Sky Sports 5 set to launch
Sky has this week announced the scheduling of 75 live football matches from five European competitions during the first five weeks of Sky Sports 5.
Launching on 12 August with the UEFA Super Cup between Real Madrid and Sevilla, the channel is set to offer 600 live European matches next season, available to Sky Sports customers at no extra cost as part of their sports packages. Sports subscribers will also be eligible to receive two years’ free Sky Broadband Unlimited.
However, the move to launch a European football channel may come as a surprise given Sky is set to lose the rights to the Champions League next May, leading one industry expert to speculate that a three-point strategy has been put in place to cushion the blow of losing the broadcast rights.
“They know they are going to lose Champions League to BT next May, one of the jewels in their crown,” Research the Media’s Richard Marks told Connected Consumer. “They will be worried of the impact on customer retention and this is a cute early move.”
Marks believes the new channel will allow Sky to “quarantine” the Champions League games from the Premier League and other sports rights so its disappearance is “less obvious” when the rights end next May.
Marks also said by re-positioning the Champions League on a channel that is given “at no extra cost” to Sky Sports subscribers, they are “de-emphasising the value of it”. Subscribers may have expected a reduction in their Sky Sports subscription in the absence of Champions League.
“Sky could now say ‘No, it’s all the other sport you were paying for, you get Sky Sports 5 for free anyway’.”
The researcher concluded that, crucially, Sky will be able to link the new channel to tying customers into a new two year free broadband deal.
“If you are an existing subscriber you won’t get Sky Sports 5 for free automatically unless you actively go online to activate it – at that point you are given the opportunity to package it with a two year free Broadband offer.
“Two years is a long time and will be costly to Sky, but it means that next May subscribers may find it harder to decide to jump ship to BT when they still have a free year of broadband to run.
“It’s going to be fascinating to see what BT have up their sleeves in terms of pricing and bundling ahead of their Champions League rights. So far it’s been all about driving broadband subscriptions, but this season even existing subscribers will have to pay £3 per month from August to receive BT Sports in HD.”
Commenting on the launch, Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports, said: “We promised the ultimate European football channel and this opening schedule shows we’re delivering from day one.
“Only on Sky Sports 5 can viewers enjoy Messi, Bale and Ronaldo week in, week out, in some of the best European competitions. There’s no better place for fans of European football.”
In addition to the European matches, viewers of all seven Sky Sports channels will have access to Barclays Premier League football, England v India cricket 5th Test, Top-14 and Rugby Championship, all Formula 1 Grand Prix, PGA Tour Championship golf and ATP World Tour tennis from the Rogers Cup in Toronto.