I dont know if it has been mentioned previously but online streaming is the way of the future, even foxtel see this. I would happily pay for a Rugby package (Wallabies, Super Rugby and NRC as one type of package) instead of pay for all the unwanted crap tv basic package and then pay extra for sports. Amounting to such a high cost.
NBL have nbl.tv (which foxtel televises) with a range of subscription options.
Full- regular season, finals and includes classic matches.
Team subscriptions- You just get access to your team's games
If it can work for basketball i cant see why not for rugby.
Sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere
I agree. But I think what many question is the maturity of the market here and how that will impact upon revenue streams.
Personally, among the SANZAAR nations I think the market does exist but others will likely disagree. What I find interesting is that streaming platforms are being looked at with more regularity internationally even in regards to Rugby. I've been posting about the development of Major League Rugby on another thread. One of their member clubs have partnered with a streaming service called FloSports to create the FloRugby platform.
Now, I highly suspect that we'll see the entire MLR featuring either on this platform or partnered with FloSports to create their own streaming platform for the competition. They currently and likely will continue to charge $13.95 USD a month for access.
The question here is cost. How much will it cost to set up and operate. There are a lot of factors involved but we do have a company doing it already in the form of Club Rugby TV who produce the SS games on 7Two. From memory it costs them around $750k a season to run the production which as above features 23 games in total. So from my rough memory and even rougher math that's $32,600 a game.
Of course this would be higher if you were flying crews to different destinations in the country but even then considering our portion of games (which would be 40 in the new format) the expenses wouldn't be too much greater.
I think perhaps the biggest factor is that it provides an organisation with the ability to control its own content. This could then permit say the ARU to broker a deal with a FTA carrier to feature a game of the round in a prime time slot as a means of gaining further exposure and hopefully building the overall subscriber base.
Personally, of it were ever to become workable (which for SANZAAR is very, very unlikely) and we could have access to Super Rugby, the NRC, CC, M10, Top League, Nacionales De Clubs, Varsity Cup, several 7s competitions potentially schoolboys Rugby and maybe more I'd happy pony up $20 a month for 12 months.
