tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/media-rights-20335/articlesmedia rights – The Conversation2019-09-01T09:21:58Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1221432019-09-01T09:21:58Z2019-09-01T09:21:58ZWhy Tanzania’s attacks on free speech break with Nyerere’s legacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289435/original/file-20190826-8868-1y4ynnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The statue of founding president Mwalimu Julius Nyerere in Tanzania's political capital Dodoma.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">WikiCommons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I visited Tanzania recently for the first time in five years, and the first time since John Magufuli was elected President. I have been visiting the country regularly since 1976 – spending a year as a student in 1979 and three years as a diplomat in 1993-6. I have followed its fortunes through the decades with close interest, meeting all its Presidents (except the incumbent) at one time or another.</p>
<p>While I was there on this occasion, the journalist Erick Kabendera was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/30/arrest-of-tanzanian-journalist-sparks-fears-over-press-safety">picked up by police and kept incommunicado for several days</a> until he was suddenly re-appeared in court and improbably charged with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/aug/05/tanzanian-journalist-in-court-accused-of-money-laundering">economic crimes and tax evasion</a>. </p>
<p>This is not a lone incident: since 2015 it has become more frequent for independent journalists to face <a href="https://africanarguments.org/2018/03/15/i-had-to-flee-my-home-tanzania-for-doing-journalism-i-was-lucky/">harassment and even the threat of death</a>. Only a few weeks later another journalist, <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/news/africa/Tanzania-journalist-arrested-over--fake-news--released/1066-5248084-tvkd8pz/index.html">Joseph Gandye</a>, was arrested apparently for a story criticising police brutality. He was subsequently released. The government has also obstructed news or even the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tanzania-worldbank/tanzania-law-punishing-critics-of-statistics-deeply-concerning-world-bank-idUSKCN1MD17P">publication of standard national statistics</a> that it dislikes. </p>
<p>It is worth asking where this comes from. Since independence in 1961, Tanzania has been a beacon of the liberation struggle in Africa and of peaceful political stability. The country’s moral and political compass was set very firmly by its first president of 24 years, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. His successors have appealed to and pledged to uphold his legacy.</p>
<p>So what is that legacy? Nyerere was unusual among African leaders in leaving a substantial body of writings that set out his political thinking and which enable us to see its evolution. It is important to register that his thinking changed over time, adapted in the light of experience. </p>
<p>But some elements remained a bedrock: a powerful moral tone, an intolerance of corruption, a central role for the state, but with a real accountability to the people. Above all was the value of unity - at the national level, in the union with Zanzibar, and across Africa as a whole.</p>
<p>Kabendera has long been a critic of Tanzania’s government, helping expose <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jan/28/tanzania-cabinet-reshuffle-energy-scandal-jakaya-kikwete">an energy scandal</a> in 2015 in which $18 million was misappropriated. The scandal cost the then Minister of Energy his job. There was suspicion that a more recent article in The Economist probably caused the government’s ire. It was entitled “John Magufuli is bulldozing Tanzania’s freedom”.</p>
<p>Mwalimu would probably be angry as well but also sad to see his successors prefer a closed society to an open one and to look to the past rather than to the future. After all, Nyerere often argued that Tanzanians should not be afraid to challenge authority. He also spoke out strongly for <a href="https://www.juliusnyerere.org/resources/view/freedom_and_development">freedom of speech</a>. </p>
<h2>Nyerere’s legacy</h2>
<p>Nyerere started as an unabashed African Socialist. Capitalism and colonialism had gone hand-in-hand, and had <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/486390?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">destroyed</a> many of the traditional communal values of African society. These needed to be restored and built upon.</p>
<p>He justified the one party state as necessary for building national unity and avoiding fissiparous political divisions. He also advocated <a href="https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/abstract/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-172">“ujamaa”</a>, or villagisation, as a path to economic and social modernisation. But over time he came to see the drawbacks of both policies and began to adapt his own approach. </p>
<p>Nyerere was sometimes intolerant of criticism. But he tended to respond with argument rather than force. Although the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi had robust internal competition and accountability, any single party that remains in power continually tends to become politically complacent and financially corrupt. </p>
<p>The target tends to become climbing to the top of the party tree and reaping the benefits along the way, not serving the people. And villagisation and state production proved socially disruptive and financially disastrous. Economically, Nyerere’s prescription <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/160361?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">just did not work</a>.</p>
<p>In response, Nyerere did two things: he put in place succession arrangements that allowed him to step back from running the government, though retaining oversight as chairman of the party, and he allowed his successors <a href="https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft138nb0tj&chunk.id=d0e2247&toc.id=&brand=ucpress">to liberalise both politics and the economy</a>. </p>
