The surprise entry of Optus into sports content has changed the landscape for broadcast rights and that's great for competition, watchdog boss Rod Sims says.
Optus surprised the market last November with an audacious $189 million swoop for the rights to the English Premier League over three years and the telco is keen on adding more sports to its portfolio, including the A-League, as revealed by Fairfax Media.
"I thought it was great that you've got that variation in acquisition of rights. That shows good competition. I don't particularly have a view on how they've handled the use of the rights. It's up to them how they do that. They obviously decided to bundle them up with an Optus subscription," Mr Sims, chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, told Fairfax Media.
Telstra has for many years led the telecommunications space regarding sports content, with mobile rights to the National Rugby League and the Australian Football League, and most recently digital rights to Netball Australia.
But now Optus, which also signed a multi-million deal with Cricket Australia to be its streaming partner, has signalled it will be a major player in rights to premium content.
"It's good you're getting a lot more competition into those sports rights and there seem to be a lot more possibilities. It's fascinating how these things developed," Mr Sims said.
"You can say that there is clearly some sort of trend to the main carriers wanting to focus on content, and we've said for some time that we'll be watching that to make sure that they don't unfairly preference their own content over other people's content, and preference their content and block over-the-top content. We know what we're watching for, but we haven't yet seen anything that causes us concern."
On anti-siphoning, Mr Sims said he understands why it exists but that it's an area that is constantly changing.
"On the one hand I've never professed a view on the extent of the anti-siphoning list. The only view I've ever expressed is that I can see why the government does it. It potentially may even be pro-competitive, where you've got one dominant pay TV provider and certainly the two main football codes will likely go to Foxtel in any event," he said.
"So as it were, forcing some to be on free-to-air I think adds something to the market. But, clearly, the competitive landscape is changing."
"It's a very dynamic game. I still think that some form of anti-siphoning, without commenting on the extent of it, is useful at the moment, but it really is a case of watch this space as to how it will evolve," Mr Sims said.
