Rogers Media is "taking a big swing at the future" by launching a "live streaming service called Sportsnet NOW, which will become available Friday," according to Bill Brioux of the CP. Canadians "will no longer have to subscribe to a cable or satellite package to watch all the content now available on the six Sportsnet TV channels (although there will be some regional restrictions for streaming)." A Sportsnet NOW subscription "will cost $24.99 per month with no contract." The service "will be included at no extra charge with Sportsnet cable or satellite subscriptions." Rogers President of Sportsnet & NHL Properties Scott Moore: "We want to be where the consumers are." Brioux notes the move is similar to how HBO NOW began offering content "without a cable subscription." Moore estimates 1-3% of a typical Saturday night hockey audience "is watching via a stream" (CP, 3/31). Rogers said that it will be the "first mainstream sports TV channel provider in North America to sell directly to consumers without requiring they have a subscription to cable or satellite." The company added that it "hopes to attract sports fans who do not pay for more expensive television packages, and to do so without further eroding a shrinking TV subscriber base." Rogers Senior VP/NHL & Video Distribution Bart Yabsley: "We're targeting the cord-nevers, the kids, the millennials, the university students who just don't have that subscription and still want to have access to sports. Rogers Media Business Unit President Rick Brace said that the product "is priced as a premium service designed to create 'a distance between what you can get in the all-you-can-eat package on cable or the smaller packages'" (REUTERS, 3/31).
RISK VERSUS REWARD: The GLOBE & MAIL's James Bradshaw writes the move to "detach coveted and expensive sports programming from the traditional TV system -- which remains the financial engine for broadcasters and media companies such as Rogers Media -- is a leap of faith for the industry, and carries some risk." Many see live sports as the "last bastion of stability in a broadcasting industry undergoing a digital upheaval." Sports are in "high demand, watched live and command high prices." But it is also an "acknowledgment of where the broadcast industry is heading." Sportsnet NOW's premium price tag "is crucial." Moore: “We’re not undercutting our biggest partners." But Brace was "more blunt." He said, “We wouldn’t have done this if we thought it was going to materially hinder the current distribution that is vitally important to us.” Bradshaw notes for the time being, Sportsnet NOW streaming customers "will see the same feeds as TV subscribers, including the same ads." That means some regional NHL games "will be blacked out." Rogers is "looking at bundling" Sportsnet NOW with its NHL GameCentre Live service, which "gives streaming access to out-of-market games" (GLOBE & MAIL, 4/1).
