It appears that Sky New Zealand may have lost the right to broadcast English Premier League games for the upcoming season. The announcement was made on Sky Sports New Zealand's Facebook and Twitter pages this evening -
Attention football fans. Regarding EPL on SKY Sport: http://t.co/ZD9ZJpPea5.
— SKY Sport NZ (@skysportnz) June 18, 2013
2013 has been so far been a year where Sky's domination of the New Zealand subscriber TV market has been severely challenged after high profile failures to secure vital sports, including MotoGP and now the EPL which must surely rank as Sky's biggest slap to the face yet.
For so long, EPL football had formed the backbone along with rugby of Sky Sports' coverage - Sky now finds itself with a massive hole in the rugby off-season.
Of greater concern is how New Zealand fans will follow the EPL. Thankfully, the EPL is probably the most widely followed sports league in the world, meaning it is heavily available on the internet to stream - and highlights packages are quite easy to get.
And it appears that a consortium called collosseum led by former Sky boss, Craig Heatley, has bought the rights from MP & Silva to screen not just for the EPL but Serie A and Ligue 1 football in New Zealand. A football channel based on the internet is quite likely to be on the cards now - New Zealand football fans will have to wait with bated breath as to how much it will cost, although they might very well have some spare cash in their pocket if many cancel their Sky subscriptions following this latest news.
I guess this is really a sign of the times and a positive thing for consumers - the trouble with Sky's EPL coverage is that we are restricted to watch whatever they show. It looks like with this new deal, viewers will have greater choice and control on what games they can watch - there is also an outside chance that highlights packages could end up being sold to free-to-air terrestial channels.
A Football Channel would be nice and if it weren't for the rugby - and Jones! - would have made me cancel my Sky subscription ages ago.
And even if I can't afford it, there's always footytube.com.
EDIT (Wednesday, 19 June 2013)
It has just been announced that Colisseum Management, the consortium that bought the rights to broadcast English Premier League football to New Zealand have sold the rights to TVNZ. More details below from TVNZ -
In a first for NZ sport fans, all English Premier League football matches will be shown online, with select games and highlights on TV ONE.
Coliseum Sports Media, which won the rights to the New Zealand broadcast of the league yesterday, today announced a dedicated pay-per-view online platform.
PremiereLeaguePass.com, which will be launched on August 1, will be showing all 380 games of the season live, with 250 of those available on-demand for just under $150 for the year.
TV ONE will also deliver 38 "Match-of-the-Week" games every Sunday, as well as a Highlights Show aired on Monday evenings.
Jeff Latch, TVNZ's Head of TV ONE and TV2, said he was thrilled to bring the premiership back to TV ONE screens after a gap of many years.
"We're excited to be working with Coliseum to give TV viewers a chance to see the world's most watched and closely followed football competition. We know football fans are passionate supporters of the beautiful game.
"These are exciting times to be in the media business and this is a fascinating development for premium sports content that we expect to be welcomed by New Zealand viewers."
CSM chief executive Tim Martin said: "PremierLeaguePass.com will give football-loving Kiwis the power to watch the most competitive and compelling league in the world of football when they want to."
The website will use adaptive streaming to ensure broadcast quality and uninterrupted viewing.
Martin said the collaboration with TVNZ was to try and connect more fans directly with the sport.
"We think it's great that New Zealanders will get the opportunity to get involved with the Barclays Premier League, for free, at a time they can watch it on the weekend and on Monday night," Martin said.
"Nowhere in the world is the entire Barclays Premier League free to viewers. Now is the time for New Zealand sports fans to literally set the rules and join in the global game."
Mr Martin said the pay-per-view website would be available on Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, Android phone and tablets, through Apple TV or by connecting their laptop to TV using an HDMI cable.
Packages for the online service are $24.90 for a day pass, $149.90 for a season pass, or $239.90 for a season pass platinum with extra features. There will be no advertising on games live or on demand after kick off.
CSM outbid long-term rights holders SKY Television in their move to secure the EPL.
Sky chief executive John Fellett said the company's subscription prices would remain the same despite not being able to show the competition.
"Our sports rights are more expensive now than they were a year ago, even without the EPL," he said.
Fellett said Sky would instead be showing more All Whites, Football Ferns and Wellington Phoenix games to compensate for the loss of the EPL.
At 2pm Sky's share price had fallen by more than 5% since the start of trading today, down to $5.38 a share.
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