Pay-TV is where the future of broadcasting is, said Dorna Sports Media Managing Dir Manel Arroyo. Ahead of the '14 season, Dorna Sports, the rights holder of MotoGP, signed several deals with pay-TV operators in some of the sport's most important markets such as Spain, Italy and the U.K. Arroyo said that MotoGP's move toward pay-TV simply follows the path of the industry. He said, "The biggest sports, the biggest content and the premium content are on pay-TV. We are proud of the switch." The series is now on the same platforms as other premium sports. In the U.K., BT Sport, which also holds exclusive Premier League rights, acquired MotoGP TV rights in a five-year deal prior to this season. The deal ended a decade of coverage on the BBC. Arroyo told SBD Global that the switch is also caused by the way Dorna is managing the sport. He said that the series is focused on interacting with the viewers and that is only possible on pay-TV platforms. Arroyo: "Today it’s all about multi feeds, bid data, interactivity through social networks with the viewers and that is what we are looking for."
FOLLOWING THE MONEY: Media analyst Sam Hart, who works for U.K. stockbroker Charles Stanley, believes that the series’ move toward pay-TV broadcasters has much simpler reasons.
He said, "It’s more a reflection of where the money is. I think it’s pretty clear that BT Sport was prepared to bid a much higher level than the BBC was." The reason pay-TV operators are prepared to pay higher amounts for live events, and in particular sporting events, is the growing importance of such rights, Hart said. He added that one of the great problems in the media industry at the moment is that content can be time lapsed via DVRs or requested on demand over the Internet. MotoGP does not deny that financial considerations played into the decision as well. Arroyo did not provide a specific dollar amount but said that media revenue has been growing."We are no different than other sports," he said. "We also need to invest proper money to deliver good content, good sport and good entertainment for the networks and for the viewers."
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Manel Arroyo
Source: Twitter
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TRANSITION PERIOD: While MotoGP firmly believes that pay-TV is where the industry is moving, it has not yet fully committed to it and operates on a hybrid format. In Italy, where pay-TV network Sky Italia has the exclusive live broadcast rights, free-to-air TV channel Cielo will show eight races live, with a two-hour highlight show for the other 10 Grand Prix. The same is true for BT Sport and ITV4 in the U.K., as well as Movistar TV and Telecinco in Spain, among others. With channels like BT Sport, Sky Italia and Movistar TV having subscriber numbers of less than 5 million, keeping some free-to-air coverage seems like a good idea, also from a sponsorship standpoint. Arroyo said that the series is in close contact with its sponsors, sharing ideas and making sure they are happy with their partnerships around the championship. He said, "We share with them new formats of how they can activate their sponsorship around MotoGP through all the different platforms." Though limited exposure on pay-TV might concern some sponsors, Hart does not consider it to be a huge issue. He said that it might become an issue if there would be a significant dropoff in total viewership. "My instincts would be if a free-to-air TV broadcaster was prepared to bid significantly more than a pay-TV broadcaster, they would be more than happy to go for a free-to-air broadcaster," Hart said. "I don’t really think it’s something they would be terribly concerned about to be honest."