<p>In the 1990s, multi-party politics was re-introduced, a number of loss-making parastatals that were draining the government’s resources were privatised, and the country began to encourage outside investors. Nyerere’s personal interventions became increasingly rare, limited largely to upholding the sanctity and importance of the political union with Zanzibar, and working for peace in neighbouring Burundi.</p>
<p>His genuine legacy, therefore, is to value unity but recognise diversity, not to overstay your welcome in power, and to be guided by principles but adapt your policies in the light of experience.</p>
<h2>Negation of legacy?</h2>
<p>Are the events of recent years the fulfilment or the negation of that legacy? Like his predecessors, President Magufuli puts great emphasis on respecting Nyerere’s legacy. </p>
<p>Selected at least in part for his well-known personal probity, he entered office breathing fire and fury against <a href="https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/24853/1/ACE-WorkingPaper001-TZ-AntiCorruption-171102_final%20revised.pdf">corruption</a> in the state machine, and his <a href="https://www.theafricareport.com/12725/is-magufulis-economic-nationalism-working/">dramatic interventions</a> appeared to shake state utilities, including water and power, out of their torpor and corrupt practices to deliver to the public what they were supposed to. Basic infrastructure, including roads and energy, has been developed and delivered. All this was overdue.</p>
<p>But in other respects, the administration seems stuck in the early Nyerere-ite mode of suspicion – even hostility – to <a href="https://www.theafricareport.com/12725/is-magufulis-economic-nationalism-working/">international capitalism and all its works</a>, and to open markets even within its region, preaching a narrow view of self-reliance similar to that which led the country into near bankruptcy in the early 1980s. </p>
<p>And in political terms, the president seems to adopt an intolerance of criticism and opposition that Nyerere in his later years had abandoned. The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi itself seems increasingly frightened of fair competition, <a href="https://africanarguments.org/2015/10/02/tanzania-cannot-be-allowed-to-be-the-new-front-for-state-led-islamophobia/">fearful</a> that given a free choice and transparent information the people just might choose someone else. </p>
<p>Sadly, such transparency and freedom is the only thing that keeps democracies honest. To <a href="https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Magufuli-criticised-as-Tanzania-bans-rallies--/2558-3245376-124jyo5z/index.html">constrain the opposition</a> and <a href="https://cpj.org/2019/03/tanzania-citizen-7-day-publication-ban.php">harass the free press</a> will in the end destroy democracy and even the Chama Cha Mapinduzi itself.</p>
<p>We have seen elsewhere that some political leaders decide they should be the sole arbiter of political decisions, and stay on in charge long after their sell-by date, presiding over ever-more corrupt and incompetent governments and leading their countries to wrack and ruin. But in almost all cases, it does not end well. The same can apply to parties as to leaders.</p>
<p>Tanzania has benefited greatly from a regular political succession in its leadership. But it would be a betrayal, not a fulfilment, of Nyerere’s legacy to fail to allow the Tanzanian people a free and informed choice about the party and the policies they want.</p>
<p><em>The views expressed in this article are solely my own.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122143/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Westcott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While sometimes intolerant of criticism, Nyerere tended to respond with argument rather than force.Nicholas Westcott, Research Associate, Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy (CISD), SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1000182018-07-19T04:09:11Z2018-07-19T04:09:11ZThe winners and losers in the 2018 World Cup broadcast battle<p>France might have won the 2018 World Cup title, but who were the real winners in the broadcast battle? Not everyone could make it to Russia to watch the games live, and that left people all over the world relying on the distribution and associated media rights within their region.</p>
<p>In Australia there was a lot of debate and discussion around the media rights for the World Cup and associated technical issues. The rights were held by Optus, a major telecommunications company, not a traditional television broadcaster.</p>
<p>Due to Australia’s <a href="https://www.acma.gov.au/Industry/Broadcast/Television/TV-content-regulation/sport-anti-siphoning-tv-content-regulation-acma">anti-siphoning scheme</a>, the public broadcaster SBS was able to broadcast Australia’s games, and the finals.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/seven-and-foxtel-snag-cricket-rights-meaning-more-content-but-maybe-not-for-free-94976">Seven and Foxtel snag cricket rights, meaning more content but maybe not for free</a>
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<p>But Optus’ streaming service created major headaches for those attempting to view the other games. Many people only received errors and were unable to watch the games at all.</p>
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<p>Initially Optus passed on all of its rights to SBS for a 48-hour period, allowing Australians free access on a free-to-air broadcaster. This was to allow Optus time to resolve the technical issues. </p>
<p>Prior to the end of the 48-hour period Optus <a href="https://www.sporttechie.com/optus-suffers-world-cup-streaming-issues-relinquishes-full-rights-to-sbs/">relinquished</a> all rights, allowing SBS to broadcast all remaining matches for the tournament.</p>
<p>The Optus issue is just one example of factors that impacted the media component of the World Cup. This was a global event that was expected to have <a href="https://www.mumbrella.asia/2018/07/the-real-world-cup-winners-were-those-brands-that-adopted-design-thinking">almost half the world’s population</a> watching, and there are several examples from abroad that will impact the future of sportscasting, particularly for global events.</p>
<h2>Would you like some World Cup with that?</h2>
