Norwegian Publisher Offers Live Streaming Football Coverage Via PPV

Norwegian sides Skeid and Tromsdalen during a match in July

Norwegian communications group Level3 has signed a deal to provide newspaper and online publisher Schibsted with live, streaming coverage of domestic Norwegian football league matches on its sites, as well as catch-up VOD playback for anyone misses a game the first time round. But unlike British on-demand and live footy online, the games are on a pay-per-view basis meaning fans don’t have to shell out for a month or year’s subscription just to watch one match. Release.

It’s a model also used by German broadcaster Premiere, which offers PPV for German league matches. But giving fans that level of flexibility has yet to catch on the UK, where BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) and ESPN (NYSE: DIS) — the sole holders of live English Premier League rights — base their business models almost entirely on selling subscriptions, though Sky is promoting its Sky Player live streaming service for sports coverage and offering a discounted rate to tie in with its exclusive coverage of the Ashes cricket series. But even with that innovation — and the BBC’s very welcome VOD highlights of Football League matches — online live top flight action remains behind a TV paywall.

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