Tech Bottlenecks Crimp Sports Deals for Mobile Phones

Kagan Research has said that “early deals licensing mobile rights for sports content favor medium-range terms of 2-5 years, exclusivity, minimum guarantees instead of revenue-sharing and are constrained by technology”.
The release also explains why sports leagues enter exclusive deals when it cuts out a large portion of their potential customers…”because in these early days exclusivity will spur the cell carrier to aggressively market its sports content”.
“Income from revenue sharing has so far disappointed sports outfits, in part because of a paucity of data, so they are oriented to contracts setting substantial minimum guarantees, said Christopher Russo, president of consultancy CR Media Ventures. One type of revenue sharing deal gives 25% to the sports rights owner, 25% to a middleman aggregator and 50% to the carrier. Deals can also be made directly with the carrier.”
This “paucity of data” is a problem, with some people claiming it breeds distrust between the carrier and the content provider.
There’s a good run-down of the US sports deals that have been made…
Mobile Sports Deals
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