Streaming College Sports

[noeynox]

Well that is one way for "CT" to stick it to ESPN.

 

[pj]

All of the DTC services are losing subcscribers, raising prices and cutting content. It’s a ripoff.

5 years from now this thing won’t even look the same.

All of the services will be combined in something just like cable and it will cost more. It will also deliver less value.

A DTC service needs a large and diverse enough content bundle, similar to what cable networks have had in their linear channel lineup, that they can charge high prices and have most people want to pay them.

Right now, too much desirable content is locked up in cable deals or in other places (movies). It's hard to assemble a valuable content bundle.

That said, the convenience of streaming with a large pool of on-demand content will one day win out. It just is hard to get there from here.

Think of the challenge UConn would have putting together a "UConn Sports" microchannel. Who owns historical content of past UConn sporting events? Old UConn football games (Fiesta Bowl?), NCAA basketball tourney games, Big East tourney games, season games. Pulling all the rights together would be a gargantuan task.

Ideally, we'd have thousands of such microchannels, they'd be assembled into large sports channels, each on one streaming service. UConn fans would know they could find all UConn sports, live and historical, on streaming service X, live events in real-time and historical on demand. It would be both convenient and UConn fans would be highly motivated to subscribe.

 

[Luna]

What I would like is to just purchase a big east package and uconn football and hockey package to watch on my cell phone

 

[HCCForever]

One thing that I hate about DTCs is the interface especially if you have multiple packages. There was nothing better than having cable and easily and quickly selecting your desired channel from the channel guide. Not so easy, at least for me, with DTCs.. I especially hate when I am not in the correct timeslot on the guide and cannot switch immediately without first selecting the correct timeslot. Cable was more forgiving and just switched to the channel. Perhaps I am missing some DTC integrator which would make it easier. At the moment, I only have Spectrum streaming and Roku but will be moving off of Spectrum due to their recent activities.

 

[noeynox]

One thing that I hate about DTCs is the interface especially if you have multiple packages. There was nothing better than having cable and easily and quickly selecting your desired channel from the channel guide. Not so easy, at least for me, with DTCs.. I especially hate when I am not in the correct timeslot on the guide and cannot switch immediately without first selecting the correct timeslot. Cable was more forgiving and just switched to the channel. Perhaps I am missing some DTC integrator which would make it easier. At the moment, I only have Spectrum streaming and Roku but will be moving off of Spectrum due to their recent activities.

I find that Amazon Fire has channel guide that aggregates all your live channels from all your streaming services. I hardly ever use it. It takes my YTTV, PlutoTV, Freeve, Prime channels and one other one and creates one long channel guide. All it really ever did for me is show me how much garbage there is that i DON'T want to watch.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

One thing that I hate about DTCs is the interface especially if you have multiple packages. There was nothing better than having cable and easily and quickly selecting your desired channel from the channel guide. Not so easy, at least for me, with DTCs.. I especially hate when I am not in the correct timeslot on the guide and cannot switch immediately without first selecting the correct timeslot. Cable was more forgiving and just switched to the channel. Perhaps I am missing some DTC integrator which would make it easier. At the moment, I only have Spectrum streaming and Roku but will be moving off of Spectrum due to their recent activities.

Every cable interface I have ever used had a multi second lag unless I was going up or down one channel. There is literally no facet of cable technology that is within five years of the DTC services.

It is faster to go from Disney to Max to Paramount to Netflix on my Roku than it was to surf through the movie channels on cable, and the library is several multiple times larger DTC.

 

[ctchamps]

Another article that mentions this could be a pivitol turning point:

Cable TV giant Charter has stuck a dagger into Bob Iger with Disney and ESPN on the ropes

 

[ctchamps]

Exactly right. Which means they are going a la carte with the channel menu. That is a death sentence to ESPN. Whether people cut the cord and go to streaming or the cable companies push ESPN to a la carte, the outcome is the same to ESPN. They are dead.

The point I was making about ESPN winning every time they got into it with a cable company was that ESPN HAD TO WIN EVERY TIME. One loss would have been the end of their business model, so ESPN could never back down to any cable company, for the last 20+ years. And now ESPN lost, and one loss will lead to two and to ten and to all of the aggregators and cable companies going a la carte. When that happens, ESPN can no longer outbid everyone else, and many of the sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) will go DTC. ESPN's best case is becoming a niche sports content provider and production company. That company will generate maybe 30% of the revenue that ESPN generates today.

Just spitballing here and no where near as knowledgeable as many here are (or pretend to be) but will the vicious cycle with college conference payment demands/increases and the sports broadcasters willingness to accommodate those conference realignment money demands going to hurt ESPN now that the distributors of content are putting the brakes on Disney?

It seems those long term contracts with conferences were predicated on the ability for Disney to keep upping their demands. Is it possible that ESPN will not be able to fulfill their obligations causing them to declare bankruptcy or try to get those contracts renegotiated to avoid bankruptcy? If so what will be the future for conference realignment?

