"until this period expires no channels are are open to use or be exploited, in fact another PayTV provider would require to pay either Sky or BT a fee to screen matches they hold theright to, Sky then have 4 years to formulate a strategy to secure a similar dominantdistribution of the premier league rights.Little Competitive Retaliation is Anticipated Major retaliation could be expected by any market entrant. Sky dominates the Pay TV sectorwith a share of more than 50% (Ofcom) and and even stronger domination in the Sportsbroadcasting, holding 75% of the key content in premier league rights (Ofcom, 2015) theonly challenger to Sky's superiority is from BT, as this analysis has identified on severaloccasions. The bidding war for premier League rights auctioned in February 2015 was sofierce it raised the final revenue to 70% greater than the previous auction (Mom, 2015),therefore this analysis finds that financial muscle by the incumbents would price mostpotential entrants out of the market.There are Gaps in the Market. In general terms the competition is for key content important to the consumer, therefore with100% of the Premier league rights being owned by BT and Sky, and 100% of the ChampionsLeague owned by BT (Ofcom, 2015) there no gap in key content that significantly influencesPay TV subscription decisions left to exploit (Ofcom 2015)3. The threat of Substitutes The PE TEL analysis of Sky provided in Appendix I, identified a growing trend of a strategyknown a TVE (TV Everywhere), this is an enhancement to the traditional form of TV by allowing viewing off the primary TV screen and onto secondary screen such as PC's, laptops,Smartphones and Tablets, i.e. IPTV aka viewing over the intern et (VVIPO, 2015), anothergrowing trend is time-shifted viewing, this is viewing content on recording devices such asSky+ (WP °, 2015), Sky as market leading innovators - first to the market with the sky+recorder, with ability to pause and rewind live TV as well as lime-shifted viewing (WPC,2015) - have a suite of products and services to deliver their content in this way:-Traditional viewing via the primary screen? On demand viewing via Sky+ catch up and via red button? viewing Via sky apps for smart phones and tablets? Viewing via Sky go - available in both apps and internet site format (Sky. 2015)Substitution can increase competitiveness of an industry by making existing technologiesredundant (Hooley et al, 2004), the above demonstrates that Sky use innovation to be at theforefront of new developments and driving new industry trends, hence negating the threat ofsubstitutes from competitorsConsumers can indeed substitute Pay TV services provided by Sky or BT, with otherproviders such as Virgin Media or Talk Talk, these however are not considered ascompetitors in Sports Broadcasting as the Sports content is provided via Sky Sports or BTSports (Ofcom, 2015), therefore the content is purchased from Sky, and raises revenue forSky - a business to business transactor opposed to a business to consumer transaction (Gavris& McLeod, 2014)4. Bargaining Power of Suppliers In the context of this section we shall consider Sky Sports/Sky as the supplier, that is; theparty providing services/product/content to the buyer (the consumer). Hooley et al (2014) tellus that suppliers tend to have more bargaining power where the following conditions hold: (i)Suppliers are more concentrated than buyers, (ii) Costs of switching suppliers are high, and(iii) Suppliers offerings are highly differentiated. We will take each in turn:i) Suppliers are more concentrated than buyersWhere there are few organisations either capable or willing to supply, their power overbuyers tends to be greater (Hooley et al, 2004), We have identified that only twoorganisations exist that provide the key content seen as significantly important in influencingPay TV subscriptions, those are Sky and BT, with Sky being the dominant industry playerwith 75% of the key content Premier League rights (Ofcom. 2015), applying the theory ofHooley of al (2004) gives Sky the balance of power over buyers, in this case consumers. InOfcorn's VVMO report (2015) various concerns over Sky's dominance are explored, the mostimportant two amongst these being (i) whether Sky are charging a fair and reasonable price,both to the consumer and other businesses for access to the content, and (ii) whetherwithholding access to the content for other Pay TV providers damages competition. Both ofthese main concerns address the primary issue of Sky's dominance negatively affecting theconsumer. The first point addresses costs, with the negative effects being obvious, the buyeris being exploited if paying too much, the second point relating to competition and the affecton the consumer being less obvious, from (201 5) identify the following as the consequencesof withholding the key content; without access to this content competing retailers are likelyto struggle to compete for a sizeable and valuable segment of the retail Pay TV market, thisreduces the competitors ability and incentives to compete and invest in new content andplatform innovations meaning consumers could be harmed through higher prices and reducedchoice & innovation across Pay TV services (Ofccim, 2015), No regulation has currentlybeen imposed on Sky to prevent this high degree of power being abused, Ofcom's report (2015) comments that "Sky's strong market position means its content has the potential toimpact competition" but it see's the situation as needing monitored rather than regulated. Infact a regulation order (WMO) introduced in 2010 obligating Sky to offer wholesale of itsSports 1& 2 channels to other Pay TV retailers with certain terms and prices set by from hasrecently been removed due to evidence that sky is providing access in a fair and reasonableway outside the MC (Ofcom, 2015)(ii) Costs of Switching suppliers are high If the supplier (Sky) provides a key ingredient for the purchaser that is difficult to sourceelsewhere their bargaining power is likely to be greater (Hooley et al, 2004). The keyingredient in the context of this analysis is Premier League rights, of which Sky hold thesignificant majority - 75% (Ofcom, 2015) therefore access to that specific content isimpossible to find elsewhere, Sky's only rival has a share of 25%, relating to games of adifferent time-segment than Sky's content (Ofcom, 2015) this again demonstrates Sky'sdominant balance of power over the consumer (Hooley et al, 2015)(iii) Suppliers offerings are highly differentiatedWhere suppliers (Sky's) offerings are distinct and different through less tangibleeffects such as branding and reputation, then they are likely to hold more bargaining powerover the consumer (Hooley et al, 2004), In terms of reputation Sky has a long standing strongposition in the supply of retail Pay TV (Ofcom, 2015), this and given Sky's market share thisanalysis has examined in detail makes Sky the recognized primary supplier of Pay TV in theUK, Sky Sports itself is a recognisable brand in its own right. A brand is ua distinctiveproduct offering created by use of a name, symbol, design, packaging or some combination "