When the EPL came knocking, it was an opportunity StarHub could not pass up

IT was towards the end of 2021 when top executives from the English Premier League (EPL) - the world’s most popular and most watched professional football league - came knocking on StarHub’s door.

They were on the lookout for a new exclusive broadcast partner in Singapore. A series of meetings soon took place and within weeks, a mega-deal was reached. In February this year, StarHub announced that it would be the official Premier League broadcaster here for the next 6 years, ending a 12-year streak by industry rivals Singtel.

One senior figure at StarHub who was integral to making this deal a reality is Johan Buse, the chief of the consumer business group and a big football fan himself. It came as a bit of a surprise when the Premier League reached out to the company with an opportunity to work together, and it was one that StarHub seized with both hands.

“I last had a chat with (the Premier League) 4 years ago when I first came on board, but it wasn’t an option then (to have the broadcast rights). They approached us late last year, we went on to do a presentation over Zoom, and they soon realised that we have one thing in common - we are both extremely passionate about sports and entertainment,” the Dutchman told The Business Times (BT) in an interview at his office in Ubi Avenue 1.

The details of the deal, including how much it forked out, remain confidential. Back in 2007, StarHub reportedly paid S$250 million for a 3-year agreement. Singtel is also believed to have paid around S$400 million for the rights from 2010 to 2013.

The EPL’s 20 teams play a total of 380 matches each season, and StarHub has confirmed that every single game will be screened “live” in HD quality across the company’s TV, mobile and broadband platforms.

It also promised a “richer interactive user interface” with features such as Party Watch, split-screen viewing and performance statistics. The matches will also be available on-demand, which some fans will find useful as many of the matches are aired in the wee hours of the morning due to the time difference with the United Kingdom.

Fans can also sign in to StarHub’s TV+ app, regardless of which broadband or mobile service provider they are currently with. The full pricing details of StarHub’s EPL package will be made known in June. 

Under Singapore’s existing cross-carriage laws, pay-TV operators that hold exclusive content are required to make that content available for broadcast by all other qualifying operators.

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StarHub clinches Premier League rights in 6-year deal

StarHub will launch a new series of sports channels called Hub Premier in July that will telecast the EPL matches, with the 2022/23 season set to kick off on Aug 6. The Standard Chartered Singapore Trophy match between EPL clubs Liverpool and Crystal Palace, to be staged at the National Stadium in Kallang on July 15, will also be screened live on that channel.

BT sat down with Buse to find out more about the EPL partnership, the plans for the next 6 years, and the company’s commitment to ensure the product remains affordable and accessible to the masses. The transcript of the interview has been edited slightly for brevity.

Tell me more about your job scope and what you cover.

I lead the consumer business group and I’m responsible for the development, marketing and delivery of consumer-market mobile and fixed products and services, including pay-TV. The consumer business group also includes our stores in Singapore, so in total the team is about 400 people. We are growing and we are investing quite heavily in digital skills sets.

You said the Premier League coming to StarHub was not planned. How did that happen?

I last had a chat with them 4 years ago when I first came on board, but it wasn’t an option then (to have the broadcast rights). They approached us late last year, we went on to do a presentation over Zoom, and they soon realised that we have one thing in common - we are both extremely passionate about sports and entertainment.

What was the clincher, you think?

There was a mutual consensus that we share one vision, and we should deliver a completely different experience to the fans and make football readily available to all again. We will do that on the back of both technology and pricing. I feel that, over the last decade or so, a lot of football fans in Singapore - especially fans of the Premier League - have probably lost a bit of that emotion and engagement. 

So our vision is we need to move to OTT, or over-the-top. (OTT services refer to any type of video or streaming media that allows someone access to content by sending the media directly via the Internet). Today, a person should be able to - on any mobile device, anytime and anywhere - open the app and have a fantastic experience with whatever he or she wants to watch.

As a viewer, you can be in control. It’s not like the old days when you just turn on the TV and wait for the football match to start, and you are at the mercy of what the directors and broadcasters want to show you. With OTT, you can decide if you want to see a specific part of the match again, or maybe you want to view it from a different angle, or find out the statistics of a particular player. 

All this is about delivering a different experience to the consumer, and to make the product more affordable for them too. That was the common passion point we have with the Premier League. We want to make the EPL become more alive, we want to get people excited and engaged.

Six years is a long time, and the investment is surely not a small sum.

Both sides are fully committed to this. We want to make football available to all, and to create a different type of experience. In order to do this, we need time. I’m a firm believer of partnerships. I don’t believe in tactical one-offs because it’s a disproportionate investment of effort and return. So, both sides, without a blink of an eye, said ok, let’s do this for 6 years. We’re in it for the long haul, and this is a long-term commitment.

When it comes to paying for the EPL, the price point is something that gets people very excited and worked up. 

This was one of the key discussion points when we prepared ourselves for this project. Price, especially for the EPL, is a very sensitive topic here. Earlier this year, we conducted a price sensitivity study to better understand what consumers believe is a fair value and a fair price for something like this. 

And the people we spoke to, they didn’t say it should be free. They do understand there is a value to that. You don’t get unofficial streaming for free - you still need to buy a box for that. But you might get bad quality and delays, and maybe the next day the box doesn’t even work. It’s like buying a dodgy second-hand car, so there’s that trade-off.

Our discussions were about what the right pricing should be and what is the pricing we can all stand behind. It’s about delivering a quality product that people can enjoy and say, this is correct and I should not need to have unofficial channels.

I cannot give you the pricing right now, we are still working on it and we will do so until the very last minute. But based on that price sensitivity study we did, it’s perfectly doable to make it much more affordable than what it is today. That’s the first outcome.

The second outcome is, we need to be transparent and simple. A lot of unhappiness among pay-TV consumers is coming from the fact that they feel they are forced to buy things in combination, and it could be things that they don’t want. That leads to a very high financial outlay, and I think those days are over.

With our OTT, it’s very simple - you pay X dollars a month, and you choose how many screens you want (to view the content). Contract? There isn’t one. Why do I need a contract to lock people in? I believe our product is so great that you will stay with us.

It’s obvious the growth these days is in OTT, not so much the classical pay-TV model.

We can see it in the numbers today. We reported 450,000 entertainment subscribers in the first quarter of 2022, which is a combination of OTT and pay-TV. Dissecting that number, we can see the pay-TV figures steadily coming down, and OTT is going up. So the writing is on the wall and that’s a clear trend for the next 5 to 10 years, for sure.

Are you a sporty person yourself?

When I’m not at work, I spend a good chunk of my free time at the gym – you can find me there at least thrice a week. I also play squash, golf, and cycle long-distance on a regular basis. I love watching football and I’m a huge Liverpool and Arsenal fan. The camaraderie from cheering on your favourite team with family and friends, and the explosive euphoria from witnessing the perfect goal or hat-trick, are unmatched. Besides football, I also enjoy watching Formula One, cycling and golf.