 

[KryHavok]

What I would like is to just purchase a big east package and uconn football and hockey package to watch on my cell phone

Ditto. I don't get CBSSN, so when the football team plays, I'm furiously clicking ESPN's gamecast. I would've hoped that I could watch it on Paramount+, which I got primarily for Italian Serie A, but no luck there. Granted, that would put UConn sports behind a paywall, but at this point the school needs and deserves funds given how much they show they can achieve despite getting doors constantly slammed on them.

 

[ZooCougar]

Ditto. I don't get CBSSN, so when the football team plays, I'm furiously clicking ESPN's gamecast. I would've hoped that I could watch it on Paramount+, which I got primarily for Italian Serie A, but no luck there. Granted, that would put UConn sports behind a paywall, but at this point the school needs and deserves funds given how much they show they can achieve despite getting doors constantly slammed on them.

Easy workaround. Just subscribe to YouTube TV during football season.

 

[KryHavok]

With my cable package discounts going away, I’m looking at options like YouTube TV while reducing my costs and dispersing with channels the family doesn’t watch.

 

[Ha Who]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[noeynox]

Local ABC, CBS, FOX, & NBC Owners Demand The FCC Reclassify YouTube TV, Fubo, DIRECTV STREAM, & More As Cable TV Companies | Cord Cutters News

Earlier this year, Local TV station owners formed a new Coalition for Local News to push the FCC to force cord cutting services to be treated like cable TV companies. If the FCC agrees to change the rules, it would force YouTube TV, Hulu, Fubo, and more to strike deals directly with the owners...

cordcuttersnews.com

 

[pepband99]

https://ir.charter.com/static-files/05f899dd-7ef3-40d8-84c1-f16a7acfe318

Wow. Charter is threatening to go as far as exiting TV. We've hit the tipping point.

 

[Drew]

https://ir.charter.com/static-files/05f899dd-7ef3-40d8-84c1-f16a7acfe318

Wow. Charter is threatening to go as far as exiting TV. We've hit the tipping point.

To a (much much less extent)- Google did the same with exiting FiberTV a few years ago. It was a great product but they saw the writing on the wall and got out, opting to push everyone to YouTubeTV

Legacy cable companies as streaming aggregators makes a ton of sense. Absolutely nobody is enjoying this “middle ground” of sorts- I streamed 6 games at once on Saturday which was awesome but trying to navigate moving between Peacock, YouTubeTV and ESPN+ was incredibly annoying.

 

[Chuck]

Another negative outlook for ESPN. Looks like Apple will wait to go bargain hunting.

ESPN’s ‘melting iceberg’ is yet another challenge for Disney, analyst says

ESPN's prospects "could materially worsen" if Charter opts against contract renewal, a KeyBanc analyst said.

www.marketwatch.com

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Another negative outlook for ESPN. Looks like Apple will wait to go bargain hunting.

ESPN’s ‘melting iceberg’ is yet another challenge for Disney, analyst says

ESPN's prospects "could materially worsen" if Charter opts against contract renewal, a KeyBanc analyst said.

www.marketwatch.com

Iger is not an idiot. He would take $30 billion for ESPN in a heartbeat. He would probably take $20 billion.

 

[noeynox]

Oof. That last article does not bode well at all for ESPN, to which i say, GOOD!

 

[NoSpamHere]

Here's another great layout of the (inevitably dismal) future of ESPN. Their "let's force people who don't want our product to pay for it anyway" grift is on its last legs.

The Rise & Fall of ESPN's Leverage

 

[huskymedic]

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Looks like this Soule character at the NH Register is trying to get a job at ESPN or ABC News.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Here's another great layout of the (inevitably dismal) future of ESPN. Their "let's force people who don't want our product to pay for it anyway" grift is on its last legs.

The Rise & Fall of ESPN's Leverage

Great article.

I don't agree with the writer's conclusion, that there will be a rebundling, but I need to think about it. Access is so easy in streaming that a bundle just doesn't produce a lot of value for the end-user, and trying to push additional costs onto consumers for stuff they don't want is going to keep getting harder to do.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

in the midst of a paradigm shift you can take two approaches
which is what the thread is about you as a player in the old model can ride that out or you could embrace the new model . The ESPN name itself can be transitioned into the newer model by partnering with a strong player in that field Ie an Apple or Amazon purchase of ESPN is an extremely intriguing option for. survival. The old Kings typically resist change and perish but it doesn’t have to be that way .

 

[billybud]

Fox is in the same boat as ESPN...so, let's also talk about the demise of Fox sports and the Big Ten's contract.

Fox Remains Committed to Cable-TV Bundle​

Fox Corp. said it "remains bullish on the value of the traditional pay-television bundle" for its sports and entertainment content, despite "continued subscriber losses due to cord-cutting and an industrywide shift to streaming." The cable-television paywall "drives value of Fox Sports and will for...

Fox remains committed to pay-TV bundle for sports

The cable-television paywall "drives value of Fox Sports and will for a long time to come," Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said on today's earnings call.

www.sportsbusinessjournal.com