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Playstation Vue shutting down
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georgia_tech_swagger Offline
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Post: #1
Playstation Vue shutting down
Just got an email saying they're pulling the plug in January. That sucks.
10-29-2019 04:20 PM
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Post: #2
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
Thank goodness Direct basically matched them when I called. Vue was the only service that had what I want and what my wife wants.
10-29-2019 04:33 PM
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AllTideUp Offline
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Post: #3
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
So perhaps the reports of the death of cable have been greatly exaggerated.

Playstation Vue is going down. Plenty of rumors out there about AT&T wanting to discontinue their streaming product as well.
10-29-2019 05:01 PM
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MWC Tex Offline
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Post: #4
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
(10-29-2019 05:01 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  So perhaps the reports of the death of cable have been greatly exaggerated.

Playstation Vue is going down. Plenty of rumors out there about AT&T wanting to discontinue their streaming product as well.

AT&T is raising rates $15/month on their packages. There base package will now be $65/month.
10-29-2019 05:24 PM
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Post: #5
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
(10-29-2019 05:01 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  So perhaps the reports of the death of cable have been greatly exaggerated.

Playstation Vue is going down. Plenty of rumors out there about AT&T wanting to discontinue their streaming product as well.

Cable is dying a slow death, but the way we consume content is changing. These streaming services are just like cable, bundled channels that you are forced to get so you can get the channels you actually want. Until the cable and satellite companies go "A la carte", you will see this. I want ESPN, but I don't want to get Freeform with it. Give me the channels I actually want and you will get my money.
10-29-2019 08:21 PM
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Frank the Tank Online
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Post: #6
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
(10-29-2019 08:21 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 05:01 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  So perhaps the reports of the death of cable have been greatly exaggerated.

Playstation Vue is going down. Plenty of rumors out there about AT&T wanting to discontinue their streaming product as well.

Cable is dying a slow death, but the way we consume content is changing. These streaming services are just like cable, bundled channels that you are forced to get so you can get the channels you actually want. Until the cable and satellite companies go "A la carte", you will see this. I want ESPN, but I don't want to get Freeform with it. Give me the channels I actually want and you will get my money.

The dilemma for any sports fan, though, is that all of the non-sports fan subscribers are subsidizing us as opposed to the other way around. You can have 20 Freeform-like channels and they won’t add up to the price of just ESPN and your regional sports network. *We* (as sports fans) are the ones that get the best deal under the cable bundle because we watch the most expensive channel by FAR (and it’s not even close). A la carte pricing would be AWFUL for sports fans.
(This post was last modified: 10-29-2019 08:30 PM by Frank the Tank.)
10-29-2019 08:29 PM
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Wedge Offline
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Post: #7
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
(10-29-2019 05:01 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  So perhaps the reports of the death of cable have been greatly exaggerated.

Playstation Vue is going down. Plenty of rumors out there about AT&T wanting to discontinue their streaming product as well.

Also rumors that AT&T is looking to sell DirecTV to Dish, or spin it off into a single satellite business they would jointly own with Dish. Satellite TV is rapidly becoming a minor niche business, but they'll milk the cash cow as long as they can.

Cable has the advantage of being on a line that is wired into 100 million homes and apartments and that can deliver internet and phone as well as TV. It might be another 10 years or more before any other home internet technology threatens cable enough to endanger the continuation of its business.
10-29-2019 08:48 PM
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Post: #8
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
Sad day. I love PS Vue. Not sure which service I will turn to once it goes away.

Anyone have any recommendations? YouTube TV is one I have been recommended most.
10-29-2019 08:54 PM
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Wedge Offline
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Post: #9
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
(10-29-2019 08:54 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Sad day. I love PS Vue. Not sure which service I will turn to once it goes away.

Anyone have any recommendations? YouTube TV is one I have been recommended most.

YouTube TV is very good. If you're a huge NFL fan, you might care that they don't have NFL Network or Red Zone, but that's about it.

A good way to compare different services and see which has the channels that you want is to input your location and "must have" channels at this site, https://www.suppose.tv/tv , and it will show you different services, what channels they have, and the pricing.
10-29-2019 09:08 PM
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DoubleRSU Offline
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Post: #10
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
(10-29-2019 08:29 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 08:21 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 05:01 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  So perhaps the reports of the death of cable have been greatly exaggerated.

Playstation Vue is going down. Plenty of rumors out there about AT&T wanting to discontinue their streaming product as well.

Cable is dying a slow death, but the way we consume content is changing. These streaming services are just like cable, bundled channels that you are forced to get so you can get the channels you actually want. Until the cable and satellite companies go "A la carte", you will see this. I want ESPN, but I don't want to get Freeform with it. Give me the channels I actually want and you will get my money.

