It is an opportunity for PL to just continue the changes ko times. 

The reason will be less income internationally, if it is the case, coupled with higher overall ratings. On the flip-side PL could retain the same amount of revenue as many paying customer are limited to the amount of games that can be viewed live due to same ko times.

I would put Glory as a staple 5pm Sunday WA time ko which gives the 7pm game eastern states and leads into the 9pm PL ko if the current format is retained.

Fox were happy with the 7pm Sunday games due to viewing numbers yet fans didn’t like it. Glory fans wouldn’t have anything to complain about really as an eastern state game would be 5pm local ko time also.

They have experienced probably the best ko schedule in the history of the AL and could cop it a few seasons until something else is arranged. Whether that be a second Perth side/Singapore or NSD match of the week.

Understandably when they have had it so good there will be complaints as fans attending wouldn’t want to drink as much or change their Sunday afternoon rituals.

I agree with this.

Prior to corona, there were usually about 5 PL games at 3pm Saturday (which are not televised in the UK), 1 at 12:30pm and 5:30pm Saturday, 1 at 2pm and 4:30pm Sunday, and 1 on Monday night, with the occasional game on Friday nights as well. With corona they're spreading the games out more but there's no indication this will continue once crowds return to stadiums.

In any case, regardless of who ends up with the rights they should make sure to schedule A-League games so that there isn't overlap with the Premier League during the European season, which means finishing up by 9:30pm/11:30pm on Saturdays and 11pm/1am on Sundays. No point trying to compete with other football matches.

I can see Perth games being on Friday nights (9:45pm AEST or so) during the European season, and switching to Saturday nights at the same time in the off-season.

Just noticed the PL kick off times for round 2 & 3. It is the same style as Bundesliga or AL. Matches back to back.

Are they going to use to these times for the whole season? if it is a success ratings wise internationally then I assume they will continue to use them.

I support Leeds so haven’t followed PL for a long time. Not sure if they did the same last season.

Anyway, if AL does end up on Optus (or whomever has the rights to Premier League) then I would expect AL games Sunday 5pm And 7pm when the PL season is on. Also could it mean Perth Glory home games are moved to Friday nights? Or 5pm Saturday or Sunday.

Wouldnt expect an overlap with the early English games as big teams can play.

...

sbs gets some. 38 games. leaves 142 games..

I too am an Android/Chromecast person - was watching PSV v BATE this morning in the Champions League.

Who gets the remainder ?  

Yes i use the app on android and chromecast  

from optus

"We are permitted to show up to 29 matches per club per season on-demand. The selected matches will be available to watch until the next round of matches begin. We'll let you know which matches will be available to watch on-demand on the Optus Sport platform"

so that means 9 games for each club wont be shown this season

there's a lot i like about how optus are delivering the games.  it's more accessible like this. i was just really pissed off and half asleep when i wrote the o.p. 

half the reason i want it is to watch the australians play.  it really takes the value away when you can't watch hudders games on replay. and in terms of licensing, they streamed it live, so i dont understand why they couldnt have it on demand.

the live stream issues, the quality can all be fixed. overall the model is good.  but i need to have access to the games i actually want to watch for it to be worthwhile.

does anyone use chrome cast to watch it on tv?  i wish they just released a playstation app like just about everyone else. ive tried to open it on the PS4 internet browser but it wont work.

I'm not sure what you mean. The channel changes instantaneously when I press the button on the remote. I change it exactly as I change channels on regular TV. It is regular TV for me. I tend to start off on channel 980 for Goal Rush, and then periodically surf through the games on channels 981-987. 

Yeah that's what I feared with the my football app. I'm waiting and hoping for a sports only Foxtel stream or hopefully IQ Service. 

I don't believe you can cast it to your TV from a device (i.e. you have to watch it on the device) as Foxtel have rights for the "TV" coverage.

What do you mean by screen sharing, excuse my ignorance.

Yeah that's the digital rights issue in regards to Telstra/Fox. 

Same goes for the NRL/AFL apps.

-PB

I have dumped Optus since the World Cup and was keen to dump Foxtel too (subs been on pause) thinking the new ffa app would have me covered for A-League but they’ve blocked screen sharing I believe so reluctantly I will have to restart Foxtel. Apparently Foxtel will be announcing some sports only atreaming service too to fight back against Optus so will be interesting what gets offered and what it means for existing subscribers(they’ll be aiming to not cannibalise their current base via customer dumping to cheaper options)

EPL has been working perfectly for me - both on PC as well as Android and Chromecast. That's since the WC disaster.

