NFL's Billion‑Dollar Media Demands Spark Backlash, FIFA Diversifies Revenue
🆙 Episode #44 of The Bundle is now available. The monthly walk-through with @UnffclPrtnr and @MurrayBarnett, trading facts, insights, and opinions at the intersection of #sports, #streaming, and #media — this time including but not limited to: • 🏈 NFL's media rights wizardry continued: Sucking money out of the zero-sum $30BN U.S. sports media rights marketplace, and driving its consolidation/bifurcation, created backlash from all sides, but not primarily from the have-nots (or Hollywood). It might be the NFL’s long-tenured media partners who balk at the league’s net-new multi-billion-dollar demands — at least the PR (and legal) machine is already running to drive the public and investment narrative. • ⚽️ FIFA's media/broadcasting monetization push: Broadcasting remains dominant, but not the primary growth driver anymore, and structurally harder to come by. Net-new revenue lines such as betting streaming rights and preferred platform program have been unearthed — but not without risk or controversy: ransom fees from free-riding platforms and double-dipping on converging media/streaming rights. • 🇸🇬 English Premier League going DTC in Singapore: from a position of strength, and as a late mover compared to its big-five “peers” (LaLiga TV, Bundesliga Pass, Ligue 1+), but being long in the making. EPL has been intentional about in-sourcing production for increased ownership (unified or deliberate presentation of on-field product) and optionality (expanded buyer’s universe or in-house channel), as well as strategic rights retentions (incl. Singapore as first DTC market). • 🏎️ Apple TV’s multi-layered distribution strategy for Formula 1: from walled garden to another broadcaster (with the potential to be special), from purism to pragmatism. Apple incorporated three year’s worth of learnings around MLS ahead of Formula One’s debut on its streaming service — comprising on its principles too rigid for sports, but without foregoing its unique selling points for sports rights owners: platforming them on the world’s biggest hardware/software distribution engine. Links to The Bundle 📧 bulletin (with notes, quotes and questions) and 🎧 full podcast episode below, because that’s what you do, I’m told: putting it in the comments.
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