How Sports Broadcast Rights Impact At-Home and In-Arena Streaming Experiences
Many innovative sports streamers are looking to expand opportunities for interactive sports experiences, including those that connect viewers in the venue with those watching at home. Often the creativity is there and so is the tech, but broadcast rights are the roadblock, as Next League SVP Strategic Solutions Tim Brady explains in this discussion with VideoRx's Robert Reinhardt at Streaming Media Connect.
Losing on Latency
Noting that a lot of the same "creative concepts" for bringing heightened interactivity to live sports streaming experiences "have been floating around for a long time," Reinhardt asks Brady, "Besides predictive, interactive experiences for multi-camera video or replays, for arena sports like hockey and basketball, what other creative uses are being developed?"
Acknowledging limited progress, Brady explains, "One of the things that is holding up some of the concepts is if you're talking about the NBA, NHL, NASCAR, or any of the ones that have very lucrative broadcast rights, if you're trying to do something with the broadcast, they have different rights for at home and different rights for in the venue. And so it changes things up. One of the things that would be a fun unlock that I think people would enjoy is, let's say I'm at the game and Robert, right now, what I'll do is take a selfie and post it and you can see it. And now we get to enjoy that, and now we're texting with each other, which is a little awkward for me at the venue, et cetera. But if there's ways for us to do a real-time interaction while I'm at the venue, that's great."
One reason these experiences can't be fully shared is because of the built-in latency of the licensed streaming broadcast. "The hard part is what I get to see in real time," he says, while a friend is watching the same game 45 seconds later at home. "f I did something in real time with what I have access to video, you don't have the permissions, contract-wise, to do it. So those are some of the things that will slow some of the more creative ideas. And I think the more creative ideas are connecting the bragging rights of 'I'm at the venue, and I want you to be able to enjoy some of that with me. You're not here with me, but I'm going to bring you a little bit closer.' To do that, you've got to get past a couple contracts."
Satisfying Sports Stakeholders and Knowing the Guardrails
Dealing with rights--especially with premium sports--inevitably means juggling the interests of multiple stakeholders. "At Next League," Reinhardt asks, "who are the various stakeholders that you're working with? And are you educating them more on where the strategic advantages might be in this area?"
"The first thing you have to do is figure out where your guardrails are. What can you do and what can't you do? That almost always involves the contracts, and the biggest contract of all is the broadcast contract. When you understand the nuances of the contract, you'll have a better understanding of where you can be creative."
For example, he continues, "That broadcast contract might only be domestic, and international has a different rule, or there might be something that you could do in-venue as long as it stays in-venue so you geo-gate it and things like that. Creativity starts with knowing where the guardrails is. It's not in anybody's advantage to go in and just be creative for creative's sake, because you'll get far and then someone will find out that it's not possible."
Tech Is No Longer the Bottleneck
Next League's first strategy, Brady explains, is to "get smart on what their contracts can do," and pass that understanding on to the stakeholders so they know what's possible."
The good news, he says, is that whatever the limits broadcast rights impose on your more creative ideas, technology is less likely to prove the limiting factor that it once did.
"There used to be a time where you might say, 'Oh, I can't do that, because the technology is the bottleneck,'" he recalls. "The piping people have invested a tremendous amount in the venues." He concedes that some venues, like racing venues with long tracks, are more complicated than others. "But for sports in general, they've spent the investment for you to be creative. And really the biggest hindrance is just where you sold your rights."
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