cpf2001
Ramblin' Wreck
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- 828
Yeah I use the same distinction that RonJohn is using: "YouTubeTV" = "linear tv" = "cable" colloquially. The online versions of those are growing some, but WAY less than the traditional ones are declining. What's really important from college sports and ESPN/Fox's perspective though is the "sign up once, get a boatload of channels" model, with a virtuous cycle for them around "if you sign up for the Big10 Network it still helps ESPN too". All the pain we're seeing right now for the PAC and their failure to get the deal they wanted to basically comes down to the reality of those overall subscriber numbers going down more and more, and that being a big reality check for ESPN and such (especially as the larger economic environment gets tighter lending/fundraising-wise and the companies shift from "invest in hopes of profit later" to "make profit now").
What I'd call streaming is what is also known as "direct to consumer" or "over the top." It has a lot of open questions that could shake out in various ways (in general, but especially for sports). ESPN+ is direct to consumer, and it has the same consumer-facing issues of a Netflix. Your thing you want to watch is on Amazon instead of Netflix? Whoops now you need another subscription. Consumer patience for having 6+ subscriptions seems to be wearing thin, especially since they're all raising prices. So would an ESPN streaming service be competiting directly with a Fox/Big 10 streaming service, and some fans only have ESPN and some only have Big 10? Cause that's super annoying. But can the companies get out of the winner-take-all model enough to find some other structure? (In some ways this is also an old model, with pay-per-view for single events going back a long time, but I can't see PPV working out for a regularly scheduled seasonal sport.) Would the streaming packages be run by today's sports networks, or would the conferences or NCAA get involved more actively themselves? Is basketball a different product than football than baseball than pro sports? It's gonna get hairy to try to replace traditional cable channels and their various sports teams deals in various markets with direct-to-consumer stuff.
("linear" is a particularly confusing term when it comes to sports discussions because it generally means "watched on original channel at original time" instead of DVRd or on-demand, but sports are by nature "linear" and real-time in a way that 99% of other shows on TV aren't. but generally people just use it to mean "traditional multi-channel cable bundle." But I digress.)
What I'd call streaming is what is also known as "direct to consumer" or "over the top." It has a lot of open questions that could shake out in various ways (in general, but especially for sports). ESPN+ is direct to consumer, and it has the same consumer-facing issues of a Netflix. Your thing you want to watch is on Amazon instead of Netflix? Whoops now you need another subscription. Consumer patience for having 6+ subscriptions seems to be wearing thin, especially since they're all raising prices. So would an ESPN streaming service be competiting directly with a Fox/Big 10 streaming service, and some fans only have ESPN and some only have Big 10? Cause that's super annoying. But can the companies get out of the winner-take-all model enough to find some other structure? (In some ways this is also an old model, with pay-per-view for single events going back a long time, but I can't see PPV working out for a regularly scheduled seasonal sport.) Would the streaming packages be run by today's sports networks, or would the conferences or NCAA get involved more actively themselves? Is basketball a different product than football than baseball than pro sports? It's gonna get hairy to try to replace traditional cable channels and their various sports teams deals in various markets with direct-to-consumer stuff.
("linear" is a particularly confusing term when it comes to sports discussions because it generally means "watched on original channel at original time" instead of DVRd or on-demand, but sports are by nature "linear" and real-time in a way that 99% of other shows on TV aren't. but generally people just use it to mean "traditional multi-channel cable bundle." But I digress.)