<p>We consistently see examples of sporting matches being broadcast on screens in pubs, but the World Cup showed another example. </p>
<p>In Sweden, fast-food outlet McDonald’s used the World Cup as an incentive to have customers visit its stores. The company negotiated to have all the matches shown in its 207 restaurants across Sweden.</p>
<p>Red Bee Media <a href="https://www.sporttechie.com/world-cup-sweden-mcdonalds-red-bee-media-streaming-ott/">provided</a> the service for McDonald’s, whose digital lead for Sweden, Rickard Berthold, noted:</p>
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<p>We needed someone who could deliver the World Cup to our restaurants on a tight deadline and without any glitches.</p>
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<p>But McDonald’s didn’t stop there. In Hong Kong, McDonald’s <a href="http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/mcdonalds-tech-world-cup-hungry-moments">partnered</a> with Google and media agency OMD Hong Kong to create “Hungry Moments”.</p>
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<p>The partnership saw real-time promotional <a href="http://www.marketing-interactive.com/mcdonalds-and-google-partner-up-to-anticipate-hungry-moments-during-world-cup/">messages</a> pushed to fans when they were at their hungriest. This was deemed to be at the beginning, half-time, the end of a game, and at each goal. </p>
<h2>Piracy impacts sport too</h2>
<p>While we commonly <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazons-new-grand-tour-series-could-be-the-next-illegal-download-victim-68141">discuss</a> piracy of pre-recorded television programs and movies, improved technology and access is now making piracy an issue for live events.</p>
<p>Before the opening of the World Cup, letters were sent by Sony to any would-be pirates <a href="https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/sony-issues-world-cup-piracy-warning-3484469">detailing what rights it had to any World Cup material</a>. </p>
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<p>We will be monitoring your activities for any act of infringement of the statutory and contractual rights of our client.</p>
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<p>This fear had come from reports that there had been a number of <a href="https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/champions-league-kodi-2018-piracy-3476979">illegal</a> streams for the UEFA Champions League season.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/fifa-statement-concerning-beoutq">FIFA issued a statement</a> accusing one “pirate channel named BeoutQ” of illegally distributing the opening matches of the World Cup. It was <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/world-cup-2018/6542772/world-cup-2018-fifa-illegal-broadcasting/">allegedly stealing</a> another World Cup Satellite feed.</p>
<p>Still, piracy prevention firm Irdeto <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/brazil-world-cup-live-stream-watch-online-free-streaming-belgium-piracy-a8435081.html">reportedly detected</a> 5,088 unique pirate streams, 582 of these were for Brazil’s games. There were also 523 illegal streams detected for England’s group games, despite being available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer and the ITV websites.</p>
<h2>Records were still broken</h2>
<p>Despite broadcast and streaming troubles, and the fear of piracy and illegal viewing of the World Cup matches, the tournament still broke records for legal viewing.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The crowds gathered at public TV broadcasts of the World Cup games.</span></figcaption>
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<p>For example, England’s penalty shootout against Colombia saw 23.6 million viewers <a href="https://advanced-television.com/2018/07/04/nearly-24m-watch-england-penalty-win/">watching</a> on ITV and 3.3 million via the ITV Hub. This meant 81% of people watching TV in the UK at that time were watching the match.</p>
<p>Iceland’s first ever World Cup game saw 99.6 % of people in that country watching TV, to see their <a href="https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018650308/dare-to-stream">home team</a> take on Argentina.</p>
<p>Within days the 2018 World Cup <a href="http://www.nscreenmedia.com/world-cup-streaming-shatters-more-records/">surpassed</a> the streaming records set during the 2014 Rio World Cup. Akamia, the company that assists with streaming and was part of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rio-olympics-are-a-test-case-for-the-future-of-sports-broadcasting-63589">Olympic streaming</a>, said that three-quarters of first round matches in 2018 exceeded the peak bandwidth for the whole of the 2014 Rio tournament.</p>
<h2>The future streaming of sport</h2>
<p>Optus has a lot of work to do in regaining its current and future costumers after the World Cup “Floptus” crisis. It is particularly important as it continues to try to grow its <a href="http://sport.optus.com.au">Optus Sport</a> brand. </p>
<p>The company has just <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/optus-sport-extends-premier-league-rights-opens-up-sports-platform-20180501-p4zclv.html">extended</a> its exclusive rights to the English Premier League for another three seasons, but highly public technical issues during the World Cup will make many consumers reluctant to pay for the product. </p>
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<p>The Optus failure has also <a href="https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018650308/dare-to-stream">raised concerns</a> in New Zealand associated with the Rugby World Cup next year. The rights were won with a joint TVNZ (TV) and Spark (Teleommunciatons) <a href="https://www.sparknz.co.nz/news/Spark-coverage-RWC/">deal</a>, and many people are wondering whether Spark will suffer similar issues.</p>
