Optus’ EPL plans will lead to short-term conversions and long-term resentment

This article is spot-on. When Optus acquired the rights, they had several options to package it for fans (on-sell rights/partner with a broadcaster/subscription-specific deal/etc). They’ve deliberately chosen the most intrusive, most combative and least convenient method for the vast majority of fans.

Bang on. No way is optus getting a cent from me. And because of this blackmail, ever. Plus i work and travel outside cities. Optus is simply unworkable when you get 25kms from a cbd capital city.

I consider myself a fan of the EPL – have watched games live almost every week as well as highlights. This isn’t a good deal, especially when my broadband speeds will struggle to give me HD. Also not an Optus customer and can’t justify $85 for one sport. Say what you like about Foxtel but once set up you could turn on the TV, switch to the right channel and you’re good to go. At a lower price point.

Terrible strategy, I bet the execs that gave this the green light are laughing though.

Stuff the consumer.

I doubt Optus will recoup their investment over the 3 years…can someone list out he current options via Fox Sports…you need to pay $20/month extra for sport package which gave you access to EPL across TV, broadband and mobile via the various Foxtel products. For non-Foxtel subs they could still pay a fee (was it &50-$100) per season for broadband/mobile viewing – is this correct? Optus continually stuff their consumer offers…drives people to illegally stream off of numerous sites…I think EPL will regret this in the long term as they are disenfranchising their supporters for a quick money grab…Optus following similar to what they did in Singapore several years back…

Are they also assuming that the EPL is a big enough drawcard. Yes you’ll get the die hards, but for those who like watching it casually there isn’t enough content to make me do the switch

Now you know how we V8Supercar and F1 fans feel.

You can re-brand, run some youthful looking campaigns, create utterley pointless cricket content and bang on about anti shark tech for as long as you want but unless you change the underlying culture it does not mean a single thing.

The most pathetic part about this move by OPTUS is that the brand see themselves as a “wingman” & “the enabler” for Australians.

The “yes” proposition has guided the brand for the last 5 years but moves likes this provoke the opposite effect in the same Australians that OPTUS spends millions to bond with.

Shame on the agencies on the roster for not foreseeing the social outcry of the move.

In the event that those partner agencies didn’t know, shame on the client for not valuing communications partners as business councel/partners.

I love Liverpool & the EPL but the cheek of OPTUS to do this, particularly as the brand offers inferior customer experience and product to Telstra, has turned me off permanently.

Absolutely spot on. This is a joke and a prehistoric approach to media/sports access. Multi platform yes but don’t block the only platform real fans want TV (or charge a kings ransom). Basic research dictates people can’t or won’t pay for 2 providers and Optus can’t offer the other football/sports options fox do. God knows what terrible commentary or analysis will be on offer too.

This grab for market share in the wrong place has no consideration for any of the premier leagues fan base especially given the Timezone and convenience of record/watch back ON TV/Large screen. Basic requirements in this region.

I hope it’s a disaster. In a world of increasing options and convenience this offers neither.

This is Marketing 1990’s style. If you’re trying to position your brand as a content innovator there’s no excuse for such a shoddy content proposition. No doubt they’re filming a flash multi million dollar EPL TV ad as we speak, instead of focusing on what counts – a thoughtful, innovative customer experience. This has set them and EPL back years.

Optus adsl2 speed is pretty horrific in my area at best. When you add the overhead of conversion and buffering due to poor throughput (especially HD), I will never get the content live ( or close to it). Satellite Foxtel is a few seconds delayed, this offering delay will be minutes and by then I know the scores and events anyway!!! Extorting people to force you to a telco for an inferior product.. No thanks Optus. It’s back to the La Liga for me. I might add that Foxtel adding be-in channels to provide UCL, serie a etc is also a bit of a scam. Banging their chest to provide content we used to get previously anyway on ESPN and lost over the years. Don’t expect me to say thanks for giving me back some of what I signed up for and you took anyway. Both Optus and Foxtel treating us like idiots.

If Optus can offer me the ability to watch EPL, on any device and the ability to take it with me on my phone and beam / cast / plug in, to any hardware and watch, that will sign me up. Monthly price, purely for EPL? I would pay $15.

P.S. I play weekend football and am in a squad of approx 30. I ask at training tonight, (roughly 25 were there), who has Foxtel and half do. I proposed the $15 a month idea and pretty much all would say they would sign up for that amount.

