The end of TV as we know it (and I feel fine)

Coliseum Sports Media's PremierLeaguePass.com launch is a watershed moment for NZ media - rattling Sky TV investors, and giving viewers and exciting glimpse of what's to come.

The company's short-notice press conference was packed; NBR ONLINE's launch-day story was easily this site's best-read article of the week. It also prompted several questions from readers, which I had the chance to put to Coliseum CEO Tim Martin. But before we get to his replies, a quick recap.

Wednesday, Mr Martin announced his company had outbid Sky TV for rights to the English Premier League (EPL).

PremierLeaguePass.com is taking registrations of interest now and will officially launch on August 1 ahead of the August 17 kick off of the EPL's 2013/2014 season.

The cost
PremierLeaguePass.com will offer a season pass for $150, offering access to 380 games - or every EPL game. A $240 season pass will add magazine-style shows (produced by the EPL). For those who don't want a season pass, there will also be a robustly-priced ($25) day pass option.

Gadget viewing options
Games can be watched on a PC, Mac, tablet or smartphone (via iPhone and Android apps), or via HDMI cable or wi-fi, on a regular television. None of this technology is new - in fact Mr Martin emphasises it's all developed NeuLion, the New York company whose online technology is used for similar services for te NFL and NBA in the US.

Regular TV too
Surprise free-to-air broadcast partner TVNZ will play a match of the week every Sunday 12pm to 2pm, plus a highlight show on Monday nights.

Getting a came from a gadget to your TV is pretty easy. For example, if you're watching video on an iPad, and have a $159 Apple TV wi-fi widget plugged into your TV, it only takes a tap of your finger for the video to stream to your television. That's still enough to intimidate or put off quite a few potential subscribers - but that's going to change over time as the tech gets easier, and average folks become more familiar with it.

Among soccer fans, reaction has been mixed between those who welcome the unprecedented deluge of coverage, and those who resent having to pay an extra $150 (assuming they keep on Sky TV for other sports).

TVNZ shows some moxie
TVNZ's involvemet came as news to Sky TV, the state broadcaser's partner in the slow-selling igloo. It's great to see new CEO Kevin Kenrick and the board finding their feet, and showing a bit of independent spirit.

Sky TV shares [NZX:SKT] fell 4.59% on Wednesday, 3% on Thursday and a further 3.2% Friday (as the broader NZX-50 fell 0.8%).

The three-straight drops were not because of the loss of UK soccer per se, but fears that the genie is now out of the bottle. PremierLeaguePass could push the concept of broadband delivered content into the mainstream. And a similar model of a paid online player partnering with a free to air broadcaster could be used to peel away other sports, or other content, from Sky.

The shifiting media scene was underlined by Slingshot's launch of a new global mode that allows the ISP's customers to access overseas US TV and movie streaming services that are usually geo-blocked to New Zealanders.

The silver lining for Sky TV
For just on a year now, the Commerce Commission has been investigating whether Sky TV's content deals prevent new market entrants from gaining a critical mass of content, and thus constitute a potential breach of scections 27 and 36 of the Commerce Act. NBR understands the watch dog will report on its progress within a month. When the investigation began, QuickFlix was failing, and TVNZ still smarting from death of TiVo. Sky TV CEO John Fellet has always argued his company is not a near-monopoly  because of the threat of so-called over-the-top internet content services (as have Amy Adams and Craig Foss). Now, the threat looks a lot more real.

The potential for PremierLeaguePass.com to get the regulatory monkey off Sky TV's back has even led to speculation CEO John Fellet is playing clever political game, sacrificing the pawn of UK soccer to give the illusion of competiton. If so, it's dangerous. PremierLeaguePass.com, even with modest subscribers, could prove a valuable proof-of-concept for alternative digital delivery.

Serious money
Of course, delivering content over the internet is not new, even in little old New Zealand. But while QuickFlix has stumbled from one financial crisis to the next, Coliseum's largest shareholder is Peter Cooper, the US based property developer with an NBR Rich List value of $650 million, who holds a 50% stake. (Among other projects, Mr Cooper is behind the Britomart development in Auckland, where Coliseum is based). The balance of shares are held by Coliseum's directors, including Mr Martin.

The CEO won't say how much Coliseum had to bid to win the EPL from Sky TV (Sky TV won't comment either, bar saying it put in its highest ever bid. As a point of reference, the pay TV broadcaster paid north of $14 million for NRL rights).

He's stoked at the potential of online viewiing based on his time as an ad man overseas, and on football in particular following a marketing stint with Adidas in the UK that saw him working on projects involving the likes of Zinedene Zidane and David Beckham.

Q&A with Coliseum Sports Media's CEO Ian Martin

Now - some of those questons, from me, and readers. (I'm paraphrasing Tim Martin's replies, bar those in direct quotes).

Lots of readers are asking "What's next?" Will you go after A-League soccer? Rugby?

Right now Coliseum is focussing on PremierLeaguePass.com's launch. If that goes well, it will look at offering other leagues to the same platform.

As well as the English Premier League, Coliseum has secured rights to Serie A from Italy, Ligue 1 from France, and MLS from America, and it's currently polling those who register via its website on their interest in these leagues.

If all goes well, Coliseum will look at adding other sports - but through a new platform, not PremierLeaguePass.com.

A number of readers have left comments along the lines of "But iSky lets you live pause and rewind - try doing that with live-streaming web video." I know NeuLion's software has the capability for those sorts of features, but will they be enabled with PremierLeaguePass.com?

Yes they will be. They'll be live pause and rewind, plus the ability to split the screen in four and watch four games at once - useful for getting quick updates when a number of games are being played simultaneously You can also flick between up to six games at once.

What are the ondemand options?

There will be many options for watching games later, but the exact number has yet to be finalised. Coliseum was not planning to go public untiil next week (its hand was forced by stories in the media), so some of the details are still being nailed down.

Will there be an Apple TV app?

Yes, definitely. Not at the start of the season, but one will possibly be added during the season.

Will there be smart TV apps (which, similar to an Apple TV app, let you use your TV remote to easily select and play broadband-delivered content on your TV)?

Yes, definitely, but again there's no specific timetable.

Have you been in talks with phone companies about mobile deals?

Yes, but PremierLeaguePass.com can be viewed on any mobile gadget regardless via its website, or its Android, iPhone and iPad apps.

Have you been in any talks with ISPs about unmetered data?

No. Games take around 1GB of data. Most people won't watch more than 10 games a month. Many new broadband plans have 30GB or 50GB of data. [NBR notes that on off its own bat - presumably because it sees it as an advantage in the market - Slingshot says it won't meter PremierLeaguePass.com data. That is, watching a game won't count toward your monthly data cap. Hopefully others will follow. A Statistics NZ survey of ISPs last year found the average data cap is 16GB]. Data caps are an issue with mobile devices.

How long does Coliseum have English Premier League rights?

For the next three seasons.

What will be the video streaming options?

Akamai is PremierLeaguePass.com's content delivery network (CND) partner (the US company, which operates servers worldwide that cache or store local copies of popular content to speed deliver, has also just become Sky TV's CDN partner, displacing Kordia).

There will be three adapative streaming options: 800Kbit/s (suitable for slower internet connections), 1600Kbit/s (or 1.6Mbit/s - that is, better than TVNZ Ondemand quality) and 3000Kbit/s (which should delivery equivalent to standard definition digital broadcast TV). A 4500Kbit/s option (approaching HD quality) is being assessed.

Will there be a pass for following one team?
No, it's very much against the EPL's policy; they don't want it to look like a league dominated by four or five teams.

Follow @ChrisKeall

ckeall@nbr.co.nz