One of the pioneers of Australian streaming should leave the local market this week, marking the end of the first era of the excessive sporting revolution.
Optus Sport is about to sell his rights of rights, including his jewelry Premier leagueAlmost nine years after its launch in Australia. The release will be the biggest departure in the sector during a decade of rights, because fans of certain sports have had no choice but to take two paid or more television platforms in order to follow their favorite sports.
STAN – owned by Nine Entertainment – is now the only home subscription subscription streaming player in Australia, after The acquisition of Foxtel by Dazn supported by Saudi Arabia based in the United Kingdom Earlier this year. Stan was created in 2015, initially as a joint venture between Nine and Fairfax Media. After a first emphasis on entertainment, its planned acquisition of optus rights for an expected amount of around 300 million dollars establishes the Stan Sport brand as light n ° 2 – and the major challenger at – Foxtel / Kayo Sports, which holds the rights on AFL and LNR.
The Stan agreement should be announced in the coming days, but it has been as usual for Optus Sport. Telco promoted the Euro 2025 women’s UEFA UEFA tournament, which started in early July. An optus spokesperson said: “All companies regularly examine their businesses to ensure that they maximize the value and achieve their full potential – Optus is no different. We don’t start speculation. “
Optus Sport was launched in 2016 as a specialist in the first streaming sports, part of the so-called exaggerated (OTT), Netflix style distribution model which bypassed traditional suppliers based on cables or satellites and rather used the ordinary Internet connections of customers to provide content.
The consultant in sports rights Jon Marquard – who was involved in Optus Sport for a large part of his time in Australia, up to around 18 months ago – said that the strategy has worked for a while, but that the company has changed attention in recent years.
“This period from 2019 to 2023, culminating in the Women’s World Cup, added about 1 billion dollars to the value of the brand of optus when he had faced other challenges, especially The big breakdown And cyber-incident“He said.
“It was undeniably a good thing during the first six years, but writing has been on the wall for some time compared to other streamers, because globalization has occurred and that new players have entered the market, and Optus was unable to keep up.”
Amazon – Thanks to its ICC – and Disney cricket rights – via this year’s ISPN introduction to its Disney + service – are now in sight on the Australian market, while other online subscription players, including Netflix and Apple, bought rights abroad.
Although the Optus football offer has been complete, including the female Super League in England, J. League and international competitions, it was unable to become the pre -eminent destination for sports fans. Paramount + Matildas, Socceroos and A-League Football, and Stan Sport has rights to the European Champions League.
“It’s a credit for nine to continue and try to increase the scale,” said Marquard. “To go out and reinvest in rugby at the national level and World Cups, and now increase their football wallet, they need it.”
Stan will broadcast Wimbledon, the British & Irish Lions Tour and the cardboard fight between Paul Gallen and Sonny Billy Williams in the coming weeks, highlighting his growing presence in several sports.
But Marquard suggested that a more convincing sporting offer gives Stan the opportunity to increase the number of its customers who subscribe more than its entertainment set. Stan’s basic package costs $ 12 per month, while Stan Sport – introduced in 2020 – is an additional $ 15. The Gallen-Williams fight costs $ 70. Stan brought in 2.3 million subscribers, but only a fraction of these also poses sport.
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“Following this acquisition, I would expect them to look at their product offer to see how they can get their sport package to a greater proportion of their customers,” said Marquard.
The release of Optus Sport, which has first league rights until 2028, means a less subscription for football fans – saving $ 10 per month for Optus customers or $ 25 for others. However, the image was complicated by Kayo’s re -emergence in sport. The FIFA World Club club is currently presented on the most popular sports streaming platform in Australia as a result of direct DAZN’s 1bn $ US with FIFA.
The acquisition of Dazn should trigger more changes for the local market. About 100 Foxtel staff were redundant in April and Kayo increased its monthly prices by $ 5 this month; Its standard package is now $ 30.
The rights of the LNR of 2028 are currently being negotiated. Stan’s commitment to develop his portfolio, as well as his place in the team of the free partner of NRL Free -to -Air, means a partnership with another paid television provider – like the current part with Foxtel / Kayo – has little sense.
However, Dazn, supported by the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia, has deep pockets. He paid $ 3.4 billion to acquire Foxtel and his 4.7 million subscribers in Australia, and he seems patient to recover his investment in the Club World Cup. Although all the matches are available on Kayo, both live and as a replay on demand, the tournament is also available on the Dazn platform, which is still available for Australian customers. There – in accordance with his approach abroad – live matches are free, but reruns, video and better quality sound, and fewer ads are only available for subscribers for $ 30 per month, or $ 15 for an annual commitment.
While free television is always considered by legislators as the main way to watch the sport of Australians – guaranteeing that its major events are protected by the anti -Siphoning law – will soon be reduced to the cord and will move to intelligent televisions and mobile devices served on the Internet to challenge this inherited dynamic. The recent seven and nine investment in their own online platforms supported by advertising suggests knowing what will happen. But for the moment, the release of optus leaves the finely ready sports streaming race.