<p>In Australia, Optus’ failure has been a win for free-to-air broadcast television’s argument to be included in the broadcast of major live events. But the World Cup has also shown that Australians are willing to pay and stream sport to devices other than a TV. The challenge for media rights holders of large live events is to make sure they are ready and able to deliver the service as promised.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100018/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc C-Scott is a board member of C31 Melbourne (Community Television Station).</span></em></p>Fans have shown they’re willing to watch major sporting events on devices other than traditional TVs, but the technology is letting them down.Marc C-Scott, Lecturer in Screen Media, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/767922017-05-02T06:54:23Z2017-05-02T06:54:23ZChasing the audience: is it over and out for cricket on free to air TV?<p>How Australians watch cricket on screens in the future could depend on what happens with the Nine Network’s current discussions with Cricket Australia over the 2018-23 media rights.</p>
<p>UBS media analyst Eric Choi <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/channel-nine-urged-to-step-away-from-the-cricket-contract-by-analysts-20170425-gvruzl.html">said</a> the current deal costs Nine about A$100 million a year but generates only A$60 million to A$70 million in gross revenue.</p>
<p>Choi said the network should either ask for access to more content at no additional cost, or step away from its <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-1970s-cricket-revolution-a-beginners-guide-9024">long association</a> with cricket.</p>
<p>The ramifications of Nine’s decision could be broad, impacting not only its potential revenue and viewers, but also participation rates among Aussies playing grassroots cricket. </p>
<h2>Cricket’s current standing</h2>
<p>The current <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-04/grassroots-cricket-to-benefit-from-financial-windfall/4732566">media rights deal</a> for cricket <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/28/nine-ten-foxtel-or-optus-australian-cricket-tv-rights-explained">includes</a> the Nine Network and Network Ten. Nine has the rights to international tests, one-day internationals and T20 international games played in Australia, whereas Ten has the rights to the Big Bash League (BBL). </p>
<p>The BBL has become a crucial cricketing brand, continuing to <a href="http://www.bigbash.com.au/news/big-bash-league-bbl-viewers-broadcast-ratings-fixture-bbl06-tickets/2016-05-07">gain high ratings</a> and listed in <a href="http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7204-top-20-tv-shows-of-2016-by-audience-engagement-in-australia-201704061403">Australia’s Top 20 engaging programs</a> for 2016. </p>
<p>The league also has excellent crowd attendance, having recently ranked 9th in the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/big-bash-league-jumps-into-top-10-of-most-attended-sports-leagues-in-the-world-20160110-gm2w8z.html">world’s top-attended sports leagues</a>. </p>
<p>Based on the BBL’s success and the increases seen in the new media rights for the <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-08-18/afl-on-the-verge-of-signing-new-tv-deal">Australian Football League</a> (AFL) and <a href="http://www.nrl.com/nrl-broadcast-rights-deal-announced/tabid/10874/newsid/91023/default.aspx">National Rugby League</a> (NRL), Cricket Australia will want to see an increase in the bidding for its rights.</p>
<p>This is particularly relevant if Cricket Australia still relies as heavily on these rights as <a href="http://www.alrc.gov.au/sites/default/files/subs/228._org_cricketaustralia.pdf">in 2012</a>, when it said the rights accounted for 60%-80% of the total annual income.</p>
<p>But can the media rights continue to increase with the current unstable media landscape?</p>
<h2>The current media landscape</h2>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.arnhem.com.au/">Arnhem Investment Management</a>, the era of advertising-supported premium sport on Australian television is “<a href="http://www.arnhem.com.au/thats-not-cricket/">drawing to a close</a>”.</p>
<p>The free-to-air (FTA) broadcasters are also currently requesting that the government <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/commercial-tv-licence-writedown-puts-ten-in-the-red/news-story/5497cf9333b1fc6f518265fa42343b3c">reduce license fees</a> and reconsider plans to further restrict <a href="https://theconversation.com/wide-ranging-ban-on-gambling-ads-during-sport-broadcasts-is-needed-to-tackle-problem-gambling-74687">gambling ads</a> during the broadcast of sports.</p>
<p>Ten has said it expects its revenue to be “<a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/commercial-tv-licence-writedown-puts-ten-in-the-red/news-story/5497cf9333b1fc6f518265fa42343b3c">above</a> the 1.2% increase” it outlined in February this year. Yet it will still need to undertake a “<a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/ten-posts-2322-million-loss-following-writedown/news-story/6589bdc494968269db5a4758d7b568ea">significant focus</a>” on a corporate cost-cutting program and profitability as a priority.</p>
<h2>New stakeholders</h2>
<p>With FTA broadcasters under financial pressures, any increase in new rights will require new stakeholders. </p>
<p>Foxtel currently shows international cricket matches played overseas, but does not have local coverage rights. If it could gain local cricket rights, this would further strengthen Foxtel’s sports offering of AFL, NRL, A-league, V8 Supercars, and many international sports.</p>
<p>Australia’s <a href="http://www.acma.gov.au/Industry/Broadcast/Television/TV-content-regulation/sport-anti-siphoning-tv-content-regulation-acma">anti-siphoning regulation</a> could prevent Foxtel completely dominating the cricket media rights. But this list is expected to be <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/media-and-marketing/tv/nick-xenophon-argues-for-abolition-of-tv-licence-fees-and-toughening-up-on-google-and-facebook-taxes-20170424-gvroyd">trimmed</a> further by the government this year, furthering opening up the sports media battleground for pay television in future rights deals.</p>
<h2>The future for digital rights</h2>
<p>Digital rights will also be a major consideration with the new cricket media rights. While most would be looking at Telstra and Optus, there have been new players in this area who may also wish to place a bid.</p>
