The commercialisation of football has lead to the Ukraine v England match being shown on the internet rather than on TV as would normally be the case. All football associations are able to sell the rights of their home games to the highest bidder (in this instance it may have been the only bidder) and as the purchaser is looking to make a return they will broadcast it in a manner which they believe will maximise it for them.
The business model of Setanta was obviously flawed as they went into administration and this was partly because they used a high cost route to market, the internet on the other hand is low cost and as a result it is only going to be a short period of time before even more matches are broadcast this way, no doubt with advertising being embedded in the pop out window that viewers are watching – probably rotating much like that around the pitch perimeter.
Sky have already started to address this option with their Sky Player which allows subscribers to watch programmes including live football on their PC and this will in effect increase their advertising opportunities so you can expect to see an increase in the advertising associated with high profile matches and also more subliminal real time advertising rather than just in commercial breaks.
The red button on your TV currently acts as a virtual stream allowing viewers to watch different games on the same channel and also request replays and different camera angles, again these can be easily sponsored and no doubt this will happen over time, if not on Sky certainly on other non subscription channels.
So don’t despair the TV will soon be just the same as our computer, revenues will ensure games are streamed at the correct resolution to show on a 50″ plasma, choice of replays and delayed broadcasting allowing you to make the tea or order pints at the bar will ensure users buy into the technology and the footballers will increase their salaries, the value of the big clubs will rise, and we will all keep paying more and more. Or will we?
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