SPL TV – Give new media a chance

One of the things I have been quite vocal about is the current SPL TV deal. I honestly feel that we would be better off without it and could do much better with a new set up. The SPL has the highest domestic viewing figures as a percentage of population in Europe. More people in Scotland watch their national league than any other European nation yet our TV deal doesn’t generate the revenue it should.

You’ve probably notice more adverts on TV for online entertainment companies i.e Lovefilm, Netflix and also more ways of watching live events online. Before, these services were limited to your PC or Laptop but now you can also stream media on your TV through you games console or even through you tablet or smartphone. Sky has even launched their own service for streaming movies.

This is the future.

Almost everybody can now easily access the internet at relatively low-cost compared with the costs of a digital TV package such as Sky or Virgin Media.

Now there are obviously a lot of numbers I don’t have access to so there are a lot of ifs and buts here but it’s just to give you an idea. I found that the SPL has average viewing figures of around 160,000 per match and Its on average around £10 for ESPN to be added onto Sky TV or for Sky Sports to be added to Virgin Media. Also I’ve looked at the business subscriptions for things like pubs/bookmakers and things like that. The average monthly cost for this is based on a small pub in a small town so the actual figures for this are probably much higher.

By my estimations, subscriptions at the moment would bring in an income of over £87m. Note that this is only income and doesn’t include costs but it also doesn’t include income from advertising which would bring in a lot of money from showing advertisements during matches.

Now of that massive sum, around £20m will reach the SPL each year when the new contract begins this season. Sky and ESPN are making a massive profits from showing SPL football. This is money that our clubs should be able to invest in new player, youth development or even lowering ticket costs.

Now I’ve factored in a 25% drop in subscribers on the new deal, i wouldn’t foresee a drop as big as this because the target audience would no longer be anybody with a subscription TV service i.e Sky/Virgin Media. The audience would now be anybody with an internet connection which would be a much larger audience. Imagine ex-pat fans all over the world getting to see the same as what we watch in Scotland. Also to make sure people weren’t put off I’ve lowered the cost of subscription to make sure it was very affordable.

This shows an income of around £22.5m for the season. Again this does not include costs but there’s also income from advertising to consider. If advertising didn’t cover 100% of costs it would certainly be a huge chunk of it.

Now all of the above could be wildly wrong but I believe we’re getting a raw deal from the current TV deal and we could do much better. All I ask is that the SPL investigate the possibilities of a new way to structure our television rights and how much income this could produce.

Online streaming is the future of media.

It would make sense to get in on it as early as possible.

 

MickC