Spending on TV sports rights has skyrocketed; is there a day of reckoning coming?

WE’VE ALL HEARD THE conventional wisdom which says live sports is one of the last remaining mass audience attractions for linear TV – and that it will help retain a large chunk Canadian households opting for a subscription TV service.Indeed, according to a new report from Winnipeg’s Communications Management Inc., TV companies and some streamers believe this in their bones, as evidenced by massive increases in spending on sports rights the past few years.In fact, with the myriad ways sports is delivered, “the many emerging options for the delivery of video programming to consumers has also increased demand, with streaming...