<p>Currently Cricket Australia has the <a href="http://www.cricket.com.au/promotions/cricket-australia-live/">Cricket Australia Live app</a> which allows users to pay a subscription (A$30 per year or A$5.99 a day) to gain access to live streaming of games, but the new rights could also see this change.</p>
<p>Optus may continue its affiliation with cricket. It recently become the <a href="http://www.optus.com.au/shop/entertainment/sport/cricket">official</a> mobile media partner of Cricket Australia, and principal sponsor of the Melbourne Stars Big Bash League team. Customers can access cricket content via the <a href="https://sport.optus.com.au/">Optus Sports app</a>, which also includes Optus’ recently acquired <a href="https://theconversation.com/optus-the-new-player-in-australias-sports-media-rights-battle-50069">English Premier League</a>. </p>
<p>Twitter has had success with broadcasting the US National Football League (NFL) and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/twitters-live-stream-of-the-melbourne-cup-could-change-how-we-broadcast-sport-67291">Melbourne cup</a> last year. This year it <a href="http://www.sporttechie.com/2017/04/28/technology/digitalmedia/major-league-lacrosse-twitter-to-live-stream-mll-game-of-the-week-for-2017-season/">signed</a> a two-year deal with the US National Lacrosse League. Twitter may consider its interest in a global sport like cricket. </p>
<p>Amazon, which <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazons-new-grand-tour-series-could-be-the-next-illegal-download-victim-68141">recently launched</a> its Prime Video service in Australia, could also be a contender. This year Amazon won the rights for NFL Thursday night matches. It <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/5/1/15386694/nfl-live-stream-amazon-prime-thursday-night-football-ratings">paid</a> US$50 million for ten games, five times the price paid by Twitter last year. Amazon may look at the cricket as another potential global sport to add to its catalogue.</p>
<p>Another consideration is if Nine or Ten were to obtain the digital rights and use the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rio-olympics-are-a-test-case-for-the-future-of-sports-broadcasting-63589">free and subscription approach</a> that the Seven Network used as part of their Rio Games coverage <a href="https://theconversation.com/sevens-olympic-coverage-could-change-the-way-we-watch-sport-on-our-screens-60563">last year</a>.</p>
<h2>The impact on the viewing experience</h2>
<p>Can you “slice and dice” too much? This is a <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/5/1/15386694/nfl-live-stream-amazon-prime-thursday-night-football-ratings">question</a> being asked in the US by CBS chief executive Les Moonves with regard to the NFL.</p>
<p>Adding another stakeholder to cricket will impact the viewers’ experience. This year the new <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-afl-gets-richer-who-gets-richer-with-it-46321">AFL media rights</a> created some frustration linked with the way the rights had been negotiated, particularly the digital rights.</p>
<p>Telstra, the digital rights holder, is restricted by its agreement to limit live match videos to a 7-inch screen size. Highlights and replays are available in full-screen size 12 hours after the match ends. (Foxtel, meanwhile, can stream the games full-screen.)</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"832163675657998337"}"></div></p>
<p>This change has outraged some fans who paid the A$89 subscription fee for the <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/mobile">AFL Live app</a>. Because of the screen size restrictions, Telstra users with a large phone or tablet have a large amount of black space on their screen.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"832194025855741952"}"></div></p>
<p>Some Australians are being creative in working around the restrictions.</p>
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<h2>Media coverage and participation</h2>
<p>The media rights for sport can be looked at far more broadly than solely the coverage of the game itself.</p>
<p>In the United Kingdom there has been ongoing debate associated with cricket’s coverage. Since the sport moved to pay-TV, there has <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/story/801645.html">been a decline</a> in participation levels, which many argued is <a href="http://www.espn.com.au/cricket/story/_/id/19064584/elizabeth-ammon-state-english-county-cricket">primarily due</a> to the game no longer being broadcast free to air. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/jul/12/ashes-sky-england-australia-ecb-tv">Reports of a Sport England Active People survey</a> show a 32% drop in participation levels in people aged over 16 since coverage of cricket moved to satellite and cable TV.</p>
<p>There are now steps being taken to <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9220b274-0a38-11e7-97d1-5e720a26771b">introduce</a> a new Twenty20 tournament in the UK, built around the success of the Indian Premier League and Australia’s BBL, which had some games <a href="http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/12/20/channel-5-brings-back-live-cricket-free-air-tv-after-decade-long-absence">live broadcast</a> in the UK during the last season.</p>
<p>This is an interesting case study for Cricket Australia, which only last year <a href="http://www.cricket.com.au/news/cricket-australia-census-participation-numbers-women-men-children-james-sutherland/2016-08-23">announced</a> cricket as “No 1 as the current top participation sport in Australia”.</p>
<p>Any changes to the rights that impact the percentage of Australians with access to the coverage, could also see a decline in participation based on the UK experience.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76792/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc C-Scott is a board member of C31 Melbourne (Community Television Station)</span></em></p>Negotiations for the new media rights for cricket in Australia could see a change in how we watch games, and even be linked to a drop in people actually playing the game.Marc C-Scott, Lecturer in Screen Media, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/605632016-06-09T06:26:08Z2016-06-09T06:26:08ZSeven’s Olympic coverage could change the way we watch sport on our screens<p>The Seven Network has <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/rio-olympics-seven-to-launch-paid-subscription-service/news-story/5f93d949500601d70dee4c95c765a9fc">announced</a> it will offer a paid subscription service via an app as part of its <a href="https://www.rio2016.com/en">Rio Olympics</a> coverage this year.</p>
