Sports Enthusiast Cord Cutters Big Losers in Streaming World?

[gene]

It used to be you could watch most professional games via standard cable channels. Between the networks and ESPN you have most of your bases covered. Now it can be difficult (especially for cord cutters) to even get local games without hefty upgraded subscriptions. What does this mean to sports enthusiasts?

Read: Thursday Night Football Opens New Subscription Concerns for Cord Cutters

 

[MrBoat]

They should become Sports cutters too, then. If any one industry in this country needed a boycott reset, it would have to be pro and college sports. They won't be getting a cent out of me. I'd rather play a sport than pay someone else to. None of the people in that industry are worth what they are getting paid.

 

[cpp]

I don't watch a lot of sports on TV, maybe some golf, college football, sports car racing. But I be dam I'm paying extra to watch some over paid NFL and NBA players on tv. I have NO problem paying for my Spectrum internet service, my Hulu Live which gets me 4 of my local major network channels ( they come in handy during hurricane season) and what $5 for Roku. And it still beats the regular price my Spectrum cable service was costing us. And Direct TV, it sucks in my area, been there done that ( increases in cost, poor customer service ). My advice, give up TV , go outside and play with your kids, or grandkids or take up a hobby.

 

[BMXTRIX]

There is nothing at all new or shocking in this writeup, but it certainly is a reasonable assessment of something that has been entirely predictable for years and years and years.

Since Netflix came into being, the inevitability of individual networks realizing how 'easy' streaming is, and how adding streaming by every single provider was going to be reality. For some reason, people believed that cable TV providers were screwing them over with 500 channels, of which you wanted to watch two or three. But, which two or three? On Monday, it's ESPN. On Thursday, it's someone else. For hockey, it's someone else. For Saturday it's someone else. For the three TV shows you enjoy, it's (once again) someone else.

These streaming services coming from thirty different directions add up quickly. They sit on top of a cable bill. Or, if you ditch the cable bill, you are left missing shows that you used to enjoy having the freedom to watch. I will say, my kids don't watch TV almost ever. We maintain a solid Plex library for our movie viewing and between Disney+ and Netflix, they get about all the viewing content they care about from them, with a healthy dose of YouTube thrown in for what they care about.

My oldest is 19, he will likely never own a cable box in his whole life. So, while this article certainly speaks to me, and it does address the issue of zero actual uniformity to the sports system (at this time), it fails to realize that the next generation simply doesn't seem to care at all.

 

[cpp]

it fails to realize that the next generation simply doesn't seem to care at all.

So very true. My grown kids, 36 & 40, stream everything. Amazing what they find and how they get it.

 

[AllanMarcus]

You say "I am a one-percenter who can legitimately write the expenses off "
You have an annual salary of ~$600,000 or more and you are worried about subscription costs?

 

[lovinthehd]

Most of the NFL season I do fine with the highlight bits on youtube. This time of year I enable my youtubetv subscription for a coupla months to capture end of season and playoffs and superbowl....then I turn it back off. The various contracts to networks definitely have the advantage as to how mainstream sports are generally available to streamers, tho.

 

[adk highlander]

I just go watch games at my friends who care more than me. We did get Hulu+ so the wife can watch local channels. For sports I get espn+ free with my phone plan for F1 and Global Cycling Network to watch the flahute of Belgium.

 

[lovinthehd]

I just go watch games at my friends who care more than me. We did get Hulu+ so the wife can watch local channels. For sports I get espn+ free with my phone plan for F1 and Global Cycling Network to watch the flahute of Belgium.

Had to look up what the flahute meant, good to know....long live Eddy!

 

[Kingnoob]

It used to be you could watch most professional games via standard cable channels. Between the networks and ESPN you have most of your bases covered. Now it can be difficult (especially for cord cutters) to even get local games without hefty upgraded subscriptions. What does this mean to sports enthusiasts?

View attachment 59696

Read: Thursday Night Football Opens New Subscription Concerns for Cord Cutters

Sounds like an impossible task, with no dvr on cable I misss tons of games but I don’t get nba tv that’s premium now and no nfl network except on spectrum app which is trash only works with my old tv. Sadly it maybe trash but that’s only way I can watch most sports, no dvr and no cable box anymore. Can’t afford Amazon prime to stream Thursday night games . That’s crazy if you cut cable how do you watch these games , sling etc ?? What steamer has them all without costing an arm and a leg or more then cable itself ??
Great post brings sports fans to sadness because how much longer can cable hold on til titans like Netflix and Amazon crush it ?
I watch about the most I can watch with no dvr or premium channels .

 

[lovinthehd]

Sounds like an impossible task, with no dvr on cable I misss tons of games but I don’t get nba tv that’s premium now and no nfl network except on spectrum app which is trash only works with my old tv. Sadly it maybe trash but that’s only way I can watch most sports, no dvr and no cable box anymore. Can’t afford Amazon prime to stream Thursday night games . That’s crazy if you cut cable how do you watch these games , sling etc ?? What steamer has them all without costing an arm and a leg or more then cable itself ??
Great post brings sports fans to sadness because how much longer can cable hold on til titans like Netflix and Amazon crush it ?
I watch about the most I can watch with no dvr or premium channels .

