The prize fight over live-streamed sport will go on long after the final bell sounds
Foxtel’s decision to single out Australian consumers who streamed the Danny Green v Anthony Mundine fight on their phones shows how out of touch the platform is with viewer habits, claims media academics, David Rowe and Brett Hutchins in this cross-posting from The Conversation.
When a Brisbane boxing fan who paid $59.95 for “live and exclusive” viewing of last Friday’s Danny Green versus Anthony Mundine boxing match streamed it off his TV through a smartphone and Facebook Live, he landed quite a blow beneath Foxtel’s belt. An estimated 300,000 tuned in via this and another unauthorised stream.
This is the latest skirmish over premium live sport in Australia. Foxtel’s high-priced oligopolistic control over Australian pay TV has again clashed with the demands of sport fans and the increasingly sophisticated capture and relay technologies available to them.
Foxtel should have made the fight available to stream for the right price , that’s a fail on their part.
But…the fight would not have happened without the PPV revenues. You can’t have it both ways
Technology also allows me to copy this poorly conceived diatribe and paste it on my own Facebook page without attribution. But I wouldn’t do that because it would be stealing.
It’s published under a Creative Commons licence, Kevin, so nothing to stop you copying it (attribution would be nice). It’s fine if you don’t want to because you don’t like it, but you can’t blame the copyright laws in this case.
I think many people resent Foxtel gouging their customers. Australians love sticking it to the man.
It’s not hard to identify Foxtel employees that comment on these types of opinion pieces.
Either get with the times or continue fighting until the very last dollar is spent, on this war against technology and the future.
Innovation goes a long way to creating a successful business, why is it not then employed when that once successful business is challenged?
Targeting individuals, and petitioning for law changes must be cheaper than trying to regain success and build a strong platform for future growth…
Damn!
Rupert saw this coming a long time ago. Back when he instructed Tony Abbott and then Malcolm Turnbull to nobble the NBN.
What’s next? People deciding for themselves what to watch and when to watch it?
Anarchy.
Sad.