Watching sport on your phone or tablet is okay if you are desperate – stuck on public transport or in a hotel, for example – but it is far from ideal. EPL fans are generally getting up at 3am to watch their team; that has to be a lean back experience, which is still best provided by broadcast TV. I know when I stay up late or get up early to watch matches, Foxtel will serve it up live and in HD without any issues. We all know that won’t be the case with Optus: there will be outages, there is be buffering, there will be delays running into the minutes. There goes any opportunity to watch matches and interact with other fans around the world via social media. There goes betting on matches, if that’s your thing. It’s like the powers that be at Optus didn’t speak to or consult with a single football fan before devising this strategy.

This f**k up was coming a MILE off. Everyone could see this, apart from, it seems, Optus.

Newcastle fans may not need to worry about EPL on Optus as the Championship will be shown on Foxtel through BeIn Sports next season.

Oh no, what are all those lifelong Arsenal, Liverpool, Man U, Chelsea and now Man City supporters in Australia going to do? They’ll have to either sell their overpriced full kits to pay for it or take the drastic step of deciding to go on down to their local club and supporting them. But then again, now Fox has Bein they can all just keep Fox and swap to supporting Barca or Real.

This is an appalling treatment of consumers.

Optus – are you listening? To use EPL as a lever to force consumers to subscribe to one of your services is atrocious. Fair enough, offer a subscription at x dollars per month, but to force a subscription on us? You should be ashamed and embarrassed at this tactic.

I’m an existing Optus customer but it’s been obvious since the second they secured the EPL rights that they weren’t going to have the infrastructure or knowhow to deliver the product to a standard football lovers expect — hence it was always going to be about Optus and not what is in the best interest of the game or fans.

I look forward to moving over to a different telco, and while I might not be able to watch the EPL (outside of streaming sites) I will be watching the impending PR disaster with great enthusiasm…and a bowl of popcorn.

Clap, clap, Optus.

This has been a disaster from the off. The EPL sold the rights to Optus with no regard for their reach or ability to actually get their product out to the consumer. Optus have in turn cobbled together a really poor offering that will alienate a lot of fans. I am 6 months into a broadband deal and 3 months into a mobile phone deal which leaves me with the option of cancelling both of these services at huge cost or seeing no EPL. Cheers Optus, I will never now use your products.

Optus have done the impossible, and manged with one ginormous clusterfk what news had spent billions on…making Foxtel seem like good value.

OPTUS has really stuffed this up. i had Optus mobile , gave it up for bad service. no way would i go back. But no-one seems to have noticed the most glaring fault in the Optus presentation. there is no PVR attached to Fetch, so id you want to see a 2 am match, you’ll have to get up at 2. There is zero recording facility with this. and even if highlights are shown at more reasonable times I am often at work, and record
I record everything i want to see overnight and get up at say 5am to watch.
And if you have fibre why would you want ADSL2.
our landlines at work and home are currently with Optus. They can’t stuff those up. But that doesn’t qualify me for the service. What are we doing about it. Looking for a new landline supplier and making sure we never buy an Optus product again.
i love Arsenal and the EPL. I bought a 75″ TV primarily for soccer .
OPTUS you’re the big NO company, now and forever more

Change is hard for some people and usually the first challenge is coaxing the sheep to stop resisting and start embracing. Admittedly, if Optus are truly following the same old style of Foxtel and insisting that people use their cable / box / infrastructure, in order to watch the EPL, then they are no different to Foxtel = old school, greedy, middle men.

Noting the above I can only see this opening up the door further for the Google’s and Amazon’s who will quite happily enable users to access content in an easy, individually suited, highly accessible way.

I bet the sales of Amazon Fire boxes rockets once again this year – it is so much easier.

The fetch box does record programmes.

Have been using one for over 3 years now.

This is really quite ill conceived by Optus, when you look at streaming content across devices why would they charge $85, they have clearly paid too much. Other challenger Providers like OVO allow you to stream content at no charge.

Optus.

Mugs.

Words cannot express what a complete failure this will be.

One of the last things when flying back to the UK I saw on a giant billboard was ‘English Premier League all 380 games live on Fox Sport’. I met my Mrs at the time and after much deliberation decided I’ll be back in 3 months… I gave up my season ticket, and so many other things and although I met someone really special I still asked myself ‘crap…. What am I gonna do about the football? Is it worth it?’ That billboard (bizarrely helped me decide)…

Now Optus have completely f’d this up… Completely.

They had ONE job… Service delivery, flexibility. I really hope whoever was involved in this whether its one person or an army of people lose their job at Optus.

