Ligue 1 football, FIFA World Cup, Route du Rhum, Top 14 are just some of the sporting events that can now be watched on a mobile phone.
Mobile supporter or mobi-spectator, call it what you will, you’re in it anyway. In this world dictated by digital, instantaneous, practical, and crazy…
Orange’s stated goal: to provide more coverage of sports. Patricia Langrand, executive director of the content division at France Télécom, insists: “we are following a trend of evolution in terms of quality, variety and time”.
Orange’s strategy: “Content Everywhere”, that is, content everywhere.
After on-demand cinema, here is sports on demand. A utopia? “Maybe,” responds Philippe Levrier, a member of the Higher Audiovisual Council (CSA), “however, mobile telephony is a network in its own right. It is logical that telecommunications companies can be buyers of broadcasting rights”.
After the press, radio, and television, a fourth medium is asserting itself. The magnetic appeal of sports images is such that mobile telephony is reshaping the media landscape. The triggering element boils down to the 2006 World Cup.
Potential Competitor
So, each person with a mobile phone accesses competitions in real-time. The consumer has free choice, without being subject to programmers. So, does a new player on the market mean a new competitor? To this question, France Télécom clearly responds: “we do not aim to compete with television channels in the market of audiovisual sports rights, we position ourselves as a partner”.
While on the CSA side, there’s “no concern regarding the entry of Orange into the market”, Philippe Bony, general director of programming at M6, believes that “mobile telephony represents a significant potential competitor”. At a time when consumption is increasingly individualized and in the era of fragmentation with the arrival of thematic channels, mobile telephony could develop a niche, that of being a player in sports broadcasting, or even other programs.