The dilemma for any sports fan, though, is that all of the non-sports fan subscribers are subsidizing us as opposed to the other way around. You can have 20 Freeform-like channels and they won’t add up to the price of just ESPN and your regional sports network. *We* (as sports fans) are the ones that get the best deal under the cable bundle because we watch the most expensive channel by FAR (and it’s not even close). A la carte pricing would be AWFUL for sports fans.

Any sports fan? Maybe if you have broad likes and deem it must see TV. If you don’t like the NHL and EPL, no need for NBCSN and NHL Network. Don’t like the NBA, no need for NBATV or TNT. Don’t care about the SEC or ACC, no need for those networks.

Only if you love anything and everything would it be expensive, but even then, you’re getting the most bang for your buck. ESPN and other channels would have to make smarter choices with the programming fees and they would have to adjust. It’s not the consumer’s fault, ESPN decided to give big dollars to leagues so someone else couldn’t have it.
10-29-2019 09:48 PM
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Frank the Tank Online
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Post: #11
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
(10-29-2019 09:48 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 08:29 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 08:21 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 05:01 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  So perhaps the reports of the death of cable have been greatly exaggerated.

Playstation Vue is going down. Plenty of rumors out there about AT&T wanting to discontinue their streaming product as well.

Cable is dying a slow death, but the way we consume content is changing. These streaming services are just like cable, bundled channels that you are forced to get so you can get the channels you actually want. Until the cable and satellite companies go "A la carte", you will see this. I want ESPN, but I don't want to get Freeform with it. Give me the channels I actually want and you will get my money.

The dilemma for any sports fan, though, is that all of the non-sports fan subscribers are subsidizing us as opposed to the other way around. You can have 20 Freeform-like channels and they won’t add up to the price of just ESPN and your regional sports network. *We* (as sports fans) are the ones that get the best deal under the cable bundle because we watch the most expensive channel by FAR (and it’s not even close). A la carte pricing would be AWFUL for sports fans.

Any sports fan? Maybe if you have broad likes and deem it must see TV. If you don’t like the NHL and EPL, no need for NBCSN and NHL Network. Don’t like the NBA, no need for NBATV or TNT. Don’t care about the SEC or ACC, no need for those networks.

Only if you love anything and everything would it be expensive, but even then, you’re getting the most bang for your buck. ESPN and other channels would have to make smarter choices with the programming fees and they would have to adjust. It’s not the consumer’s fault, ESPN decided to give big dollars to leagues so someone else couldn’t have it.

My baseline minimum requirement is that I need to have access to all of the games for all 5 Chicago sports teams plus the Illini. I’m not unusual in that regard - it’s simply access to all of my local market teams, which is the most common sports fan request. For any market with 4 pro teams, that requires ESPN, TNT, FS1, NBCSN and the applicable regional sports network at a minimum. For any P5 sports fan outside of the Big 12, that also requires at least one conference network. That’s going to add up pretty quickly for a fairly typical sports fan.

On the flip side, you have to look at the economics of the content providers. We can just do the math for ESPN alone: they’re charging over $7 per month per subscriber at around 100 million subscribers. That’s around $700 million in revenue per month simply from subscriber revenue. ESPN also gets to sell ads based on a potential 100 million viewers. Disney essentially makes the domestic gross from an Avengers or Star Wars movie every *month* from just ESPN subscriber fees and even more when including ad revenue (which is inherently high since sports networks can charge premiums as viewers generally watch sports live as opposed to via DVR).

It’s simply impossible to replicate that type of revenue in an a la carte world. Even if it could somehow recoup the subscriber revenue (such as 25 million subscribers at $30 per month), their ad revenue would be greatly reduced with fewer potential eyeballs and their marketing expenses would skyrocket (as they have to actively obtain and retain those 25 million subscribers as opposed to just passively cashing checks every month).

Don’t get me wrong: Disney has been working for years to launch Disney+ and streaming is going to be as important to that company for the foreseeable future as any of its other products and properties. However, we shouldn’t conflate with a desire to go to a la carte with its core ESPN product. Note that Disney also controls Hulu as a result of the Fox purchase, so they’re directly invested in continuing the cable bundle via streaming.
(This post was last modified: 10-29-2019 10:46 PM by Frank the Tank.)
10-29-2019 10:43 PM
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Post: #12
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
How is recouping ad revenue the consumer’s problem? Most people aren’t going to pay $30 a month for just ESPN. You need all 5 Chicago teams and a college, not everyone “needs” all that. I would gladly pay $10 a month for ESPN, it’s up to them to make smart business choices and provide content that people want to watch. However, spending $70 a month for ESPN and 80% crap isn’t important to me.
10-29-2019 11:04 PM
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Frank the Tank Online
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RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
(10-29-2019 11:04 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  How is recouping ad revenue the consumer’s problem? Most people aren’t going to pay $30 a month for just ESPN. You need all 5 Chicago teams and a college, not everyone “needs” all that. I would gladly pay $10 a month for ESPN, it’s up to them to make smart business choices and provide content that people want to watch. However, spending $70 a month for ESPN and 80% crap isn’t important to me.

