This week, the group stage of the Europa League and Conference League kicks off. To follow Elfsborg, Malmö FF, and Djurgården, a subscription to Disney+ is required, which recently secured the rights to the two football tournaments.
And since last summer, Prime Video has been broadcasting the early Saturday matches in the Premier League.
The entry of American giants increases competition even further on a market where Viaplay, TV4 Play, and Max dominate.
Expert Jan Scherman, former CEO of TV4, believes that the reason for the increased competition for sports rights is that the classic business model for TV is breaking down.
The established companies are stressed that the classic business model no longer holds. Therefore, many believe that the solution is the streaming market, where you can expand your business area. It may sound clever, but the problem is that companies think too corporately, says Scherman.
"Hopeless situation"
Scherman sees the current streaming landscape as problematic and unsustainable.
In the current situation, consumers must navigate between many different services to get the programs they want to watch. This model does not hold, companies are putting consumers in a hopeless situation. This is why people watch sports illegally instead.
A consequence of the current business model on the streaming market is that the use of so-called IPTV services has become increasingly common. These illegal pirated streaming services enable consumers to watch programs, movies, and sports from different streaming services without permission from the rights holders.
The solution: "Sub-license rights"
According to Scherman, the solution forward for companies is to start looking more at the consumer than at themselves.
There are solutions to this, for example, by sub-licensing rights. There are several examples of it working, for example, when TV4 and SVT share championships. There, it's even a commercial actor collaborating with a non-commercial actor. But right now, corporate egoism is large. It will backfire hard, I'm completely sure. There are many ways to help the consumer, but they don't do it. They let egoism rule instead.
