Mountain West considers cutting TV cord

[huskymedic]

Interesting in concept..,

MW considers cutting the TV cord

>>Thompson met with the conference’s presidents and athletic directors earlier in the week, and he said the clear sentiment was “to reassess” the increasing control of television in the marquee sports of football and men’s basketball. A semifinal at 9:30 p.m. (that actually tipped at 9:52) followed by a 3 p.m. final the next day - a 15-hour turnaround for athletes who will be playing their third or fourth game in as many days - was the decision of CBS, which is the Mountain West’s primary rights holder.>>

>>“We spent about seven hours with the presidents and ADs talking about our TV package,” Thompson said. “We’re playing at 8:15 or 8:30 consistently in football, we’ve even had some 9 o’clock tips in basketball, we had three Sunday afternoon (basketball) games in San Diego this year. What are we doing? What’s the return?<<

>>The Mountain West is stuck with its current TV deal through the 2019-2020 academic year, and until then Thompson admits they’re at the mercy of the networks and their late starts to fill vacant time slots. But negotiations for a new deal will begin in about 18 months, and Thompson hinted they might go in a different direction.

As drastically different direction.“I have used the word strongly: the alternative,” Thompson said. He might cut the cord.

The Mountain West already has numerous football and men’s basketball games on Internet-only feeds like ESPN3, CampusInsiders.com and Themwc.com. The idea, if the networks refuse to rescind control over start times, would be to go all digital, which would significantly reduce the rights fees but also eliminate the 8:15 p.m. Thursday night football game or the 12:52 a.m. Eastern time semifinal in the conference tournament.

There are no time slots on the Internet. You just play whenever you want to. And some of that lost money in rights fees, you’d think, would be recouped by increased ticket sales.<<

 

[storrsroars]

I'd think that with only $1 mill in TV revenue, this move makes a ton of sense financially. Question is, how does it effect each school's branding and student applications? The poor start times/declining ticket sales are compelling reason to investigate every alternative.

 

[whaler11]

Yeah nothing worse than an 8:15 Thursday night football game once a year. The horror!


Nice negotiating ploy but finding 2 million a year somewhere else - good luck. For Boise it's a bigger number and the end of their football program having any national attention.

As far as playing basketball games in rapid succession - I guess the kids should all quit AAU because they constantly play games with little turn around time.

 

[Fishy]

I think you're missing the point.

Anyone who thinks they're getting a raise or staying the same after the next renegotiation is probably dreaming.

The Mountain West is likely looking at a huge haircut in their rights' fees and at that point, what the commissioner is saying starts making sense. The jackassing around with start times and dates for G5 teams have their own cost and if the money isn't enough, then there's no point.

 

[whaler11]

I think you're missing the point.

Anyone who thinks they're getting a raise or staying the same after the next renegotiation is probably dreaming.

The Mountain West is likely looking at a huge haircut in their rights' fees and at that point, what the commissioner is saying starts making sense. The jackassing around with start times and dates for G5 teams have their own cost and if the money isn't enough, then there's no point.

Nobody has been saying decreased revenues are coming louder or longer than I have.

MWC teams are getting about $2 million a year in television rights today.

If they give up say a million dollars each in their next negotiation to get control of their start times they will be down a net $875k.

Let's say you sell an additional 1k tickets 5 times at $25 each by improving a handful of start times.

That's being incredibly generous and it's a whole $125k in revenue.

So you've lost a decent amount of revenue and cut the number of people watching your games by 90%.

That seems like a winning combination.

Start time excuses are just nonsensical. They are just something for people who don't want to show up no matter what use as an excuse. We just witnessed perfect start times for three straight days so they went back to the drawing board.

The premise that any of these useless administrators actually care about student-athletes is ridiculous. They are interested in only their own ongoing overpaid survival.

Anyone who works for the AAC should be shot into the sun after the job they did on this tournament.

The MWC leaders should be fired for cause based on their negligence.

Certainly the solution is to put the games on campus insiders and the MWC streaming site. It will put them in complete alignment with the WCC streaming site and NEC front row. Maybe they can save a few dollars by piping in the radio feeds.

The American Sports Network was a debacle even with some decent content and a big network of affiliates - I'm sure Campus Insiders can monetize their TV rights better than the ASN.