It’s not the consumer’s problem per se, but it’s certainly Disney’s problem and that impacts what it would offer to consumers in the first place. The fact that you’d only be willing to pay $10 per month instead of $30 per month shows exactly why Disney is going to hang on to the cable model for ESPN as long as it has any life at all. Total cable subscribers could be cut in half from where they are today and Disney would be still be far better off collecting $7 per month *automatically* from all of them than attempting to sell a $10 per month subscription to a smaller number of them that Disney has to actively obtain and retain.

The economics say that Disney would be absolutely, positively INSANE to ever offer ESPN a la carte even with the heavy subscriber losses in the current environment. There’s no business that is giving up $700 million per month that’s coming in *automatically* (can’t emphasize *automatically* enough). Disney is essentially like a luxury car maker with respect to ESPN - they have quality lower priced products like Toyota for the masses, but when it comes to Lexus, it’s more profitable for them to let the cheaper customers walk than to lower their prices. ESPN is Disney’s Lexus.
10-30-2019 01:04 AM
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RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
(10-30-2019 01:04 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  [quote='DoubleRSU' pid='16409019' dateline='1572408287']
The economics say that Disney would be absolutely, positively INSANE to ever offer ESPN a la carte even with the heavy subscriber losses in the current environment. There’s no business that is giving up $700 million per month that’s coming in *automatically* (can’t emphasize *automatically* enough).

Right, the money coming in automatically is the most important feature of cable to Disney/ESPN.

Netflix has 60 million US subscribers -- which also works out to about $700 million a month -- but, unlike ESPN on cable, any or all of Netflix's subscribers could cancel Netflix at any time without disrupting any other TV programming that they are currently getting. When Disney+, HBO-Max, the NBC/Universal streaming service, and others get started, there probably is going to be a fair amount of churn between Netflix and any of those other streaming services.
10-30-2019 01:22 AM
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RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
(10-30-2019 01:04 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 11:04 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  How is recouping ad revenue the consumer’s problem? Most people aren’t going to pay $30 a month for just ESPN. You need all 5 Chicago teams and a college, not everyone “needs” all that. I would gladly pay $10 a month for ESPN, it’s up to them to make smart business choices and provide content that people want to watch. However, spending $70 a month for ESPN and 80% crap isn’t important to me.

It’s not the consumer’s problem per se, but it’s certainly Disney’s problem and that impacts what it would offer to consumers in the first place. The fact that you’d only be willing to pay $10 per month instead of $30 per month shows exactly why Disney is going to hang on to the cable model for ESPN as long as it has any life at all. Total cable subscribers could be cut in half from where they are today and Disney would be still be far better off collecting $7 per month *automatically* from all of them than attempting to sell a $10 per month subscription to a smaller number of them that Disney has to actively obtain and retain.

The economics say that Disney would be absolutely, positively INSANE to ever offer ESPN a la carte even with the heavy subscriber losses in the current environment. There’s no business that is giving up $700 million per month that’s coming in *automatically* (can’t emphasize *automatically* enough). Disney is essentially like a luxury car maker with respect to ESPN - they have quality lower priced products like Toyota for the masses, but when it comes to Lexus, it’s more profitable for them to let the cheaper customers walk than to lower their prices. ESPN is Disney’s Lexus.

You have too much respect to the current cable market which is tied to a home internet service bundle.

That home internet service bundle is unraveling as the the teleco providers are getting closer to rolling out 5G home internet at half the cost of 5G over DSL.

You'll have your 5G service, bundled with a music or TV streaming service and then you'll be paying separately for a Sports/PPV service at home.

I'm already there as an early adopter.

5G home service ($50)
Unlimited Cellphone ($45)
PPV Sports Services ($13)
News Channels (Free)
TV Shows (Free)
Movies (Free)

I'm paying $108 a month. Someone might be paying $108 a month for a home phone/home internet double play combo and thinking they have a deal. But you can get everything for that price.

A bundle for what I have might cost you $250 with having to shell out an extra $75 a year a couple times a year for the boxing fights you want to watch. Plus the cable box adds to your electric bill another $10 dollars a month.

