Sorry if I've misled everyone.
The heading of the email was 'Premiership 2018/9 coverage.'
and my question was
'Hi,
Are you covering the EFL Premiership soccer in New Zealand this year 2018-19 as you did last year?
Thanks...'
MY mistake was missing the and out between EFL and Premiership.
It looks like Emily, who replied, took it that I just wanted news of the EFL.
Apologies again.
So crisis averted then
BeIN are absolutely hopeless at replying but they are now advertising that they have the Premier League Live on the app. If they had any communication whatsoever this rumor could have been cleared up straight away.
Watching Sunderland v Chalton live right now.. decent league one game.
Interesting that Sky seem to have completely passed on all of the pre-season friendlies this year. Or maybe it's an ESPN Australia thing, can't remember if a bunch of the ICC games used to be on ESPN or one of the Sky channels. The only friendly ESPN seem to have is the Juventus - MLS All Stars game.
Doesn't even look like they'll be showing the Community Shield on Monday, judging by the schedule.
The rights issue seems very strange when it comes to the Community Shield.
ESPN or Sky have been broadcasting it for years.
Now it seems that nobody is broadcasting it in NZ.
beIN don't have it either.
By the way, there are some European pre-season friendlies on ESPN.
Wednesday morning is Napoli vs. Borussia Dortmund.
There seem to be questions over whether the UEFA Champions League and Europa League will be broadcast in NZ this season.
Seems that Italian Serie A may be a possibility though.
I notice that beIN are no longer listing the Champions League or Europa League on their websites.
This from beIN to me in recent days:
Hi Peter,
Thank you for contacting beIN SPORTS.
We do apologize for the mistake, The rights to the Italian Serie A are yet to be awarded in this region same goes with UEFA League, but we hope to have an update for you soon.
Any update regarding this competition will be announced on our website https://www.beinsports.com/nz/ & https://connect-nz.beinsports.com/en.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
They had previously sent me this stock reply in regards to another query:
"beIN SPORTS brings you exclusive coverage of the EPL, La Liga, French League 1, Carabao Cup, Italian Serie A, EFL Championship, League 1 & League 2 competitions, from August 2018 to May 2019"
No CL/EL would be a shambles.
So will the games be available on demand this year or will we still have to wait several hours until a game is made available to watch?
Spark have won the EPL rights starting next season. I wonder how they'll go with their platform build and where they'll land between Bein & PLP! If Lightbox is anything to judge by I'm thinking somewhere in the middle...
So will the games be available on demand this year or will we still have to wait several hours until a game is made available to watch?
This is a critical update needed, PLP had it 'on demand' within a minute of coverage starting through their 'start from the begining' even when match was on live.
Yes, critical!
The Arsenal/Man City game yesterday was live at 3am. In an ideal world, I would've watched it at 4.30 so I could leave for work at the normal time, thus maximising my sleep, but because I wasn't sure what would happen with the on-demand situation, I had to get up at 3 and watch it. Then I'm trying to get back to sleep at 5, just for an hour and a half... it was brutal!
I thought those days were gone with the advent of On-Demand viewing...
Yea I've got a toddler who's less than an ideal sleeper so those 2am games are tough. When I had it through sky i could just record. This year with just the app I can't trust the game being available when i get up.
I would suggest leaving some feedback on their Facebook post.
Yea I've got a toddler who's less than an ideal sleeper so those 2am games are tough. When I had it through sky i could just record. This year with just the app I can't trust the game being available when i get up.
Yea mate I know the pain... I have three, 2, 4 and 6 years old... these past cupla seasons have been tough!
Guess it will be a similar service to PLP with some sort of deal/discount if your sign up to Spark broadband too.
Yeah good luck on not getting a generic response on FB, also now that Spark have secured the rights for the next few seasons, I doubt that BeIN will be making any effort with their service this year.
Bein was always going to be temporary. They won the NZ rights when they bundled them with the AU rights. They butchered the whole thing when they thought they were bidding on exclusive AU rights, instead winning partial rights and outbidding everyone else in the process. Absolute shambles.
Yeah good luck on not getting a generic response on FB, also now that Spark have secured the rights for the next few seasons, I doubt that BeIN will be making any effort with their service this year.
I work at a tech company (which isn't Spark!)
Realistically, we have to prioritise feedback which means you get generic responses. But if/when we see trends develop then the information will get to the right people.
All Sparked up for EPL Can Spark market high speed fibre yet or is it still restricted to other providers.
Presumably Bein will be dropped from Sky next year, so I can see a scenario develop where CL football will only be available via the hooky stream route.
CL news later this week, early next I'm hearing. For next season on.
CL news later this week, early next I'm hearing. For next season on.
Guess Spark couldn't win everything!
CL news later this week, early next I'm hearing. For next season on.
