Mumbai: Media conglomerate Viacom18 has big plans to create a splash in the sports broadcasting space. The aim is to have nine to ten channels including regional channels. According to sources, the languages being considered include Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada. Channels have already been launched - Sports18 in HD and SD and Sports18 Khel a Hindi FTA offering that is available on DD Freedish. 

A source tells IndianTelevision.com that for Viacom’s sports business both linear broadcast and the streaming platform (Voot) are equally important. The expectation is that in the coming five years digital will overtake linear broadcast in terms of sports content consumption. On the revenue front, advertising and subscription will both be important.

“The focus so far for the company has been on a variety of sports including badminton, basketball (NBA rights for three years), ATP tennis and soccer. The marquee property acquired so far has been Fifa (Sony was the previous rights holder)," explains the source, adding, "The company has also bought other soccer rights like La Liga, Serie A and the French League. The plan for the sports business is to have an extensive presence across TV and digital. So Voot will also have a very important role to play. As and when properties come up including cricket-based upon the commercial considerations the company will decide whether or not to go for them.”

For now, specialty channels like a Golf channel are not being considered as they are not commercially viable in the current market scenario. “For the next two to three years specialty channels are not on the horizon. Before the Fifa World Cup in November the company will launch all its regional channels. It is fair to say that it will have 9-10 regional channels. They will all be pay channels, apart from the current FTA offering. Across TV and digital the properties need to deliver,” the source tells. 

MTV, the source adds, will stop airing sports in due course. "Right now they are airing sports as an adequate number of sports channels are not there." The source further states that as of now non cricket is still very small. “The reality is that it is still very, very small compared to cricket. One cannot compare the two.” 

On the distribution front, Sports18 is present on the major platforms apart from Dish TV. “That will also happen soon. The channels are present across most cable networks including the small ones.”

 In terms of media rights, the source informs that rights price for some properties like EPL de-grew substantially because the viewership has been falling for quite a while. The source expects acquisition prices of the Tennis Grand Slams to also fall as the viewership is just not coming. “The expectation earlier was that the audience would grow. That has not happened. A correction was inevitable.” 

"The French Open takes place during the latter part of the IPL which is not the best timing. However, Fifa being a marquee property saw quite a few parties bid," the source informs. In terms of the IPL ratings falling in the initial few weeks, the source says that one cannot go by one season to judge the value of the property. The source expects the Board Of Control For Cricket in India (BCCI) to get a substantial jump over last time. “It is still the biggest media property in the country.” 

The source maintains that the BCCI has every right to sell it the way they want including the 18 non-exclusive games for the digital arena.

“It is a unique sort of construct but I am sure that the BCCI would have decided what is best for them. I expect digital players like Amazon, Fancode to go after the non-exclusive 18 games digital package quite aggressively. It is very monetisable. "Those 18 games are all the premium games including the playoffs. There is a real good reason for people to go after that 18-game package. In the next five years, digital will be much bigger than television and so the overall digital rights package will also be targeted by the digital players.”

The source adds that digital is playing a big role in catching up. When people travel they watch sports on their mobile. So time is not being compromised. To some extent, cord-cutting is also helping the growth of digital. Post-IPL the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the BCCI rights will come up. But the expectation is that whoever gets the IPL will probably not aggressively go after ICC. “It is very unlikely that one bidder will get all these three properties because the cost is very high. It will not be like the past. Resources are limited.” 

It is worth noting that Disney Star is the incumbent for all the three marquee cricket properties mentioned above. The source adds that e-auction is the best way for the BCCI to go about the IPL bidding as it is the most transparent process.