<p>This will make Seven the first free-to-air broadcaster in Australia to charge for broadcasting sport.</p>
<p>This is a new approach to the station’s coverage of the Rio Olympics. Last year, it <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/2016-rio-oympics-seven-to-launch-app-with-900-hours-of-coverage/news-story/5854bc5f459d6791c421df2334ef8d54">said</a> the coverage would include all three digital channels (7, 7two and 7mate), in association with a 24-hour digital news channel, online catch-up, and a free app with 36 live streams.</p>
<p>At the same time, Seven <a href="http://www.sevenwestmedia.com.au/docs/default-source/business-unit-news/seven-now-next-future.pdf?sfvrsn=2">said</a> their approach to the games would be “the most technologically advanced coverage of any event to all Australians with its all-encompassing coverage”.</p>
<p>This week’s announcement that it will add a subscription service will have massive implications, not just for the future of sports broadcasting in Australia, but also free-to-air television more broadly.</p>
<h2>Free-to-air v subscription</h2>
<p>Seven is expected to broadcast about a 1,000 hours of free content over the course of the Olympics. Coverage available through the subscription service should triple that figure. </p>
<p>The subscription service will allow those interested in sports not commonly seen on Australian television, such as <a href="https://www.rio2016.com/en/handball">handball</a>, to watch every game during the Olympics from start to finish.</p>
<p>Seven’s subscription service is expected to <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/rio-olympics-seven-to-launch-paid-subscription-service/news-story/5f93d949500601d70dee4c95c765a9fc">supplement</a> the expected A$100 million in advertising revenue from the event.</p>
<p>Part of the broadcaster’s strategy could be to prevent any losses as occurred to Nine, which reportedly <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/seven-grabs-cutprice-olympics/news-story/9ee3514d4168777c0cfcf5a852e7ff7f">lost up to A$25 million</a> on the 2012 London Olympic Games. This was a deal that had Nine <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/olympic-broadcast-rights-in-crisis/story-fna045gd-1226614389333">split</a> the A$120 million cost with Foxtel.</p>
<p>Seven is <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/seven-network-nets-olympic-games-hattrick-with-broadcast-rights-to-2020-20140805-100fyo.html">reported</a> to have paid between A$150 million and A$170 million for the Olympic rights, far less than the recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-afl-gets-richer-who-gets-richer-with-it-46321">AFL rights</a> (A$2.508 billion over six years). And only a small sum when compared with <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/10022290/NBC-signs-whopping-Olympics-TV-rights-deal">NBC’s US$7.75 billion</a> Olympic media rights contract for the games through to 2032.</p>
<p>Seven <a href="https://www.inside7.com.au/advertise/rio-2016-olympics">says it has the rights</a> for a number of Olympic events including the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.</p>
<h2>Going it alone</h2>
<p>The other interesting element of Seven’s Olympic coverage is to go it alone. This differs from the approach of past major sporting event broadcasts which generally incorporated various stakeholders (free-to-air, pay TV and digital). </p>
<p>It could be that Seven had planned to undertake this coverage unaccompanied from when it first was awarded the rights. Seven CEO Tim Worner’s <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/seven-network-nets-olympic-games-hattrick-with-broadcast-rights-to-2020-20140805-100fyo.html">comments</a> to Fairfax Media in 2014 could have given a hint of this thinking: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] “screen real estate” during the lifetime of the Olympic deal meant they may not need a co-broadcasting partner, but that “around 150 hours of content on any given day [means] there will be many more opportunities than ever before”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Seven has also been engaged in the streaming major Australian sport events, since being awarded the Olympic media rights. These streams may have been part of a long trial, building up to the Olympics with numerous channel streams and thousands of hours of content.</p>
<h2>Was tennis a testing ground?</h2>
<p>Seven has been successful in new approaches to sport media coverage in recent years. For the 2015 Australian Open, the broadcaster <a href="http://www.sevenwestmedia.com.au/docs/default-source/business-unit-news/seven-launches-expanded-coverage-of-the-australian-open-series.pdf?sfvrsn=2">said</a> more than 1.2 million Australians chose to stream content during the Australian Open Series. </p>
<p>Seven then increased its streaming of sporting events in the <a href="https://mumbrella.com.au/melbourne-cup-viewing-down-on-last-year-but-seven-claims-300000-people-watched-on-live-stream-328612">same year</a>, including for the Melbourne Cup.</p>
<p>In 2016, Seven expanded its streaming capabilities of the Australian Open, launching a dedicated <a href="http://www.sevenwestmedia.com.au/docs/default-source/business-unit-news/seven-launches-expanded-coverage-of-the-australian-open-series.pdf?sfvrsn=2">7tennis app</a>. </p>
<p>The app allowed for more than 2,000 hours of live, exclusive and free tennis, catch-up and on-demand highlights and available via <a href="http://decidertv.com/page/2016/1/17/7-tennis-app-now-available-on-the-big-screen-with-appletv-7tennis-appletv">multiple devices</a>, including Apple TV and Telstra TV.</p>
<p>Seven’s chief revenue officer, Kurt Burnette has <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/2016-rio-oympics-seven-to-launch-app-with-900-hours-of-coverage/news-story/5854bc5f459d6791c421df2334ef8d54">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We had some great learnings from that in terms of how people were willing to watch on mobile […] It pointed to the fact that convenience was a huge factor in how people consume media.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>How does the change in approach by Seven – following the change in the way Australians “consume media” – impact the future of Australian television?</p>