I haven't noticed the replay or delayed stream stuff, I only watch live.

This for me also. Always loved goal rush on NBC.

A fast forward 10 seconds option would be super handy other than that it's been pretty good (world cup aside) 

On Fetch I simply go up to the the high numbers (the EPL channel is repeated in the 900s, so I simply go there for "Goal Rush" then flick up and down between the other games if I want to watch them. No "wall" but just like changing between channels on a regular TV in my experience.

I watched that game on Fetch ... had no quality issues, loss of signal or commentary. So must have been a SBS issue.

It does cost more. I've got the free one and it takes ages to change. Its definitely not like changing a channel on regular tv

@ Burztur

Correct. They used to talk about triple-play or quad-play which referred to fixed telephone, broadband, and tv content over broadband pipes and a quad-play of mobile as well.

You can see Optus going down this route, FoxTel to a certain extent with their entry into the Broadband market but without a network (especially a 5G network) it’s questionable how well FoxTel can perform longer term?

Live sports is perfectly positioned for this of course, Optus have seemingly fixed on football (for now)

works fine on appleTV too.

only thing is the on demand or start over thing often jumps to the current point of the game but I just cover the screen until it loads up and then go back. shouldnt be that hard to get right though. 

Been watching on HTPC with Firefox.  No problems with quality, glitches, or whatever.  Just fall asleep in the games.

If you read the Singtel financials, there is a clear goal to be a content provider as well (or at least broadcast it) since that is the growth area they need to tap into.

Optus ARPU is $46/month so they’d only need 114,000 new subscribers to recover revenue, growths rates from telcos are notoriously difficult to evaluate as they tend to sugar coat them but in a dog-eat-dog sector it seems Optus are backing football in general with the EPL at the heart of that to fight Telstra

https://www.afr.com/business/telecommunications/optus-outruns-telstra-doubts-tpg-telecom-20180517-h106vb

Was the SBS Wolves vs Man City game taken from the Optus feed? Because the quality was garbage. Loss of signal, loss of commentary. Terrible.

@ Burztur

If you search within Optus’s financial reports you’ll find more details but here’s a link which is dated this year and there’s plenty from about this time last year when trends started to emerge but that takes a bit more searching:

https://mumbrella.com.au/epl-rights-drives-optus-gains-researcher-claims-515896


NEWSEnglish Premier League rights drives Optus gains, researcher claims

Winning the Australian broadcast rights to the English Premier League may have paid dividends for Optus with a 1.1 percentage points bounce in the telco’s subscriber numbers since the deal was signed, according to figures from Roy Morgan Research.

The new research suggests the EPL contract, which Optus renewed just last week, has boosted the telco’s traffic. For Australians who watch the EPL, Optus mobile usage has climbed by four percentage points, to 23.8%.

Optus’ purchase of the EPL has paid off, Roy Morgan numbers show

Other figures including Australians who use Optus as a broadband service provider, with 12.2% of Australians using the service, up 2.9 points from three years ago. Of those who watch the EPL, that figure has grown by 4.7 percentage points, from 10.8% to 15.5%.

The new research follows Optus’ retention of the Australian rights for an additional three seasons. The telco first snatched the broadcast and digital rights for the EPL from Fox Sports in 2015. Initially, it won the rights to 380 games from August, 2016. At the time, CEO Allen Lew said the move was central to the telco’s transformation to becoming a content platform.

Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan said the new figures suggested Optus’ purchasing of the Australian coverage rights paid off.

“Telecommunications company Optus took a huge gamble nearly three years ago by purchasing the Australian coverage rights to the English Premier League (EPL) for $63 million per year. However, the latest research from Roy Morgan shows viewers of the EPL have definitively boosted Optus subscriber growth for both fixed broadband and mobile services over the past three years,” Levine said.

“Those who watch the EPL either regularly or occasionally have switched to Optus at a greater rate for both fixed broadband services and mobile phone services,” she added.

When Optus announced the new deal last week, it announced it would make Optus Sport available for all Australians with a direct to consumer option. The figures in the latest report reflect the last three years, when access was limited to subscribers of the telco’s phone and data services.

I've never had a problem - using the app and a Chromecast