Telstra unveils live-experience stadium strategy

TELSTRA has big ambitions for the premium sports broadcast rights market, with plans to own the live-stadium ­experience at AFL and NRL matches.

TELSTRA has big ambitions for the ballooning premium sports broadcast rights market, with plans to own the live-stadium ­experience at AFL and NRL matches.

In an exclusive interview with The Australian, Telstra director of media & content Adam Good revealed the telco would use a new multi-screen connected ­stadium strategy as a linchpin to attract sports fans to its premium sports assets.

“We’re seeing more people using their mobile devices pre- and post-game so were starting to look at ways our official app products can offer additional experiences,” Mr Good said.

“With the new beacon technology we can trigger unique content experiences as you ­approach the stadium to enhance the live experience.”

The move mirrors US telco Verizon’s relationship with the NFL — American football fans can download content and order food and drink from their seats using state-of-the-art WiFi networks.

Some of Australia’s biggest stadiums have recently introduced high speed WiFi networks with Sydney Cricket Ground and ANZ Stadium leading the charge. There are plans to extend the networks to other stadiums including Adelaide Oval.

“A few years ago it was all about watching clips on a mobile screen but now with 4G being a very good delivery mechanism people are starting to watch match replays and on-demand content on the apps at the games.”

Telstra wants to drive more fans to its portfolio of apps, websites and IPTV (TV via internet) channels to generate larger subscription and advertising revenues for its media business.

The telco has pursued a pay lite business model with the Telstra T-Box and dedicated sports apps to avoid bumping up against Foxtel, in which the company has an equal share with News Corp Australia, publisher of The Australian.

Good said Telstra has racked up 3.6 million downloads of its AFL and NRL apps on connected devices. “We’ve been reasonably happy with the uptake, he said. “We continue to hold the customers that use that product and it continues to grow.”

The strategy signals the telco is happy to work in collaboration with the free-to-air TV networks and Foxtel instead of going head to head with them for expensive media rights.

Last year, Telstra joined the fray for Cricket Australia’s media rights, but when the price escalated amid a fierce bidding war between the Nine and Ten networks, Telstra stepped aside.

Nine eventually forked a record $550 million to net a five-year deal. “It got too hot in there to go too hard; we always make sensible business decision,” Mr Good said.

Five years ago, free-to-air networks were comfortable acquiring just the terrestrial rights, but they now pursue digital rights for their catch-up TV services and emerging platforms like broadband television.

The trend was seen as recently as last week when Seven announced it had agreed an estimated $170m deal for the Olympics as part of a long-term partnership. For the first time the package encompassed all platform rights including online.

Mr Good said the Olympics was not a top priority for Telstra. “We like more weeks in the year to sweat that asset so to speak,” Mr Good said. “That’s not to say there couldn’t be opportunities for Telstra to be involved but there’s certainly nothing at the moment.”

Instead, Telstra will look to become more embedded in the major sports codes, acting as both a technology provider and ­content distributor.

Mr Good will be speaking at the Multi-Screen TV Summit later this month on Sport Rights: Digital Deals for the Future of the Game.