WTF are you talking about? There is plenty of dvr options on cable and streaming and sat etc.

 

[Kingnoob]

WTF are you talking about? There is plenty of dvr options on cable and streaming and sat etc.

Oh I miss typed that I meant I no longer have dvr , and until I can pay for it myself that isn’t happening. Is there a best one for a non hdr 4k tv ? Spectrum app is what I’m stuck using it looks like trash . I just watch Netflix more because no dvr , I’m not sure what the best dvr service is but at & t had bad picture before it for canceled the box died.
Will streaming replace cable ever , it seems like todays new TVs look horrible on some cable services .

 

[dolsey01]

The huge hole in my streaming is the local sports network being dropped by YTTV. NESN did launch their own streaming app for a whopping $30 a month or $330 annually, no thanks. FUBU and DirectTV offer it but I wasn't a fan of either's interface and services. For football, Redzone is where it's at. $11 a month during football season and I get more football than I can digest in 7 hours.

 

[corey]

I've stopped watching Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime because the idea of seeing commercials on a pay channel is a total no go for me.

 

[lovinthehd]

I've stopped watching Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime because the idea of seeing commercials on a pay channel is a total no go for me.

I wait until the game's about an hour and a half in before I turn on the recording so I can zip thru the commercials and all the halftime yakking.

 

[Hobbit]

In the past, ~50% of our cable/sat bill was to cover ESPN. That's what the actuaries for ESPN figured people were willing to pay to watch the sports they covered.

Fast forward to today and this article, there are obviously people who are willing to pay for every streaming service that has NFL. I know those people. Some are still paying for sat/cable not realizing they can get some of the games with an antenna. I've always been a casual watcher. If I'm home and a game is on, I'll watch it. If a friend invites me a neighborhood bar to watch, I'll go more for the company.

What I've always been confused on is when will there be a breaking point? Or will there be? When will viewership drop enough to lower interest and make this system hurt the NFL's bottom line? Or will it ever?

I mean, I've always been confused on the boxing/mma PPV model? When I was a kid in the 70's I knew who most of the top boxers were and I got to watch them box (WWoS). Now I don't have a clue who's even the champ in any weight category. With MMA if it's not someone fighting out my city, I don't have a clue either. I can only conclude there's a ton of people forking out a ton of money to watch PPV, with commercials. Enough so that they're making more money than by the traditional way.

This seems to lead us full circle. There are plenty of people willing to fork out $$$ to watch sports all these alternative ways. This may be the future without a breaking point (for most).

 

[tonyE]

After many years we dropped Direct TV. Before that, we dropped our cable (after 20+ years of service) just keeping the Internet access.

Got Rokus and Tablos.

Paid the yearly guide for Tablos and pay subscription for Discovery+ and OAN. That's it. We have the family Netflix and Tidal HiFi subscriptions, but that's it. We don't need/want any more. So our bill has dropped tremendously.

For sure, I don't need to pay 100 bucks a month to keep a service that will "allow" me to purchase Pay Per View... seriously?

Why do they have commercial in TSC and HSN? Why do they have ads in infomercial programs?

I never watched ESPN, CNN, MSNBC.. etc. etc... FNC has gone nuts too... so, since many of the channels we watched are OTA anyhow (SoCal... clear shot to Mt. Wilson north of us) I don't need Direct TV and all of its shows that I never watch but they charge me for ( I tried to dump ESPN, CNN, MSNBC.... no way... stuck with their carriage fees...).

Why should I pay carriage fees to Direct TV for local OTA channels when I can get them clearly with a roof antenna and store them in my PVRs?

Sports? Forget it. It was nice that they broadcast the Spanish SuperCup over OTA but they cut out and didn't show the after game ceremonies... instead switched to some inane badminton or something of that "caliber"...

Le Tour de France... well I missed that... I might figure out how to get it later. Normally we do 90% of our watching via the PVRs anyhow.

Yes, it is sad that so many services want their cut... but, OTOH, it allows me to apply a scalpel.

If only it were like Amazon... One Ring To Rule Them All. Amazon doesn't charge me (OK, my daughter pays the Prime fee)... they do charge a premium in many things ( The Home Depot finally got smart with their online sales... Costco is not... many retailers charge me a huge cost and time delay for shipping... seriously ) but Amazon is convenient... and they don't charge me unless I buy something. Nice... I don't have to buy towels if all I need is toilet paper.

Yes, greed is gonna kill the streaming fee model.

 

[Zerobias]

Truly, a first world problem.

 

[fmw]

I've never been able to stream thanks to slow metered satellite internet service so it doesn't affect me in the least. Sorry for those suffering from the issue. Trust me, it could be worse. You could be in the streaming void like me.

 

[JoeNewmany1]

Thank you for the information!