How long until sports become streaming only?

[Someguywhodoesntlikeyou]

I work in a related field and just curious what everyone thinks.

How long do you believe it will be until the major sports partners (Disney/Espn, Fox, etc) move all sports content to streaming only via their proprietary apps.

Some people inside the industry feel this is going to happen by the next decade: want to watch NFL on CBS? Got to subscribe to paramount + want to watch SEC football or NBA Basketball? Sign up for ESPN + today.

Good or bad thing.

 

[WellerSR]

Curious

What line of work do you do ????

Also, this name you chose, if you don’t like the posters here why post ??

 

[Cotaay]

At this point I only have YouTube tv to watch sports which I think is around $75/month. As long as whatever I have to bundle together isn’t way more expensive than that I really don’t care what they do.

 

[gamecockcat]

I think it's inevitable. We're already conditioned to subscribe to ESPN. Now, TNF is on Prime, a couple of games on Peacock during the playoffs, I think Paramount is now carrying the CBS game. The playoffs and Super Bowl, I believe, will soon be pay per view only and, at that point, I probably either quit watching NFL or go in with a group and split the cost. It's not the money. It's the principle to me (also, not a huge NFL fan). With an industry that grosses how many billions per year, it will be difficult for me (and I would expect others, also) to cough up even more money for the right to watch playoffs and SB - something I've pretty much watched for free for decades. If they would do away with commercials and ridiculous halftime histrionics, I might consider subscribing. But, pay to watch umpteen commercials and what is generally a pretty awful (in my opinion, of course) halftime 'show' that stretches a 60-minute game out to 4+ hours? I'll pass.

 

[bbonds]

Super Bowl will never go PPV only. Are you nuts? Advertising alone they make a killing. Remove the audience, you remove said revenue.

 

[warrior-cat]

Super Bowl will never go PPV only. Are you nuts? Advertising alone they make a killing. Remove the audience, you remove said revenue.

I think that might be true of most pro sports in general. So much advertising money to be had.

 

[JumperJack]

It seems like it would become absurdly expensive. Different apps for MLB, for NFL, for NCAA, for SEC, NBA?

 

[Someguywhodoesntlikeyou]

Curious

What line of work do you do ????

Also, this name you chose, if you don’t like the posters here why post ??

Without being too specific I work in digital marketing for a firm in the public relations sphere.

As for the user name lol that’s a joke only about four people on earth will get and none of them post on this message board.

 

[Someguywhodoesntlikeyou]

Just to touch on some things since multi quote isn’t working for me

-I don’t foresee a PPV model but I do see sports content getting walled off eventually. And yes there will still be Ad Space to buy. The big debate in certain circles is what form will it take.

-If Disney or whoever can get you to subscribe for sports content chances are they’ll get you to stay for their general entrainment content.

-15 bucks a month (with tiered options) for a streaming app with exclusive content..say 5-6 different apps to have access to everything you want..you’re basically paying that to a TV provider right now.

 

[UKnCincy]

I work in a related field and just curious what everyone thinks.

How long do you believe it will be until the major sports partners (Disney/Espn, Fox, etc) move all sports content to streaming only via their proprietary apps.

Some people inside the industry feel this is going to happen by the next decade: want to watch NFL on CBS? Got to subscribe to paramount + want to watch SEC football or NBA Basketball? Sign up for ESPN + today.

Good or bad thing.

Sooner than later.

Venu Sports was supposed to launch this fall until a federal judge put it on hold after FuboTV filed a lawsuit to block it.

Venu Sports is the new streaming service that’s a joint venture between ESPN, Fox and Warner Brothers Discovery.

They announced it was going to be priced at $43 per month and include the following networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPNEWS, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network, TNT, TBS, truTV.

 

[WayneDougan]

I think all games will go pay per view. Like there will be no free games to watch.

 

[Glenn's take]

Sooner than later.

Venu Sports was supposed to launch this fall until a federal judge put it on hold after FuboTV filed a lawsuit to block it.

Venu Sports is the new streaming service that’s a joint venture between ESPN, Fox and Warner Brothers Discovery.

They announced it was going to be priced at $43 per month and include the following networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPNEWS, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network, TNT, TBS, truTV.

I actually would like this. It's cheaper than YouTubeTv and I don't watch anything on that except for live sports.

 

[Someguywhodoesntlikeyou]

Sooner than later.

Venu Sports was supposed to launch this fall until a federal judge put it on hold after FuboTV filed a lawsuit to block it.

Venu Sports is the new streaming service that’s a joint venture between ESPN, Fox and Warner Brothers Discovery.

They announced it was going to be priced at $43 per month and include the following networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPNEWS, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network, TNT, TBS, truTV.

I’m very aware of this

But two things: this kind of “joint venture” was how Hulu was born. Which was basically in response to the rise of Netflix. Now solely owned by Disney.

Secondly, I’m going to be very interested in how the case goes because Fubo TV is basically arguing collusion by the media companies to hurt it’s business model.

 

[Ron Mehico]

Like almost all industries in this country, here in about 20 years cable will barely be a thing and 99% of people will stream. At that point many will have merged and they’ll probably be only 2 or 3 streaming options. They will all offer a sports package for additional money. Basically what I’m saying is it’ll eventually just go back to what it was 20 years ago where there were basically 3 national cable companies except it’ll be streaming instead of cable. So then the answer to your question is yes.

 

[CAT Scratch FVR]

Generally, most sports are not free. You’ll get your NfL game on a local network but you’re paying for the rest whether cable or streaming. Don’t kid yourself like this is anything new. The only difference is everything has become ala Carte. You’re just choosing a higher tier of the old cable systems.

 

[UKnCincy]

I’m very aware of this

But two things: this kind of “joint venture” was how Hulu was born. Which was basically in response to the rise of Netflix. Now solely owned by Disney.

Secondly, I’m going to be very interested in how the case goes because Fubo TV is basically arguing collusion by the media companies to hurt it’s business model.

The joint venture for Hulu served a fundamentally different purpose than the joint venture for Venu Sports.

Hulu was about providing a mechanism for generating additional revenue off of the content that was being creating by their core businesses. Hulu was incremental and was not something intended to be transformative. It was never about changing how they did business.

Venu Sports is being created in response to massive disruption to the networks’ business model, and is about transforming the distribution model for live sports.

The strategic intent behind the two joint ventures is drastically different.