ASTRA slams Twitter Melbourne Cup deal warning of paywall for future streamed sports events

October 13, 2016 2:29

The head of the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA) has slammed Twitter’s announcement that it will live-stream The Melbourne Cup, warning it is only a matter of time before the brand scooped up more events and put them behind a paywall.

Andrew Maiden, CEO of ASTRA, said that the social media channel was not investing in Australia, but merely taking advantage of current laws surrounding sports’ anti-siphoning which do not affect digital streaming companies.

He said that Twitter was now competing against local companies on an unlevel playing field where subscription broadcasters were limited in how they could fight back.

“Twitter is now a sports broadcaster competing with Australian companies that invest and create jobs here,” Maiden said.

Be a member to keep reading

Join Mumbrella Pro to access the Mumbrella archive and read our premium analysis of everything under the media and marketing umbrella.

Become a member

Simon Canning

Simon Canning was Mumbrella's marketing and advertising editor from 2015-2017. In a career spanning journalism and communications over more than 30 years Simon has become one of Australia’s most respected analysts and commentators on the advertising, marketing and media industries. A regular commentator on radio and TV, Simon has also worked in media in the US and UK .

Topics

3 COMMENTS

Smiley Dave 13 Oct 16

Ha, now let’s watch commercial television sink faster than newspapers shall we?

User ID not verified.

Hank Steakfist 13 Oct 16

Boohoo.

It’s sort of like when Subscription TV bought the Formula One rights and put the majority of the race broadcasts behind a paywall.

So yeah. I can’t say I feel sympathy for this industry.

User ID not verified.

David Henselin 13 Oct 16

Looks like the incumbents of old media are going to face the same disruption and competition as the Taxi industry received with Uber and that can only be a good thing for the consumer with Uber eventually getting the blessing of the Government.

User ID not verified.