Online streaming of professional sports games, like the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey games that are now on the Rogers On-Demand Online video streaming service, has helped the provider push its subscriber registration 'over-the-top.'
More than 40 Maple Leaf hockey games will be live streamed online by Rogers this season, even as the games air on its Sportsnet specialty service or the Leafs TV specialty channel owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., owners of the team itself.
The telecom provider is pushing its sports content across multiple media platforms, and its customers are embracing the additional viewing options across digital devices of all sizes and shapes.
"We're really happy about being able to offer hockey online," said David Purdy, Rogers's vice-president of video products. "It helps us deliver on two of our main commitments to our customers. One is to deliver TV anywhere, anytime, to any device, be it a TV, a PC or mobile. Second, is our sports offering. We want to deliver the best Toronto sports experience, and having the Maple Leafs is crucial to that."
Last summer, Rogers began offering live baseball games of the team it owns, the Blue Jays, online. Now, it's adding more hockey; based on the response, the company plans to expand its offerings, Purdy says.
He says the weekly registration numbers for Rogers subscribers signing up to the service has tripled.
Rogers Digital TV customers in the Leafs' media territory will have access to 29 online streaming Leafs games as part of their cable package, with registration and completion of a Rogers account profile. Subscribers to Rogers Digital VIP package can watch 12 additional streaming games from Leafs TV.
However, the hockey content deal is not an exclusive one, Purdy says, referencing a recent regulatory decision in Canada that says cable and satellite companies that also own TV stations or content could not hoard such assets for themselves, or for specific devices, nor should such services only be offered to their own TV and wireless subscribers.
"We do not believe in exclusives, and we support the CRTC in its recent decision," Purdy noted. "This content will ultimately be available on other providers' systems. The template is there now, and we do expect other providers to offer the same content."
It marks a general shift in attitudes among TV providers and sports rights holders, who have generally been slow to put the action online or a portable media device.
But Purdy says sports and TV anywhere services are now being recognized as a benefit for the viewer, the carrier and the rights holder. While the opportunity to use licence fees to make significant financial gains is increasing, offering such services is also seen a way to fight, or at least provide an alternative to, online piracy.
Rights holders also see the added relevancy of offering sports content anywhere as a way to build a fan base, especially in those communities where sports, or the popular North American versions thereof, are not ubiquitous.
In Rogers' case, some forty four per cent of its customer base in Toronto does not speak English as a first language at home. Using multiple media platforms to reach and engage a multicultural audience helps build that audience for tomorrow, as Purdy sees it.
Rogers had to negotiate with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE) for extra digital rights, and it will seek to do so with other rights holders, like TSN, and its Leafs games as well as other sports content.
Negotiations with the sports leagues themselves has shown a growing comfort with digital media content delivery, as issues such as multi-platform rights, technology boundaries, geo-location boundaries, content security and anti theft provisions, a re addressed.
Rogers' expanded hockey offering does not include mobile, for now.
But Purdy says it will.
The company is committed to its TV anywhere strategy, and it's committed to being the #1 sports brand in the country, Purdy describes, no matter what the platform, referencing the renewed energy and commitment to sports and media shown by Rogers executives like Keith Pelley and Scott Moore, and the new platforms themselves, such as the new print magazine and rebranded TV services.
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