Do not invest in economic privileges – 2

I read that the author of a “landmark $5.2 billion, 12 year licensing agreement to acquire media rights to the NHL is leaving Rogers Communications Inc. effective this summer”.

 

I am informed that some website somewhere is offering NHL games outside the contractual rights regime arranged between NHL and Rogers, on a Netflix-type basis. In this case the legal privilege was not a broadcasting licence but the intellectual property rights of the NHL and Rogers. Say goodbye to $5.2 billion. However, the author of this deal at Rogers,  Keith Pelley, has arranged a better job at  higher pay running a professional global golf tour.  I admire the ability to fail upwards gracefully. It is a happy departure for a decent guy who plainly missed the benefit of my advice, and seems not to need it anyway. But Rogers sure could have used it. Stop investing in business arrangements predicated in a pre-Internet world.

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