2019/20 season? the 3 year broadcast rights cycle kicks off this year 2018/19 to 2020/21.
Uefa website on the article "where to watch the super cup" says sky nz, but the sky guide doesn't have it listed...
ok for this season then.
It's OK Paulm, we're still few TV rights cycles away from worrying about watching the Champions League anyway!
Eventually there will be a separate subscription like this for every individual sport. Good for those who only want to watch one but it will be interesting to see the total cost compared to Sky if you want to watch say 3+ sports.
Eventually there will be a separate subscription like this for every individual sport. Good for those who only want to watch one but it will be interesting to see the total cost compared to Sky if you want to watch say 3+ sports.
Yea that's what I've been thinking.
There were a few sports i specifically had sky for (EPL, NRL, NASCAR/IndyCar/V8s, NFL to name a few) but enjoyed watching a whole host of other sports that I wouldn't pay for specifically (Tennis slams, Golf Majors BOP npc games)
Sky really ought to let you choose your channels for a bespoke package. Splitting everything in half doesn't help if the channels you watch the most are across the two basic options.
I recently did a survey for Sky on whether I'd rather have MySky type recording on a physical device vs a cloud. In the comments I made it clear I'd rather have neither, I just want live or on-demand. Their language in the research either indidcates a desire to maintain programming + recording to continue, or they're dumming down their language to appeal to an older audience who simply don't understand on demand as a concept.
I recently did a survey for Sky on whether I'd rather have MySky type recording on a physical device vs a cloud. In the comments I made it clear I'd rather have neither, I just want live or on-demand. Their language in the research either indidcates a desire to maintain programming + recording to continue, or they're dumming down their language to appeal to an older audience who simply don't understand on demand as a concept.
recording in the cloud is essentially on demand - it dosn't record a physical copy of what you are wanting to save on the cloud it just goes and accesses the content up there - meaning you can continue to watch where you left off on any SKY device.
I suspect your right and the wording is the issue.
CL news later this week, early next I'm hearing. For next season on.
2019/20 season? the 3 year broadcast rights cycle kicks off this year 2018/19 to 2020/21.
Uefa website on the article "where to watch the super cup" says sky nz, but the sky guide doesn't have it listed...
Well further to what I said above, it's even going to be multiple subscriptions for the same sport to see each competition.
Well further to what I said above, it's even going to be multiple subscriptions for the same sport to see each competition.
this was always the danger when competition came into the market - this is a relatively small scale issue but it will be interesting to see how this sports rights battle progresses - when the dust settles sports fans may have a better service than right now but what's certain is that there is going to be some pain points in the process.
Looks like the Spark Premier League deal is forcing Sky to up their game with the football content they have left.
They are now broadcasting a lot more Champions League games starting this season - twice as many as last season, 138 games in total.
Spark are quoted as saying they have carefully studied online sports broadcasting in Australia and the UK.
They are offering EPL to non-Spark customers from launch next season (Optus in Australia are only making EPL available to non-Optus customers from this season after securing EPL rights and offering it only to their customers failed to tempt a lot of people to switch telco providers)
If Optus in Australia are anything to go by, their cost seems pretty reasonable at $AU 14.99 per month (can just subscribe to their EPL coverage alone without being an Optus customer):
https://www.optus.com.au/for-you/entertainment/spo...
I hope that Spark keep the cost reasonable at that sort of level.
Some Optus phone and internet plans throw in the EPL coverage for free.
They have every game live and available on demand and throw in some la Liga games from Spain too.
And the price is the same as what we currently pay to have beIN Sport on Sky TV.
I see a`problem for the Phoenix in Sky TV in NZ not being able to retain football fans after this season - most people want to watch the EPL and many football fans will ditch Sky to watch the EPL on Spark.
This will mean an even smaller audience for the Phoenix and the A-League on Sky, further eroding those all-important metrics the FFA are looking for in terms of continued Phoenix participation in the A-League.
I myself would be doubtful about continiuing to subscribe to Sky TV after this season.
Have Spark basically just acquired MUTV to prevent Sky going there again as a backstop of sorts like they did during PLP? Would seem an obvious move for them to snap up the other 'big' club channels to kill any avenue for Sky to show even delayed Premier League games.
Sky are in a bind because if fans of CL clubs have a choice between signing up to Spark for 38 league games + putting up with dodgy streams for CL games, vs the opposite (hooky streams for EPL and subscribing to Sky for CL), surely the former wins out every time. CL rights may be seen as a main draw for casual football fans (is there even such a market in NZ?), but they'll always be superfluous next to the league season for any serious fans of a single club.
If Bein's La Liga/Ligue 1 (+ maybe Serie A to come? Shown on Aus Bein so why not here...) coverage gets dropped, don't see how Sky sell a separate sub just for CL games.
