SHANE WENZLICK/PHOTOTEK.NZ
Kiwi referee Matt Conger will officiate a Group D match at the Fifa World Cup.
The Optus Sports streaming debacle should act as a warning for sports bodies
Updated
The Floptus debacle was annoying for football-loving viewers of a certain age who had thought "Fetch TV" was a request and "chromecasting" an arts school course.
But if the meltdown of Optus Sport's World Cup coverage and the confusing remedies prescribed reminded luddites of our technological inadequacy, it had potentially dire consequences for Australia's media-rights-addicted sports.
As free-to-air television audiences fragment and advertising revenue declines, our major local sporting bodies have privately acknowledged their current billion-dollar-plus media deals could be the last of their kind.
The AFL has a $2.508 billion six-year contract with Seven, Foxtel and Telstra. The NRL nets more than $1.8 billion over five years from Nine, Foxtel and Telstra. Cricket Australia recently sold its rights to Seven and Fox Sports for $1.2 billion for six years.
These vast sums underwrite expensive national competitions, pay the growing wages of sought-after first choice athletes, fund expansion and — notionally — trickle down to the grass roots.
But it seems unlikely that cash-strapped broadcasters will be able to pay these same inflated prices in the future, even in association with Foxtel — which is under pressure from competing subscription platforms such as Netflix.
Yet there is an assumption that even as traditional TV revenue declines audiences will retain a ravenous appetite for sport. Consequently viewers will automatically hop to new platforms where the various leagues would continue to reap rich rewards.
In recent TV rights bidding, alternate platforms such as Google and YouTube have been floated as viable alternatives to free-to-air and subscription TV. The AFL and NRL have also investigated keeping their rights in-house and selling games directly to subscribers as is the case with some American sports.
This all seemed straightforward. The billions from Old TV would be replaced with billions from New Platforms — different delivery, same or possibly even more money.
Then viewers who paid $15-per-month to watch Optus Sports' World Cup coverage were left screaming in frustration at their buffering screens and, suddenly, the idea of watching major events on alternate platforms seemed as remote as manned flights to Mars.
The Floptus kerfuffle was, on the surface, simply a failure by the provider. Bizarrely, it seems the telco did not provide the capacity to serve the thousands of viewers who had paid for their service or had an existing Optus plan.
This in itself has not overly concerned those sports administrators who might soon rely on alternate platforms to buy and distribute their sports.
If anything, it provided an early test of the challenges to be overcome without dragging their own reputations through the angry social media sewer.
"Most of the major rights deals are locked in for the next four or five years and a lot will happen with the technology in that time," one tech expert who has advised the AFL on alternative media platforms told me.
"But you'd certainly want better guarantees on delivery when you look at the reputational damage it caused the provider and the sport."
The greater question raised by the Floptus meltdown is whether sports consumers are ready for the change from traditional to alternate viewing platforms.
It was announced this week that Seven would retain the rights for both major cricket and tennis this summer after failing to negotiate a deal to on-sell the final years of its Australian coverage to the new rights-holder Nine.
There is already an anguished debate about whether Seven will show its new love cricket on its "main" channel and relegate the Australian Open to secondary channels, or continue to put the tennis in the prime viewing slot.
The fact that programs are still considered more prominent and recognisable to viewers on a primary channel is telling. If viewers wanting to watch major events can't find Gem or 7mate, how many will be willing or able to hunt it down on other platforms?
The presumption of industry insiders is that viewers raised with multiple viewing options will be accustomed to hopping from free-to-air TV. Meanwhile the popularity of Netflix has demonstrated a strong capacity for older audiences to change viewing habits if offered the right pricing model and content.
But the World Cup blackout demonstrated there is still a clear divide between the tech-savvy viewers who were able to find solutions to the blackout and those of us who found watching the tournament as much fun as assembling an Ikea bookshelf.
Our Dadsy "I just want to watch it on the tele" laments were mocked by our computer-literate children. But there remains a large proportion of rusted-on sports viewers in the 45-plus age group whose viewing habits are relatively inflexible.
There is also the risk that demanding that older viewers migrate from traditional omnipresent easy-to-access TV to new platforms, and providing younger sports fans even more options, will break viewing habits.
If the leakage is too great, even subscription models calculated to extract more money from fewer viewers won't plug the revenue gap created by this sports-viewing diaspora.
Inevitably for those wanting to watch the World Cup, Floptus was a relatively brief irritation sensibly solved when Old TV (SBS) came to the rescue of its supposed successor.
For sports bodies eyeing their next media rights deal, it was a reminder the viewing future has not yet come.
Topics: sport, soccer-world-cup, socceroos, broadcasting, media, soccer, australia
First posted
It's becoming evident that the best chance for Lionel Messi and this generation of Argentina players has passed. An uninspired showing vs. Croatia was the result of few ideas, horrible errors and no spirit, and their World Cup could be ending sooner than later.
0:35 A few Facts and figures of Fred's 17/18 campaign with Shakhtar Donetsk. A few Facts and figures of Fred's 17/18 campaign with Shakhtar Donetsk.
Manchester United have completed the signing of Brazil midfielder Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk on a five-year deal.
Fred becomes Jose Mourinho's second signing of the summer following the arrival of defender Diogo Dalot from Porto.
United announced earlier this month they had agreed a deal with Shakhtar, which Sky Sports News understands to be in the region of £52m plus bonuses, but had been waiting for Fred to be granted a work permit.
It is understood the bonuses could take the deal to around £61.2m - this would make him United's third most expensive signing of all time behind Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku.
He is in the Brazil squad at the World Cup, but did not feature in the 1-1 draw with Switzerland in their opening game.
Fred has signed a five-year deal with Manchester United
Mourinho said: "Fred will complement our other midfielders' qualities, which we need; his creative brain and passing vision will give us another dimension to our game.
"I am very happy he is joining our club and I believe our players know how important he can be in our team."
Fred, who has an option to extend his deal by a further year, indicated Mourinho had been a big factor in his decision.
"This is the biggest club in the world and I am delighted to be a part of this amazing team," he said. "To work with Jose Mourinho, who has won so many trophies in his time as a coach, is an opportunity not to be missed.
"I cannot wait to get started and to meet my new team-mates. I would like to thank everyone at Shakhtar Donetsk for everything they have done for me over the past five years.
"This is a very exciting time for me with my focus now fully on the World Cup with Brazil."
At United, I'm looking to win titles. Fred
Speaking to MUTV, Fred revealed his first introduction to United was when he played as the team on computer games.
He added: "At United, I'm looking to win titles, alongside my new team-mates and my new manager, win matches with the club and make history by achieving great things together."
The 25-year-old joined Shakhtar from Internacional in 2013 and won three league titles in Ukraine.
Fred will join up with United's squad for pre-season after taking a break following the World Cup in Russia.