Boise State football surviving on obscure streaming outlets instead of being on ESPN networks 9 times a year? They might actually return Aresco's phone calls if the MWC decides to commit suicide.

 

[storrsroars]

Yeah nothing worse than an 8:15 Thursday night football game once a year. The horror!

Nice negotiating ploy but finding 2 million a year somewhere else - good luck. For Boise it's a bigger number and the end of their football program having any national attention.

As far as playing basketball games in rapid succession - I guess the kids should all quit AAU because they constantly play games with little turn around time.

All one needs to look at are two numbers:
- rate of decline in ESPN subscribers (0.3% per month or 3.6% per year since 2013)
- the continuing success of MLBAM, which is now involved in streaming NHL and March Madness in addition to MLB games. It not only streams, it develops new ways to consume the game (e.g. StatCast).

ESPN can no longer afford the rights fees it pays. They cannot go up further and odds are strong Disney will sell ESPN before the next major conference rights negotiation comes up. Whatever company ends up buying ESPN will have a focus on digital platforms as that's the only way such a purchase makes sense.

The future is digital/streaming, not traditional TV/Cable. You can't ignore it or wish it away. It's going to keep improving while ESPN and traditional TV outlets continue to provide worse comparable viewing experiences.

 

[whaler11]

All one needs to look at are two numbers:
- rate of decline in ESPN subscribers (0.3% per month or 3.6% per year since 2013)
- the continuing success of MLBAM, which is now involved in streaming NHL and March Madness in addition to MLB games. It not only streams, it develops new ways to consume the game (e.g. StatCast).

ESPN can no longer afford the rights fees it pays. They cannot go up further and odds are strong Disney will sell ESPN before the next major conference rights negotiation comes up. Whatever company ends up buying ESPN will have a focus on digital platforms as that's the only way such a purchase makes sense.

The future is digital/streaming, not traditional TV/Cable. You can't ignore it or wish it away. It's going to keep improving while ESPN and traditional TV outlets continue to provide worse comparable viewing experiences.

ESPN bought a billion dollar chunk of MLBAM.

The first semi-legitimate league who moves to Campus Insiders across the board - what do they win? There isn't an award for early adoption.

I'm not wishing anything away - just pointing out the double disadvantage of losing revenue and exposure.

Let me know when anyone streaming college sports has anything that can even approach the technology of WatchESPN.

ESPN and other TV outlets provide worse viewing experiences than streaming? That's gold - 'live' streaming for sports requires one to hide from the real time world because updates on mobile devices and Twitter end up minutes ahead of streams.

The viewer experience for streaming to date is light years behind cable and broadcast TV. Maybe someone is going to close that gap soon - but if you are Mountain West if you want to be the first to jump your reward is being completely forgotten.

 

[billybud]

But ESPN has a 33% of that MLBAM that you cite and a four year option to secure an additional 33%...

And ESPN is now the leader in sports streaming minutes and is moving very fast in that direction....I think that they aren't completely stupid and are figuring out how to monetize their owned content but deliver it in alternate ways as technology moves on and the public demands more choice.

You can access ESPN via Vue, Roku, Sling, etc. Some experts believe that, over time, live sports access streaming will cost you more than it does at present....once in the trough, prices will ratchet up.

I believe that the holder of content will have value...and if you want to watch live sports, bowl games, play offs, etc...ESPN will be the one you have to go to.

It may be early to predict their demise...they may not be as profitable, but they will continue to be the leader in sports programming..IMHO

 

[SubbaBub]

I think Whaler is missing a point. While the TV money is likely to go down. Streaming money is going to to go up and if you are only getting $2M per team then why degrade your product by being buried on late night TV.

You can likely get a local package, a subscription model, or a straight streaming rights deal and make just as much. In UConn's case, more.

The national exposure issue is a real thung but, if a conference wanted to do the leg work, I don't see a problem beating the pathetic cable payouts.

In the AAC's next deal the CBS games have to go. Any games not put on ESPN TV, need to revert back to the conference for local distribution. You could easily sell a weekly three game FB slate to the regional sports networks or even a national one like YES or CBS. At least the conference could decide start times and get the direct payout. Right now, most AAC games are being sold like they are on consignment.

