The Political Economy Of Sports Television

Sport on television is big business, but it is about more than just commerce. Using a range of national case studies from Europe and beyond, this book analyses the political, economic, social and regulatory issues raised in relation to the buying and selling of television sports rights.

Drawing from theories of the political economy of communication, this book offers readers a comprehensive data-rich assessment of contemporary sports television and its evolution. Providing an in-depth look at the ownership and regulation of sports television in the United States, William M. Kunz analyzes a range of platforms, networks, and sports, with particular focus on the way ownership has become concentrated in five conglomerates: AT&T, CBS, Comcast, Disney and Fox. The end result of years of media consolidation is that broadcast networks are now married to cable and streaming services under a single conglomerate, which has implications for the cost of contracts and the negotiation of distribution deals. Examining multiple platforms, networks and sports in an all-inclusive manner, this volume documents the evolution and current state of affairs of sports television. With historic and current data on rights fees for sports television leagues and events as well as carriage fees and subscription levels for sports-related cable and satellite services, this comparative study offers critical information for students and scholars conducting research on sports television.

Sport on television is big business, but it is about more than just commerce. Using a range of national case studies from Europe and beyond, this book analyses the political, economic, social and regulatory issues raised in relation to the buying and selling of television sports rights.

This book examines the political debates over the access to live telecasts of sport in the digital broadcasting era. It outlines the broad theoretical debates, political positions and policy calculations over the provision of live, free-to-air telecasts of sport as a right of cultural citizenship. In so doing, the book provides a number of comparative case studies that explore these debates and issues in various global spaces.

This timely book offers a critical interpretation of the traditional social and economic accounts of sport. It provides an incisive analysis of professional sport and defines alternative foundations to the present model. The authors demonstrate that professional sport is an extremely complex phenomenon encompassing many unique factors depending on its global reach, financing and organization. In particular they address three significant issues: • an analysis of the relationship between sport and economic development in order to explain the place of professional sport in modern societies • a study of the main difficulties facing the organization of professional sports in terms of financing, collective bargaining and the consequences of revenue sharing for competitive balance • an exploration of alternatives to current governance structures which would involve a return to professional ethics. This insightful and topical book is essential for academics and students of sport management, researchers of the economics of sport, managers of clubs and federations involved in professional sports, as well as civil servants and journalists.

The Transformation of Television Sport: New Methods, New Rules examines how developments in technology, broadcasting rights and regulation combine to determine what sport we see on television, where we can see it and what the final output looks and sounds like.

Almost twenty-five years ago, Shanto Iyengar and Donald R. Kinder first documented a series of sophisticated and innovative experiments that unobtrusively altered the order and emphasis of news stories in selected television broadcasts. Their resulting book News That Matters, now hailed as a classic by scholars of political science and public opinion alike, is here updated for the twenty-first century, with a new preface and epilogue by the authors. Backed by careful analysis of public opinion surveys, the authors show how, despite changing American politics, those issues that receive extended coverage in the national news become more important to viewers, while those that are ignored lose credibility. Moreover, those issues that are prominent in the news stream continue to loom more heavily as criteria for evaluating the president and for choosing between political candidates. “News That Matters does matter, because it demonstrates conclusively that television newscasts powerfully affect opinion. . . . All that follows, whether it supports, modifies, or challenges their conclusions, will have to begin here.”—The Public Interest

The fully revised and updated version of this classic text examines the link between three key obsessions of the 21st century: the media, sport and popular culture. Gathering new material from around the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the Beijing Olympics and the rise of new sports stars such as boxing's Amir Khan and cycling's Victoria Pendleton, the authors explore a wide range of sports, as well as issues including nationalism, gender, race, political economy and the changing patterns of media sport consumption.For those interested in media and sport the second edition combines new and original material with an overview of the developing field of media sport, and examines the way in which the media has increasingly come to dominate how sport is played, organized and thought about in society. It traces the historical evolution of the relationship between sport and the media and examines the complex business relationships that have grown up around television, sponsors and sport.Covers the following topics: the history of media in sport; television, sport and sponsorship; why sport matters to television; sports stars; sports journalism; fans and the audience; sport in the digital media economy.