ESPN out to the consumer for $7 bucks a month makes a lot of sense.
10-30-2019 06:52 AM
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Post: #16
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
(10-29-2019 11:04 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  How is recouping ad revenue the consumer’s problem? Most people aren’t going to pay $30 a month for just ESPN. You need all 5 Chicago teams and a college, not everyone “needs” all that. I would gladly pay $10 a month for ESPN, it’s up to them to make smart business choices and provide content that people want to watch. However, spending $70 a month for ESPN and 80% crap isn’t important to me.

You can always go to a sports bar to watch a big game if you want to on ESPN.

Or stick with the streaming services and get into watching what they have on there.
10-30-2019 06:56 AM
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Post: #17
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
(10-29-2019 10:43 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 09:48 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 08:29 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 08:21 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 05:01 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  So perhaps the reports of the death of cable have been greatly exaggerated.

Playstation Vue is going down. Plenty of rumors out there about AT&T wanting to discontinue their streaming product as well.

Cable is dying a slow death, but the way we consume content is changing. These streaming services are just like cable, bundled channels that you are forced to get so you can get the channels you actually want. Until the cable and satellite companies go "A la carte", you will see this. I want ESPN, but I don't want to get Freeform with it. Give me the channels I actually want and you will get my money.

The dilemma for any sports fan, though, is that all of the non-sports fan subscribers are subsidizing us as opposed to the other way around. You can have 20 Freeform-like channels and they won’t add up to the price of just ESPN and your regional sports network. *We* (as sports fans) are the ones that get the best deal under the cable bundle because we watch the most expensive channel by FAR (and it’s not even close). A la carte pricing would be AWFUL for sports fans.

Any sports fan? Maybe if you have broad likes and deem it must see TV. If you don’t like the NHL and EPL, no need for NBCSN and NHL Network. Don’t like the NBA, no need for NBATV or TNT. Don’t care about the SEC or ACC, no need for those networks.

Only if you love anything and everything would it be expensive, but even then, you’re getting the most bang for your buck. ESPN and other channels would have to make smarter choices with the programming fees and they would have to adjust. It’s not the consumer’s fault, ESPN decided to give big dollars to leagues so someone else couldn’t have it.

My baseline minimum requirement is that I need to have access to all of the games for all 5 Chicago sports teams plus the Illini. I’m not unusual in that regard - it’s simply access to all of my local market teams, which is the most common sports fan request. For any market with 4 pro teams, that requires ESPN, TNT, FS1, NBCSN and the applicable regional sports network at a minimum. For any P5 sports fan outside of the Big 12, that also requires at least one conference network. That’s going to add up pretty quickly for a fairly typical sports fan.

On the flip side, you have to look at the economics of the content providers. We can just do the math for ESPN alone: they’re charging over $7 per month per subscriber at around 100 million subscribers. That’s around $700 million in revenue per month simply from subscriber revenue. ESPN also gets to sell ads based on a potential 100 million viewers. Disney essentially makes the domestic gross from an Avengers or Star Wars movie every *month* from just ESPN subscriber fees and even more when including ad revenue (which is inherently high since sports networks can charge premiums as viewers generally watch sports live as opposed to via DVR).

It’s simply impossible to replicate that type of revenue in an a la carte world. Even if it could somehow recoup the subscriber revenue (such as 25 million subscribers at $30 per month), their ad revenue would be greatly reduced with fewer potential eyeballs and their marketing expenses would skyrocket (as they have to actively obtain and retain those 25 million subscribers as opposed to just passively cashing checks every month).

Don’t get me wrong: Disney has been working for years to launch Disney+ and streaming is going to be as important to that company for the foreseeable future as any of its other products and properties. However, we shouldn’t conflate with a desire to go to a la carte with its core ESPN product. Note that Disney also controls Hulu as a result of the Fox purchase, so they’re directly invested in continuing the cable bundle via streaming.

I don't really buy the ad revenue argument. Certainly they might try to sell their $100M potential viewers, but I suspect advertisers are sophisticated enough to know that they'll actually get a couple hundred thousand eyeballs for a run of the mill event, a couple million for bigger events (CFB) and eight figures for the rare premium event which ESPN has few of (MNF, CFP).

The reality is that in a future model where ESPN has 25M subscribers, the lion's share of those people are still around. If your 84 year old grandmother doesn't subscribe to ESPN in an a la carte structure, no big deal since she wasn't watching anyway.