A FRUITLESS EXERCISE

How is this different from Foxtel recent behaviour. I am looking forward to a change of carrier. I have had Bein/ Setanta for over 8 years, foxtel cancelled by current subscription with Bein and now allows me to have it for $25 per month instead of the $12 I currently pay. And I
I had no say. Yes they will give me 3 Bein channels apparently but Optus has Bein and they are supposedly also having a 24 hr EPL channel. I want to watch the Euros so I will be forced to stay with Telstra/Foxtel in the short term which is not HD. another $10 per month for HD plus $200 for HD box. I have Foxtel satellite as ADSL in my area is shocking. I have a Fetch TV box already as I wanted a Pvr. It is great.

I can not believe the blind and short term memory of just about everyone who was commented above… Foxtel locked down Game Of Thrones so you have to pay $50 a month to watch it. Foxtel has taken 90% of the V8s and hidden it away… This is what PayTV operators do… Buy rights and make you pay to watch it. Optus has taken exactly the same.approach as Foxtel, Sky, Time, HBO, Netflix… Wake up people… Hop off your dinosaurs and get running towards the future…

As I’m retired, I now have enough time to watch a lot of Foxtel Sport.(Leaving aside the terrible performance of IQ3!), soon they will include BeInSport in their package as well, which will give me European soccer for free. What Optus want me to do to have access to a sport that I love is criminal! I don’t want to link up with a pathetic streamlining service and I don’t want to watch anything (with the state of my eyes) on anything 3″ square. I don’t have access to lots of multimedia systems so I can’t see me following EPL from here on in….

With the latest clubs packages announcement Foxtel have nailed it for all but the hardcore EPL fans
http://www.foxsports.com.au/fo.....d9a8f138bc
This plus pretty much all European international and club soccer could leave Optus with a very hard sell job to the consumer market.

I can’t imagine Optus will leave the proposed pricing structure the same now.

Segmentation of the game coverage in the UK was designed to prevent SKY running a monopoly and more choice was designed to provide a better experience for fans.
It resulted in completely the opposite.
i have said the same thing in comments here since Optus won the rights.
This will not lead to a better fan experience . Segmentation is worse and more expensive.

I almost actually blame the EPL themselves.

I get what you are saying Doug but foxtel aren’t forcing you to change your phone and or internet provider in order to access GOT.

Same thing happened when Fox locked in F1, the V8 Supercars, the AFL, the ARL, and indeed the EPL itself. All behind the FOXTEL paywall. Now it’s all behind someone else’s paywall the swingeing whinging starts via their television stations, Murdoch’s Newspapers and their teams of trained Social Media trolls. When the boot’s on the other foot Murdoch spits it.

Does anyone know if the weekly 1hr EPL highlights package will be available anywhere else other than on Optus. This for me would at least go some way to retrieving the awful situation EPL fans now find themselves in. My contract with Intenode is almost up but I will now never go with Optus out of principle.

@Rich, comment 36.

Amazon Fire box and download Kodi. You will be able to view all games apparently…

Thank you for choosing Optus. Please wait for a site operator to respond.
Optus has a privacy policy, please let your consultant know if you would like additional information.

Leo P:Hi, this is Leo P, your Optus Sales Consultant, how can I help?

You:Hi…This is Philip

You:I am NOT an Optus customer and have been told by Optus 2 wks ago that I could NOT get the EPL???

Leo P:Hi Philip.

Leo P:To watch EPL you need to have Optus connection.

You:We will NOT obtain the NBN untill 2018 at best.

Leo P:Either Mobile or Mobile Broadband plan or Home Broadband connection.

You:I like many other have a WIFI modem as ADSL is not good either too far from the exchange?

Leo P:We have option for you, if you take up Mobile connection on 24 months contract, we have Satellite option which is available from July.

You:What do you classify as Broadband….as ADSL is NOT broadband but Dial up?

You:Can I use the current satellite on my roof now?

You:How do I go about ordering your Satellite option?

Leo P:The Optus Satellite option will launch in July, which is when orders can be placed. Since you need to be on an Optus EPL eligible plan anyway to qualify for the Optus satellite option, you will need to subscribe to an eligible postpaid mobile, mobile broadband or home broadband plan now. Before you sign up for the EPL satellite service you will be able to test what your streaming experience is going to be like as the Optus EPL service will be live in July.

You:Ok….so I need to call Foxtel and have them remove all Satellite and IQ boxes…Correct?

You:Someone in Singapore didn’t do their homework too well I think.??

Leo P:Have you registered for EPL?

