Seizing opportunity: Why the fragmentation of sports rights is a good thing
By Paul Calleja, CEO, GlobalM.
There’s been a lot of noise lately about the fragmentation of sports rights, feeds being split up, packages becoming more complex, and the delivery landscape getting messier. And sure, it’s a shift from how we used to do things. But we should not see this as a problem; we should see it as an opportunity.
Because fragmentation, if you embrace it, is one of the most commercially exciting things happening in our industry right now. It allows federations to sell more, deliver more, and engage new types of buyers. It brings new value to each part of the production, not just the match itself. And with the right infrastructure, it’s a smart, deliberate evolution that is opening new opportunities.
Not long ago, a sports broadcaster might receive a single feed, the world feed, delivered by satellite. Satellite is multicast by nature, consistent, and universal. That was the package, one signal, one format, flowing in one direction. But that model no longer reflects the complexity of how fans engage with sport, or how rights holders and federations wish to monetise it.
Today, the content is more layered. Rights holders are not just offering the match, they’re offering access. ISO cameras, tactical angles, alternate commentary, branded board replacement feeds, vertical video streams for mobile, and highlight packages for digital. You’ll see in-car cameras in motorsport sold separately from the main coverage, or additional analytics streams being offered to betting platforms. There are influencer-led commentary streams, multiple language versions, and even social-focused versions tailored for platforms like TikTok or YouTube.
And there’s a clear reason why so many of these rights are being made available now. The value of a single feed is finite. But when you start breaking content into components, you create new products, and with that, new commercial potential. Federations and leagues are recognising that every version of a feed, every angle, every graphic overlay, and every audio track can be sold to someone. This is about allowing a much wider marketplace to participate in rights buying that is no longer limited to broadcast on its own.
“Fragmentation, if you embrace it, is one of the most commercially exciting things happening in our industry right now”
Advertising follows the same logic. With board replacement feeds, for example, you can sell the same match to different regions with different sponsor branding. And it’s not just boards. Graphics, overlays, even commentator reads can be customised and regionalised. This means more sponsors can be brought into the event, more advertising can be sold, and every market can be served in a way that’s relevant to their audience. Fragmentation, in this case increases access, it increases revenue, and it does so in a rational, targeted way.
This is the modern sports rights market. And if managed correctly, it’s a win for everyone. For the federations, it means monetising more layers of the production. For broadcasters and digital platforms, it means delivering more targeted experiences to their audiences. And for the fans, it means choice, to consume the sport how, when, and where they want.
It’s easy to be nostalgic for the old model – one standard signal, universally distributed and managed centrally. But that model was never truly scalable for smaller federations or emerging sports. It was a structure that favoured those who could afford the satellite infrastructure and who already had long standing broadcast partners in place. What we’re seeing now is not a breakdown of that model, but a convergence. Larger federations are fragmenting their rights intentionally to drive more value, while smaller ones are starting to adopt the same playbook by unbundling their content and making it available to a broader range of buyers. The same underlying strategy now applies across the board: distribute more versions, reach more markets, and maximise every layer of the production creating more value for the advertisers.
And the definition of a rights holder has shifted dramatically. Broadcasters were traditionally the main customers. But now, we’re seeing rights being licensed to organisations and entities that would have been completely outside the picture ten or fifteen years ago. Radio stations are taking live rights for their online platforms. Newspapers and magazines are buying match feeds, highlight clips and tactical footage for digital extensions. Betting agencies are purchasing clean feeds and isolated feeds with minimal latency. Online platforms, from niche streaming services to mobile-first apps, are looking for custom packages that serve their specific audiences. Even individual content creators are entering the picture. In one recent example, a YouTuber became a licensed rights holder for the Bundesliga. This diversity of buyers reflects how broad and flexible the sports rights landscape has become.
The challenge, of course, lies in delivery. Selling modular rights is one thing, delivering them efficiently and reliably is another. The reality is that the old delivery systems weren’t built for this. Satellite, while reliable, doesn’t offer the granularity or responsiveness needed for the current ecosystem. You can’t send 15 different feed variants across multiple protocols to a global mix of broadcasters, OTT platforms, and digital publishers using a single satellite path. Nor do you expect these rightsholders to have the technical infrastructure to be able to receive satellite or private fibre connections in the first place.
