Streaming Media

[Lobot]

The Wall St. Journal is reporting that Fox, Disney and Warner Bros are creating a joint streaming platform for sports. It will be available to Hulu, ESPN+ and Max subscribers.

I haven’t gotten into details yet but I honestly don’t see how this is good for the consumer and I’m betting the FTC will go after it.

[leo from jersey]

The Wall St. Journal is reporting that Fox, Disney and Warner Bros are creating a joint streaming platform for sports. It will be available to Hulu, ESPN+ and Max subscribers.

I haven’t gotten into details yet but I honestly don’t see how this is good for the consumer and I’m betting the FTC will go after it.

well we will just pay or miss. I enjoy watching the Cats too much to miss out. Read this: The move will place content from ESPN, TNT, and Fox Sports on a new standalone app and will have significant ramifications for the future of TV sports.

[Lobot]

I guess this is what Disney decided to do instead of partnering with Amazon or Apple on ESPN?

[sedz]

I guess this is what Disney decided to do instead of partnering with Amazon or Apple on ESPN?

Legacy media sticking together to battle the newcomers. It's fascinating to watch the landscape transform so fast.

[red_n_black_attack]

Legacy media sticking together to battle the newcomers. It's fascinating to watch the landscape transform so fast.

I have the Disney bundle with ESPN+/Hulu and would much prefer a legacy streaming option because the production capability is "usually" nicer. My only hopes are the prices are affordable, and there aren't any one off made-for-tv pay-per-view events like the Michigan-Oh St game or a conference championship game. Everything is included either on broadcast or streaming for one price. I hate that when games are broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2 I have to have Hulu to watch them instead of the sports app.

If sports were streaming all in one place, a lot more people would cut the cord with cable, DirectTV, or Dish.

[sedz]

I have the Disney bundle with ESPN+/Hulu and would much prefer a legacy streaming option because the production capability is "usually" nicer. My only hopes are the prices are affordable, and there aren't any one off made-for-tv pay-per-view events like the Michigan-Oh St game or a conference championship game. Everything is included either on broadcast or streaming for one price. I hate that when games are broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2 I have to have Hulu to watch them instead of the sports app.

If sports were streaming all in one place, a lot more people would cut the cord with cable, DirectTV, or Dish.

I think production capability has just about caught up for the newcomers, at least for Apple. Their MLS and Friday Night Baseball streams are great. I'm not sure about Amazon, I don't watch much NFL. We'll see if they take a more prominent role in Bally's productions after taking a minority stake.

You can already watch ESPN broadcast games through the ESPN app if you log in with a Hulu Live account (I think - mine works with YouTubeTV this way). I almost never actually open the YouTubeTV app anymore.

The new thing here is several legacy companies teaming up. We've got Disney (ESPN, ABC, Hulu) coming together with Fox (BigTen Network) and Warner (TBS, TNT, HBO/max). They used to be fierce rivals in this space. But it's not a full legacy consolidation. Paramount (CBS) and Comcast (NBC, USA, Peacock) are still going solo as legacy units. So that's three legacy platforms to go with two current pure streamers in Apple and Amazon plus the possibility of Netflix joining (they tested the waters with a live golf event and have a tennis match planned for this year).

So we're still a long way from all sports in one place, and I doubt things are going to be much cheaper if any compared to what it already costs to access all of these platforms.

[leo from jersey]

so does anybody think prices will go down? I have not seen much of that in any product and I am an old man.

[sedz]

so does anybody think prices will go down? I have not seen much of that in any product and I am an old man.

Well, if you believe in market economics price is set by supply and demand unless one of those is affected by regulation. If the demand for sports stays strong and its supply is restricted to a handful of individual platforms by league contracts, then there's no reason for the price to ever drop. Streaming technology is kind of irrelevant in that sense.

Some things do get cheaper, famously data storage and processing speed. But even that ends up inducing demand for greater capability in all of our devices, so we end up paying the same in the end. Maybe a better analogy is clothes, which have become way cheaper than they were a century ago, but now everyone has closets full of cheap factory clothes instead of a few tailored suits. But I digress.

[Lobot]

so does anybody think prices will go down? I have not seen much of that in any product and I am an old man.

Prices will go up because of market consolidation. Prices on Hulu, etc. were probably artifically depressed by the streaming companies breaking into the market at a loss. They've steadily increased the subscription prices since their inception.

On a different note, this kind of messes with the Big XII TV contract in a way?

[red_n_black_attack]

Prices will go up because of market consolidation. Prices on Hulu, etc. were probably artifically depressed by the streaming companies breaking into the market at a loss. They've steadily increased the subscription prices since their inception.

On a different note, this kind of messes with the Big XII TV contract in a way?

How does this mess with our tv contract or what is aired versus streaming? The contract revenue is already in place, and could affect the amount of the next contract, but I think Yormark already predicted this and has plans to separate the basketball and tv.

[Lobot]

How does this mess with our tv contract or what is aired versus streaming? The contract revenue is already in place, and could affect the amount of the next contract, but I think Yormark already predicted this and has plans to separate the basketball and tv.

I'm not sure if it does or doesn't to be honest. That's why I put a question mark at the end of that sentence. And you're right, the contract is signed. My question was more about if they create a new business entity out of this, who holds rights? Is it just ESPN. plus FOX? Do we get games on TNT now?

Speaking of business entities, the NFL and NBA were apparently completely blindsided by this whole deal. I don't think they're very happy about it either.

[Lobot]

Just saw a paywalled article that indicated that in the last calendar year Cable and Satellite providers have lost 7 Million customers in the US. Not a surprise there. The thing is you'd expect that streaming providers would cover that gap. That isn't happening. Streaming providers definitely added customers but the resulting gap for 2023 is 5 Million subscribers.