Those pay TV operators that have relied heavily on live sports to build their subscriber bases face an existential threat if major leagues go D2C or premium rights fragment into non-exclusive packages. But there will still be opportunities by exploiting expertise and infrastructure to attract viewers if such fragmentation occurs, or to persuade leagues that their distribution platforms will engage fans the most. Indeed, alongside content itself, online infrastructure will be crucial for success in sports as distribution goes increasingly OTT over the next few years. Sports media technology firm Deltatre has forecast OTT infrastructure sports-related spending will hit $6.8 billion a year by 2021 in the US alone and we note similar trends developing elsewhere. As Deltatre pointed out,…