail. His response:

"We had been in discussions with Xbox until the pulled the plug on Australasia...we have now opened talks with the PS development team, but it's not looking particularly hopeful for this season yet."