I recently did a survey for Sky on whether I'd rather have MySky type recording on a physical device vs a cloud. In the comments I made it clear I'd rather have neither, I just want live or on-demand. Their language in the research either indidcates a desire to maintain programming + recording to continue, or they're dumming down their language to appeal to an older audience who simply don't understand on demand as a concept.
recording in the cloud is essentially on demand - it dosn't record a physical copy of what you are wanting to save on the cloud it just goes and accesses the content up there - meaning you can continue to watch where you left off on any SKY device.
I suspect your right and the wording is the issue.
The problem is it implies I need to remember to 'save' it - that's a big gap between on demand & recording in the cloud.
Have Spark basically just acquired MUTV to prevent Sky going there again as a backstop of sorts like they did during PLP? Would seem an obvious move for them to snap up the other 'big' club channels to kill any avenue for Sky to show even delayed Premier League games.
Sky are in a bind because if fans of CL clubs have a choice between signing up to Spark for 38 league games + putting up with dodgy streams for CL games, vs the opposite (hooky streams for EPL and subscribing to Sky for CL), surely the former wins out every time. CL rights may be seen as a main draw for casual football fans (is there even such a market in NZ?), but they'll always be superfluous next to the league season for any serious fans of a single club.
If Bein's La Liga/Ligue 1 (+ maybe Serie A to come? Shown on Aus Bein so why not here...) coverage gets dropped, don't see how Sky sell a separate sub just for CL games.
Interestingly I've heard anecdotal evidence from a couple of people lately, where the champions league has become the main drawcard in their household. A friend with 3 young boys said they love their football, and will record and watch the champions league games after school, but that they aren't very interested in the EPL. They want to see the messis and ronaldos, as well as the top english clubs, so the champions league is the place to be. One of the boys has become a Roma fan, and another an Altetico Madrid fan, from watching that regularly. They're all 12 and under.
Another friend said he's observed similar behaviour in his son.
Neither of them are Dads who had a footballing background, so they haven't bought any english team allegiances to the table, and this is what has organically resulted.
Obviously it's just two instances so I won't claim it as a trend, but food for thought.
I won't be spending a cent on Sky until they have a proper live and on-demand platform that actually works.
Interestingly I've heard anecdotal evidence from a couple of people lately, where the champions league has become the main drawcard in their household. A friend with 3 young boys said they love their football, and will record and watch the champions league games after school, but that they aren't very interested in the EPL. They want to see the messis and ronaldos, as well as the top english clubs, so the champions league is the place to be. One of the boys has become a Roma fan, and another an Altetico Madrid fan, from watching that regularly. They're all 12 and under.
Another friend said he's observed similar behaviour in his son.
Neither of them are Dads who had a footballing background, so they haven't bought any english team allegiances to the table, and this is what has organically resulted.
Obviously it's just two instances so I won't claim it as a trend, but food for thought.
I was thinking more in terms of who the paying customers are at the moment, the market Spark and Sky are squabbling over, but the next generation is certainly interesting. Anecdotally all of the NZ fans of a similar age to myself that I've met have almost always supported an English club, with the handful of European club supporters I've met being from those countries. But with the amount of kids you see wearing Ronaldo/Messi/Neymar jerseys it's conceivable that English clubs won't be the sole focus of the next generation of fans here.
The Premier League still seems to be such a 'default' league in NZ, in the sense that it's the only league you'll ever see given regular coverage by our news outlets. Can't recall ever seeing La Liga, Serie A etc popping up in a sports segment on One News, yet they'll always run through all of the PL results and show a handful of the goals from a given weekend (as an aside will be interesting to see what they do next year given they seem to crib all of their highlights from Sky).
Ryan Thomas is essentially anonymous playing at European Cup-winning PSV, yet if he snared a move to a Brighton or a Bournemouth he'd suddenly be deemed relevant by TVNZ and would get the Wood/Reid treatment in terms of coverage. But I guess the Eredivisie will always be a bit too niche for our mainstream rugby-lead sports sections.
I recently did a survey for Sky on whether I'd rather have MySky type recording on a physical device vs a cloud. In the comments I made it clear I'd rather have neither, I just want live or on-demand. Their language in the research either indidcates a desire to maintain programming + recording to continue, or they're dumming down their language to appeal to an older audience who simply don't understand on demand as a concept.
recording in the cloud is essentially on demand - it dosn't record a physical copy of what you are wanting to save on the cloud it just goes and accesses the content up there - meaning you can continue to watch where you left off on any SKY device.
I suspect your right and the wording is the issue.
The problem is it implies I need to remember to 'save' it - that's a big gap between on demand & recording in the cloud.
yeah so just a wording issue ontop of an interface built around linear - should see a change in that in the future.
