Dire Warning on Sports Rights, Ahmad Also Makes a HUGE Bet on Cricket

 Show notes:  Fortnite World Cup is the biggest sports tech news of the week. We give shouts and ramble on about it. NBL’s new multifaceted, shared rights deal sees SBS offer the entire season via their OTT platform ‘On Demand,’ selected matches will be on free-to-air on SBS Viceland with ESPN televising 59 prime time NBL games as well under a two-year agreement. The NBL will absorb the production costs. It’s a long-term play, by investing in owning and producing their own broadcasts it keeps the sport visible. Basketball is a healthily participated sport with huge fandom means visibility of the NBL alongside the NBA develops a nice alignment between the two. Speaking to the TV Blackbox podcast this week, Foxtel's CEO, Patrick Delany stated it was time sports governing bodies "got realistic about the value of rights generally and the utility of them because the market's no longer rising, it's contracting." We talk about the lessening of the value of rights and Ahmad makes a bet on cricket.