LAS VEGAS — Rights restrictions traditionally have made it a challenge for many a digital platform to grab content. But Diffusion Group senior analyst Joel Espelien says one TV content type is lagging behind the others.
“We’ve seen the rise of entertainment programming making it on to multiple screens – but we didn’t really see that with sports,” he tells Beet.TV in this video interview. “That started to change in 2014 with the World Cup being heavily distributed on streaming platforms by Univision as well as by ESPN.
“That trend is going to continue in 2015, where we see a combination of the sports leagues themselves going in to IPTV – NFL Now has been big as well as NFL and the NBA and even MLB – … we have a strong move by traditional providers as well as new services like Dish being able to land ESPN.”
He was interviewed for Beet.TV at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where analyst Paul Sweeting told Beet.TV he forecasts a big fight for sports rights, as live linear rights holders become frustrated at viewers going elsewhere for digital streams.
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