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Why Have Premium Sports Rights Migrated to Pay TV in Europe But Not in the US?

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Abstract

This chapter is motivated by a simple observation: why is that in Europe most of the most valuable sports rights have migrated to pay TV while in the US the rights have remained available on free-to-air networks? In this context, “most valuable” means live rights, and in Europe the most valuable rights relate to the top national league soccer championships. In the US this typically means the major leagues. In additional the Olympic Games are highly valued by consumers on both sides of the Atlantic, while some other rights attract significant interest in specific regions (PGA Golf in the US, Tour de France in much of Europe, Test Match Cricket in England).

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© 2010 Stefan Szymanski

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Szymanski, S. (2010). Why Have Premium Sports Rights Migrated to Pay TV in Europe But Not in the US?. In: The Comparative Economics of Sport. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230274273_9

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