 

[storrsroars]

But ESPN has a 33% of that MLBAM that you cite and a four year option to secure an additional 33%...

And ESPN is now the leader in sports streaming minutes and is moving very fast in that direction....I think that they aren't completely stupid and are figuring out how to monetize their owned content but deliver it in alternate ways as technology moves on and the public demands more choice.

You can access ESPN via Vue, Roku, Sling, etc. Some experts believe that, over time, live sports access streaming will cost you more than it does at present....once in the trough, prices will ratchet up.

I believe that the holder of content will have value...and if you want to watch live sports, bowl games, play offs, etc...ESPN will be the one you have to go to.

It may be early to predict their demise...they may not be as profitable, but they will continue to be the leader in sports programming..IMHO

All of which suggests that the MW isn't wrong in pursuing OTT options for delivering content.

 

[HuskyinWRNY]

Yeah nothing worse than an 8:15 Thursday night football game once a year. The horror!


Nice negotiating ploy but finding 2 million a year somewhere else - good luck. For Boise it's a bigger number and the end of their football program having any national attention.

As far as playing basketball games in rapid succession - I guess the kids should all quit AAU because they constantly play games with little turn around time.

Maybe it's time for Boise and some others to reconsider the AAC?

 

[pepband99]

The viewer experience for streaming to date is light years behind cable and broadcast TV. Maybe someone is going to close that gap soon - but if you are Mountain West if you want to be the first to jump your reward is being completely forgotten.

...not to mention the MWC might have the worst collective internet connectivity in their region, of any conference. We complain about WatchESPN and whatnot over FIOS/Cable/etc. Lots of dish-based internet in that neck of the woods!

 

[billybud]

I can stream fine on Comcast at my Florida home....here in my NC cabin with Direct satellite, I get buffering....

 

[UConnDan97]

It's an interesting concept. But ultimately, the conversation will be, "Boise, what do you think?"

Boise isn't likely suffering from low ticket sales, so they won't realize any gains there. They also don't want to lose whatever tv exposure they currently have. Simply put, whatever Boise wants from the MW, they'll get. They've shown that to be true already...

 

[noeynox]

Fwiw. I started the 7 day trial of Playstation vue yesterday. I'm already sold. Their top package with HBO and showtime is 65 bucks. That's 90 bucks cheaper than what I'm back up to with directtv. Trying to get wife on board.

I have noticed that user interfaces are very different on the amazon fire TV and the rokutv I have in the basement. I have yet to hook up the chromecast. Without HBO and showtime I'm looking at 45 bucks. I'm guessing the real savings is on the equipment cost. Not dvr fee, no extra boxes to pay for. Vue let's you stream 5 devices at once, which is a major difference between directtvnow now and sling.

My neighbor is stoked about espn getting BAM. He feels that has already steadied the ship at espn.

I think Google or Amazon is gonna try to pick up live content for either The American or MWC. They may pay better than cable to do it but we will see.

If they offered a stand alone package for your school for 10 bucks a month I would pay it.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Stinger92860]

Who would provide the production services for the streaming service? This is not inexpensive unless they are looking for cell phone quality.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Fwiw. I started the 7 day trial of Playstation vue yesterday. I'm already sold. Their top package with HBO and showtime is 65 bucks. That's 90 bucks cheaper than what I'm back up to with directtv. Trying to get wife on board.

I have noticed that user interfaces are very different on the amazon fire TV and the rokutv I have in the basement. I have yet to hook up the chromecast. Without HBO and showtime I'm looking at 45 bucks. I'm guessing the real savings is on the equipment cost. Not dvr fee, no extra boxes to pay for. Vue let's you stream 5 devices at once, which is a major difference between directtvnow now and sling.

My neighbor is stoked about espn getting BAM. He feels that has already steadied the ship at espn.

I think Google or Amazon is gonna try to pick up live content for either The American or MWC. They may pay better than cable to do it but we will see.

If they offered a stand alone package for your school for 10 bucks a month I would pay it.

I'm currently paying around $115 for cable only at the moment (yes, ridiculous). I've been looking into the free trials of Sling on Roku and to a lesser extent PlayStation Vue. For me, I only really want/need it for live sports, do you find that it comes in pretty clear?