You:Do I take my phone into Optus shop and remove Telstra to hook up with Optus

You:EPL reg …No Not Yet!

Leo P:Click here to register for EPL

You:OK…….so as I said….do I now take my phone into Optus and change providers?

Leo P:You need to go with new phone and plan with Optus on 24 months contract.

You:Ok….will that be a simple thing to do?

Leo P:Yes, once you sign up for new phone and plan with Optus, we will sent you new phone.

Leo P:You need to insert the new Optus SIM card and activate the SIM card.

You:I already have a phone…. why would I want another?

You:What about Amaysim? I have one of those?

Leo P:You can Trade in your old phone to get new phone.

Leo P:You can keep same number with Optus.

You:Why would I do that? I like my phone?

Leo P:okay, one moment here.

You:I think you are REACHING too far….now you are dictating my lifestyle? I dont think you can do that

Leo P:I understand your concern, to subscribe for EPL you need to be Optus customer.

Leo P:On eligible plans.

Leo P:Either on Mobile or Home phone and Broadband connection.

You:Yes I get that…But I should be able to keep my OWN phone and NUMBER you cannot dictate my lifestyle surely just to get the EPL

You:Broadband not available here for another 3 years.

Leo P:You can keep same number with Optus.

You:Only 16% of households have Broadband in the whole of Australia…your not going to do much business then are you??

You:I have a Fox satellite in my roof and a Wifi modem that connects me to the world…..in 2016. this country is still in the fifties…backwards.

You:So how will I get to see the EPL after 19 years with you.

Leo P:I see that your address is not serviceable via Optus:(

Leo P:It’s through Optus Satellite connection.
Which starts from July.

You:Correct..thats what I told you before……can I use this satellite dish ON MY ROOF?

Leo P:Since this is new connection type, we have limited information on the installation.

You:This address along with 4 million others is NOT servicable by anyone for at least 3 years….I think you had better remind your marketing Dept how they are going to accomodate people withoiut Broadband?

You:Can you get the information???

You:Can you see my registration yet…or is that another dept in Mumbai?

Leo P:I’m sorry, currently we do not have information on how Optus Satellite connection will be connected.

Leo P:You can come back in July to get complete information on this.

You:When will you have that…..is there a Dept I can call? July…….by the time you get me hooked up I would have missed the first 3 months of the EPL do I get compensation?

Leo P:EPL first match starts on 13th August.

Leo P:Before that you will be connected.

You:So what you are telling me is this…..I change over my phone to Optus…then My order goes through….you send out a van with a Box and a Satellite dish…then I am hooked up….is that correct?

Leo P:Yes, that’s in July.

You:So your back to Sat Tv again as in 1997…correct?

You:OK……I have copied what you have told me today….I think you need to tell customers a lot more than this……a bit ‘Sketch’ to say the least….Correct

Leo P:Thank you, I will make sure, I will given more information on this.

You:Ok….I think I have it…..I think…..Not good but you should take this back to your marketing dept and have someone call me…can you do that?

You:Thank you for your time….I think?

Leo P:I wish I had option, since we are from sales team, have limited access.

Leo P:I’m sorry 🙁

You:Ok…I understand….I still dont think this has all been worked out to well….very rushed…..Optus bought out the contract then sat down and said….Now what wre we going to do….how do we get this up and running….should have been the other way around…..selling itback to foxtel customers would have been the best way as is the case with Eurosport….but what do I know…..Thanks

@Philip Cox. Signing up to a new mobile provider is no different to signing up to a cable television provider is it? It’s 2016 things are changing. There will be a few coughs and splutters but Foxtel will get disrupted and it will be by the internet service providers and the Googles and Amazons. Get your head around it and used to it.

Here’s a solution… Subscribe to Getflix.com.au, then premierleaguepass.com (subscribe as if you’re a NZer).

Wasn’t it out very own government that said dodging geoblocks is perfectly legal? Hit Optus where is hurts!

Called today to enquire about EPL with Optus. What a joke!
I was asked about my internet provider, my mobile phone provider, my local phone service, my contracts, my download limits, my monthly spend, my address service, I got the history of how Telstra sold mobile phones on conditional contracts 20 years ago, and I still don’t know what it will cost or how it will be delivered.
The sales person must have heard 100 other “difficult ” customers like me today, wondering why they needed to know all this to “quote” the EPL and got fed up and put me on hold to knowhere.
Worst product, package, sales process, and based on reading this feed, an absolute PR nightmare!!
Not for me thanks!