<h2>Impact upon other broadcasters</h2>
<p>The fact that Seven, a free-to-air broadcaster, has created a subscription service as part of its portfolio raises many questions.</p>
<p>Andrew Maiden, chief executive of the subscription television industry body ASTRA, <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/digital/sevens-olympics-app-proves-absurdity-of-antisiphoning-rule/news-story/a23c4a79a69383b2e08da14d16e38ad3">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This development proves the absurdity of a rule that bans subscription TV from buying the Olympics but allows so-called free-to-air networks to charge Australians to watch.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Adding that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Seven has proven for the world to see that the <a href="http://www.acma.gov.au/Industry/Broadcast/Television/TV-content-regulation/sport-anti-siphoning-tv-content-regulation-acma">anti-siphoning scheme</a> cannot continue to exist in an online world. The exploitation of this loophole is only possible because the mechanism was drafted 20 years ago, before the internet was a twinkle in the regulator’s eye.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Channel Nine could potentially have undertaken a similar approach to sport broadcasting, when it first received the NRL rights as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/foxtel-boxed-into-a-corner-as-sport-streaming-takes-hold-46074">sole stakeholder</a>. Although this later changed to include the same multifaceted approach that had occurred previously both for the NRL and <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-afl-gets-richer-who-gets-richer-with-it-46321">AFL</a>.</p>
<p>Optus’ <a href="https://theconversation.com/optus-the-new-player-in-australias-sports-media-rights-battle-50069">recent</a> acquisition of the European Premier League media rights further adds to the change in sports media rights and its broadcasting in Australia. </p>
<h2>The future of Australian FTA</h2>
<p>For live sport broadcast to have major success it needs to be at a time when people can watch it live. Therefore the Rio Olympics may not be the case study to determine whether this approach has been successful, due to the timezone differences.</p>
<p>But this is a development far greater than just sports broadcasting in Australia and online streaming. This creates tensions between free-to-air and pay TV, and it brings the debate about media policy and regulation to the foreground. </p>
<p>Further, it raises questions about the definition of broadcast and streaming: are they the same? The <a href="https://theconversation.com/regional-tv-fights-back-as-more-programmes-are-broadcast-online-54540">battle over live streaming</a> between Nine and WIN, showed that this is still clearly a grey area.</p>
<p>It also raises questions about the current <a href="http://www.acma.gov.au/Industry/Broadcast/Television/TV-content-regulation/sport-anti-siphoning-tv-content-regulation-acma">sport anti-siphoning laws</a>, which prevent pay TV from being the major rights holder of <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2010L03383">particular sports</a> allowing it to “be <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2010L03383">available free</a> to the general public”. </p>
<p>Seven’s approach to the Olympics questions the future of sports broadcasting and whether sport will continue to be free on Australian television.</p>
<p>The channel’s approach could become a precedent for commercial broadcasters in Australia to offer their current free service in parallel with a subscription service. </p>
<p>It could include the current “free” service, along with a premium fee-based service. The premium service could have additional content, original content, no ads or allow subscribers earlier access to programs. This is an approach that YouTube is currently exploring in Australia with its service <a href="https://theconversation.com/youtube-red-is-here-and-it-breaks-the-video-on-demand-mould-59656">YouTube Red</a>. </p>
<p>In a time when free-to-air broadcasters are losing audiences and reporting financial losses, their current business model needs a serious review. But is adding subscription the right approach for free-to-air television, which has been free to Australians since 1956?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60563/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc C-Scott is a board member of C31 Melbourne (Community Television Station).</span></em></p>The Seven Network’s decision to offer an additional subscription service for its coverage of the Rio Olympics makes it the first free-to-air broadcaster in Australia to charge for broadcasting sport.Marc C-Scott, Lecturer in Screen Media, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/475072015-09-14T15:15:40Z2015-09-14T15:15:40ZAs Champion’s League kicks off, earthquake in sports rights could be next<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94653/original/image-20150914-4698-7y4kyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">All because we like kicking balls between two sticks</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&searchterm=football&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=178481624">Krivosheev Vitaly</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Where there’s passion, there’s profit” was a phrase coined by Alex Fynn, the original architect of what would become the UEFA Champions League competition back in 1992. How right he was. </p>
<p>As Europe’s 32 leading clubs begin the group stages of an annual journey that will end with the champions being crowned at the San Siro in Milan next May, no one could have predicted the <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-how-much-is-the-champions-league-worth-42376">spectacular success</a> and financial growth of the competition all those years ago. </p>