I have an old Roku I stream ESPN News from and the only difference I can tell between that and cable is the bottom line is slightly blurry (but not a big deal or distraction).

The only issue is the fall when we have games back on CBS Sports Network/SNY. I don't see any alternative to not switching back to cable for that.

What's your take on it and do you think you'll end up keeping yours?

 

[noeynox]

I'm currently paying around $115 for cable only at the moment (yes, ridiculous). I've been looking into the free trials of Sling on Roku and to a lesser extent PlayStation Vue. For me, I only really want/need it for live sports, do you find that it comes in pretty clear?

I have an old Roku I stream ESPN News from and the only difference I can tell between that and cable is the bottom line is slightly blurry (but not a big deal or distraction).

The only issue is the fall when we have games back on CBS Sports Network/SNY. I don't see any alternative to not switching back to cable for that.

What's your take on it and do you think you'll end up keeping yours?

I have to sell the wife on it.

I noticed it looks better on the amazon fire TV than on the roku TV. Easier to navigate. It comes in really clear on the chromecast but you are essentially using your phone to cast it and as a remote. Roku is probably the worst of the 3 in terms of quality and ease of navigation. The amazon fire TV [not stick] works great. Funny before this, I had never used it after getting for Christmas 2-3 years ago.

I have 50 mbs download spreds from Cox cable.

If I switch I will rely on an Android total stream TV I have for CBS Sports Network and sny. I fouND out the reason they can sell those things it's because they're not selling you a "fully loaded box". You click on an end user agreement and download all the streaming sites yourself. I know many people who have dropped cable and just use that but I can't do that. Some streams are too hit or miss for my liking.

I've researched the different OTT options and tried vue first because you can stream up to 5 devices at once. Sling and Directtv Now only give you 2. There are more in the way with Hulu and YouTube set to launch. Best part is no contract.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I have to sell the wife on it.

I noticed it looks better on the amazon fire TV than on the roku TV. Easier to navigate. It comes in really clear on the chromecast but you are essentially using your phone to cast it and as a remote. Roku is probably the worst of the 3 in terms of quality and ease of navigation. The amazon fire TV [not stick] works great. Funny before this, I had never used it after getting for Christmas 2-3 years ago.

I have 50 mbs download spreds from Cox cable.

If I switch I will rely on an Android total stream TV I have for CBS Sports Network and sny. I fouND out the reason they can sell those things it's because they're not selling you a "fully loaded box". You click on an end user agreement and download all the streaming sites yourself. I know many people who have dropped cable and just use that but I can't do that. Some streams are too hit or miss for my liking.

I've researched the different OTT options and tried vue first because you can stream up to 5 devices at once. Sling and Directtv Now only give you 2. There are more in the way with Hulu and YouTube set to launch. Best part is no contract.

Thanks for the information - what's the deal with Android Total Stream? Is that similar to the KODI (spelling?) product that people use with the Fire Stick?

 

[noeynox]

Thanks for the information - what's the deal with Android Total Stream? Is that similar to the KODI (spelling?) product that people use with the Fire Stick?

It is kodi they just sell you a better piece of hardware. Once you click accept and download the update you have every add on you could ever want. You don't have to pay anywhere near the price on the site either.
Total Stream Media Box-Free Movies, TV Shows, Sporting E

Youre prompted to run an automatic updates from time to keep it running smoothly.

 

[huskymedic]

Should Mountain West Schools Be Considering Cutting the TV Cord? - CollegeAD

>>I wondered just how substantial the late-start problem was in the Mountain West and wanted to see if Thompson was making much ado about nothing or if he truly had a grievance. I calculated the average start times of all Mountain West football home games to see how bad the situation really is. Here are the results: Average Mtn. West Start Time: 5:17pm<<

>>5:17pm did seem a little late to be the average time for a conference to start its home football games (Boise State hasn’t had a home game in the daytime since 2013!), so I decided to compare it to a power five conference on the East Coast. Below are the home football games for the ACC: Average ACC Start Time: 3:23pm<<

Data in article^^

 

[billybud]

OMG...FSU's average start time is later than even the Mountain West average.....time for the Chairman to jump up hollering! LOL