MMS773 Sport Broadcasting

BACKGROUND DESCRIPTION:

Students are to prepare an individual analytical report in response to the below case study. There are three questions to address. The paper MUST show clear evidence of research and critical analysis (inclusive of at least three (3) high quality, peer-reviewed journal articles in addition to any industry reports, books and texts). Finally, the report should develop clear implications and recommendations for sport organisations based on the research and analysis conducted.

The report should be clearly structured, with a reference list and all appendices submitted as a single word document (i.e., .doc file) on Cloud Deakin. You should ensure all referencing correctly follows either the Harvard or APA format.

CASE STUDY SETTING:

Select one of the following sport leagues to focus upon in your A2 submission (henceforth ‘your chosen sport’): AFL, NRL (State of Origin + NRL), Rugby Australia (Wallabies + Super Rugby) or Cricket Australia (National teams + BBL/W).

Ignoring any future broadcast contracts signed, imagine your chosen sport is in the process of negotiating its next broadcast deal. Three rights options are currently available to them:

1. Retain the status quo broadcast agreement, with a small increase in rights
2. Sign an exclusive deal with ‘over the top’ (OTT) platform Kayo Sport to replace the existing free to air (FTA) broadcast partner. This would see select games broadcast for free in front of Kayo’s subscription paywall as a “Kayo Freebie” to meet anti-siphoning requirements, and remaining games behind the pay Their offer is 33% larger financially than the existing FTA partner.
3. Develop your own direct to consumer OTT subscription platform to stream games. The proportion of free and subscription matches on your OTT platform could be similar to the existing ratio, or different should you choose as long as it meets legal requirements. You may also partner with a free-to-air provider for some games and use your OTT platform only for subscription

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS:

1. Provide a synthesis of the FTA and Subscription television financial models, in relation to the monetisation of sport content from a broadcaster’s perspective (500 words). This synthesis can be broad and not tied to your specific case
2. Critically analyse the implications associated with the three (3) broadcast deal options of the case study setting, with respect to their:

1. Strategic/commercial implications for your chosen sport (e.g., economics, strategy, consumers) (1,000 words).
2. Operational implications for your chosen sport (e.g., measurement, production, legal) (1,000 words)
3. Stakeholder implications within your chosen sport (1,000 words).

3. Distilling the findings from part two above, provide a concise recommendation as to the broadcast deal (1/2/3) you advocate your chosen sport adopting (500 words).

NOTES AND ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS

The word count has a +/- 10% allowance. The 10% should not be exceeded. Title pages, tables of contents, figures and tables, reference lists and appendices do not count towards the work count.