<p>Media rights are at the core of this financial success, of course. UEFA, the governing body of European football, has told me that rights make up around 80% of all the revenue that the organisation secures. From an era in the early 1990s where rights meant purely television – ITV had the exclusive UK contract in those days – we’re now in a digital era where rights management for sports event has become much more complex. </p>
<p>In an era of streaming and ubiquitous access to digital content, policing the intellectual property from live coverage has become integral to rights holders’ business models. They’re up against increasingly tech savvy fans who are only interested in seeing live sport, wherever and whenever they can – not to mention media organisations seeking new ways to satisfy them. Consequently both in football and elsewhere, some of the most interesting battles are no longer taking place on the field. </p>
<p>Recent 2015 flashpoints include the Rugby World Cup, where <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/australian-media-groups-opt-out-of-covering-rugby-world-cup-1.2258837">there will be</a> no accredited journalists from News Corp Australia, Fairfax Media or Australian Associated Press. They couldn’t agree with the organisers on the amount of video content they would be allowed to carry on their websites, claiming that the restrictions meant they would be unable to offer their own audience the level of 24/7 mobile multi-platform coverage that they would expect.</p>
<p>Over in PGA golf, American golf journalist Stephanie Wei’s media accreditation <a href="http://www.golf.com/tour-and-news/pga-tour-revokes-stephanie-weis-credentials">was withdrawn</a> for the rest of the season back in May because she used her Twitter feed to <a href="https://www.periscope.tv">Periscope</a> golfer Jordan Spieth during a practice round (for the uninitiated, Periscope is a live DIY video broadcast platform). The PGA said it owned all video rights for the entire week of the event, not simply the actual tournament. </p>
<h2>Territorial pinchings</h2>
<p>Technology has also famously caused headaches for sports organisations who have packaged rights by territory. The modern classic was the case of Karen Murphy, the pub owner from Portsmouth in England who challenged the FA Premier League and its exclusive territorial rights arrangement with Sky Sports in 2005. Fed up with what she saw as Sky’s high prices, she had purchased a subscription with Greek broadcaster Nova, who had the Greek rights to screen English games. Having imported a Greek decoder and card, she broadcast Nova’s coverage in her pub. The Premier League duly took her to court. </p>
<p>The case ended up before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in 2011, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2045029/Pub-landlady-Karen-Murphy-wins-EU-fight-screen-Premier-League-football.html">which accepted</a> Murphy’s argument that she was entitled under EU competition law to purchase a subscription from another member state. The case was then referred back to the UK High Court, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/feb/24/pub-landlady-karen-murphy-premier-league">which upheld</a> the European ruling but also noted that Murphy’s broadcast infringed the copyright restrictions that applied to elements such as graphics, logos and music, all of which belonged to the Premier League. </p>
<p>This has meant that the impact of the ECJ decision has not been as great as some feared (and others hoped). Contracts were rewritten, forcing foreign rights holders to only broadcast in their own language and heavily restricting the number of games that they could show at 3pm UK time, the time when pub customers would expect to catch a game. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-25849670">Numerous pubs</a> broadcasting foreign Premier League streams <a href="http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2014/11/24/pubs-in-breach-of-premier-league-copyright/">have also been</a> prosecuted for breaching copyright for the reasons outlined in the Murphy case. </p>
<p>Of more recent interest has been <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/digital-single-market-strategy-europe-com2015-192-final">EU proposals published</a> in May that intend to outlaw the geo-blocking of content across the EU by the end of 2016. This will potentially prevent the likes of UEFA from selling rights country by country, which would be a huge change to the status quo. If for example YouTube acquired the exclusive rights for a sports event, it would need to make them available to users across Europe. </p>
<p>As you can imagine, this has prompted discussions between various sports rights holders and the European Commission. Watch this space for announcements in the coming months, which may yet see the proposals watered down. Instead of only selling pan-European rights, one lesser option that I understand has been on the table is “portability”. This would mean that if I had a British pay-TV football subscription, Sky or BT would have to enable me to watch online while travelling in other countries. Under such a scenario, rights might still be sold country by country after all. </p>
<p>While there are surely pros and cons to this kind of more modest change, it is worth bearing in mind one legacy of past EU interventions into the sports rights market, such as <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/73c030bc-57d8-11da-8866-00000e25118c.html">breaking up</a> Sky’s monopoly of English Premier League games in the UK in 2005. The EU had started out with the intention of increasing competition, but this ironically pushed up the cost of viewing for fans. And the ECJ’s Murphy decision led to the 3pm games restriction, which lessened the range of games available to viewers in Europe. Whatever the downside of the status quo, it has its consolations too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47507/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raymond received funding from RCUK for the CREATe Centre's Copyright, Football and European Media Rights project</span></em></p>Today’s digital morass has made sports rights infinitely more complicated than when Europe’s premier football event kicked off in 1993.Raymond Boyle, Professor of Communications, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.