This is where the delivery infrastructure has had to mature rapidly. And it’s not just about IP delivery, it’s about intelligent orchestration. You need to be able to ingest a feed once, then version, format, and distribute it in real time to multiple endpoints across the globe. That might mean a high-bitrate SRT stream to multiple broadcasters, an RTMP output for a digital only streaming app, or a HLS stream optimised for mobile users. At the same time, you might be sending a recorded version to an archive server, pushing metadata into a CMS, and distributing highlights to social media platforms with different overlays or branding.
What this means is that the sports media industry now depends not just on content, but on platforms that can enable this kind of flexible, scalable delivery. The orchestration layer has become just as important as the production layer. It’s no longer enough to produce the feed, you need to be able to manage it across multiple pathways, each with its own commercial rules and technical requirements.
One of the key outcomes of this shift is the ability to treat each version of the feed as a distinct revenue opportunity. That ISO feed of a star player, it’s valuable. That mobile-optimised vertical stream, it might reach a demographic that doesn’t engage with the main broadcast. That AI generated alternate language commentary, it makes the content accessible in a new market. And the traditional dirty feed with graphics and commentary included, it’s instantly usable by broadcast or digital without any post-production.
This is not over complicating the content offering. It’s packaging and pricing access in a way that reflects the needs of a fragmented but hungry marketplace. And when you deliver it correctly, you’re offering commercial value at every layer of the media value chain.
This also places pressure on the technology to remain transparent and rights aware. If you’re delivering dozens of feed variants to dozens of partners, you need traceability. You need confidence in where each feed went, that the synopsis was issued to the correct rights holder, how it was watermarked, what metadata was attached, what protocol was used, and much more.
This model has another benefit in that it levels the playing field. Smaller or emerging sports properties can compete more effectively when they’re able to monetise their assets in this way. They may not get a global linear broadcast deal, but they can sell other types of digital rights, promoting their sport and satisfying advertising reach for sponsors. They can reach new fans on platforms that were never part of the traditional broadcast model. And they can do it all without having to invest in satellite distribution.
This trend is reflected in the data as well. Research provided by Tom Morrod at Caretta Research, shows there is a clear increase in the number of sports rights deals in 2024, with early indicators suggesting that rights are being split across a wider mix of buyers than in previous years. While traditional media still holds a strong position, especially with long-term agreements locked in, there’s been a noticeable shift. About 2% of all deals in 2024 moved from traditional broadcasters and pay TV to newer entrants like streaming platforms, D2C offerings, and rights resellers. It may seem like a small percentage, but the pace of that movement is accelerating. Platforms like YouTube now hold more sports rights than any other single outlet in many territories, largely because of their dominance in Tier 2 and Tier 3 sports. If this trajectory holds, the fragmentation and redistribution of rights will not just be a strategic choice, it will become the default model.
Sports Rights Deals by Platform, 2023 to 2028 – Caretta Research
But again, this only works if the delivery technology supports it, which is why we developed GlobalM. Without a modern orchestration platform, the risk is that complexity outweighs the gain. Versioning errors, missed deliveries, broken workflows, all of that undermines the commercial potential.
That’s why the industry conversation should no longer be about whether fragmentation is good or bad. It’s happening, and in many cases, it’s already well underway. The better question is: are we enabling it properly?
Because if we are, then fragmentation becomes the catalyst for a healthier, more dynamic, and more inclusive sports media ecosystem. One where rights aren’t locked behind huge contracts and expensive infrastructure, but available to a wider mix of buyers, at the right scale and with the right tooling to back it up.
It’s not about doing away with broadcasters or changing the value of premium coverage. It’s about giving everyone, from the biggest networks to the smallest digital publishers, a chance to engage with live sport in a way that works for them. This might seem challenging, but using a purpose-built platform like GlobalM makes this achievable.