Sports broadcasting is on the verge of its biggest revolution since the introduction of subscription TV, i.e. you have to pay for Sky to watch the live sport you want.
With improving broadband connections, the internet has already superseded the TV in many ways, i.e. why wait for TV to show the latest episode of Game of Thrones when you can download it online - illegally or otherwise. Plus, you don't have those flippin commercials - well less of them at least depending on where you're watching them.
Indeed, for general TV shows, broadcasters including TVNZ and Mediaworks are embracing this trend with their On-Demand apps - some shows can only be exclusively watched On Demand, encouraging viewers to check it out.
The delineation between TV and internet has started to affect sport too. Already in the US, the 4 major professional sports are available on broadband with highlights available for free in some cases and full live games for a subscriber fee.
In fact, in New Zealand, the Premier League is the first case where a major sport is effectively available only online thanks to Premierleaguepass - forget the fact that TV One shows one live game a week and that Sky and Sommet show delayed coverage of games via club TV channels, the Premier League package in New Zealand requires a broadband connection and a subscription. Remarkably, many people signed up for it and more have signed up for it this season, giving Colisseum some clout in the new era of On Demand sport.
Seeing this trend, Sky is considering season ticket packages tailored to fans who just want to pay for the rugby or cricket - it is likely that people who have these packages would be able to watch games delayed or highlights - and other miscellanous shows of interest - on their laptops.
Sport on Demand is clearly the way to go in the future and there are quite a lot of benefits for viewers and spectators.
Could having the ITM Cup on Demand mean all games kicking off on Saturday or Sunday afternoon and you just needing to select what game you're interested in?
This in my opinion could be great particularly for the last weekend of the season where I feel that it would have been more exciting having Tasman, Taranaki, Otago, Southland and North Harbour all play their games at the same time given what they need to do to grab 1st place in the Premiership for Tasman and Taranaki or the latter four to grab 4th place in the Championship.
On Demand TV could mean that regional restrictions could be placed for particular games, i.e. broadcasters could make certain games unavailable in areas where a game is being played, getting people to go to the grounds, as they do with the NFL. I guess the legalities of being able to enforce that would need to be looked into further.
What about having the All Blacks on Demand? Could we have All Blacks games back on Saturday afternoons like in the old days and people can watch the game On Demand at the pub later across the country and internationally? Could laws be put in place so that results or highlights aren't published by media outlets until the following day?
I think the ABs will probably remain on Saturday night as long as that is where TV revenue globally and domestically is most profitable for the broadcaster and union but the idea of watching the ABs on Demand is definitely one to contemplate.
Sport On Demand has opened up new horizons for sports broadcasters and there's so much more to come that we never thought would be possible.
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