No doubt ESPN would prefer to keep the current way of doing business but I suspect the real end result is the TV rights bubble bursting, hurting the leagues much more than ESPN or the consumers.
10-30-2019 07:43 AM
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MWC Tex Offline
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Post: #18
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
PSVue subscribers dropped a bit when they raise the rates. The latest estimate was around 500k subscribers. With AT&T Now raising rates also, I guess we’ll see if there is any increase from Hulu, YouTube or Fubo. However, they are more sports related platforms than cable. Sling may be the biggest beneficiary but I think Philo will see bigger increases as they are focus are nonsports channels that 80% of cable subscribers watch. If ATT watchTV would get on Roku, they can play a bigger role a also if don’t need DVR capability.

However, the number of people dropping cable keep going but only around 35% of those go to OTT platforms.

ESPN, although a revenue generator, the numbers keep going down like a depreciating car. They are nearly crossing the under 80 million household mark.
(This post was last modified: 10-30-2019 08:57 AM by MWC Tex.)
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Post: #19
RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
(10-29-2019 05:01 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  So perhaps the reports of the death of cable have been greatly exaggerated.

Playstation Vue is going down. Plenty of rumors out there about AT&T wanting to discontinue their streaming product as well.

AT&T has lost 16% of its subscribers. They are getting pressure to dump DirectTV.
10-30-2019 07:59 AM
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Frank the Tank Online
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RE: Playstation Vue shutting down
(10-30-2019 07:43 AM)Go College Sports Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 10:43 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 09:48 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 08:29 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  
(10-29-2019 08:21 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  Cable is dying a slow death, but the way we consume content is changing. These streaming services are just like cable, bundled channels that you are forced to get so you can get the channels you actually want. Until the cable and satellite companies go "A la carte", you will see this. I want ESPN, but I don't want to get Freeform with it. Give me the channels I actually want and you will get my money.

The dilemma for any sports fan, though, is that all of the non-sports fan subscribers are subsidizing us as opposed to the other way around. You can have 20 Freeform-like channels and they won’t add up to the price of just ESPN and your regional sports network. *We* (as sports fans) are the ones that get the best deal under the cable bundle because we watch the most expensive channel by FAR (and it’s not even close). A la carte pricing would be AWFUL for sports fans.

Any sports fan? Maybe if you have broad likes and deem it must see TV. If you don’t like the NHL and EPL, no need for NBCSN and NHL Network. Don’t like the NBA, no need for NBATV or TNT. Don’t care about the SEC or ACC, no need for those networks.

Only if you love anything and everything would it be expensive, but even then, you’re getting the most bang for your buck. ESPN and other channels would have to make smarter choices with the programming fees and they would have to adjust. It’s not the consumer’s fault, ESPN decided to give big dollars to leagues so someone else couldn’t have it.

My baseline minimum requirement is that I need to have access to all of the games for all 5 Chicago sports teams plus the Illini. I’m not unusual in that regard - it’s simply access to all of my local market teams, which is the most common sports fan request. For any market with 4 pro teams, that requires ESPN, TNT, FS1, NBCSN and the applicable regional sports network at a minimum. For any P5 sports fan outside of the Big 12, that also requires at least one conference network. That’s going to add up pretty quickly for a fairly typical sports fan.

On the flip side, you have to look at the economics of the content providers. We can just do the math for ESPN alone: they’re charging over $7 per month per subscriber at around 100 million subscribers. That’s around $700 million in revenue per month simply from subscriber revenue. ESPN also gets to sell ads based on a potential 100 million viewers. Disney essentially makes the domestic gross from an Avengers or Star Wars movie every *month* from just ESPN subscriber fees and even more when including ad revenue (which is inherently high since sports networks can charge premiums as viewers generally watch sports live as opposed to via DVR).

It’s simply impossible to replicate that type of revenue in an a la carte world. Even if it could somehow recoup the subscriber revenue (such as 25 million subscribers at $30 per month), their ad revenue would be greatly reduced with fewer potential eyeballs and their marketing expenses would skyrocket (as they have to actively obtain and retain those 25 million subscribers as opposed to just passively cashing checks every month).

Don’t get me wrong: Disney has been working for years to launch Disney+ and streaming is going to be as important to that company for the foreseeable future as any of its other products and properties. However, we shouldn’t conflate with a desire to go to a la carte with its core ESPN product. Note that Disney also controls Hulu as a result of the Fox purchase, so they’re directly invested in continuing the cable bundle via streaming.

I don't really buy the ad revenue argument. Certainly they might try to sell their $100M potential viewers, but I suspect advertisers are sophisticated enough to know that they'll actually get a couple hundred thousand eyeballs for a run of the mill event, a couple million for bigger events (CFB) and eight figures for the rare premium event which ESPN has few of (MNF, CFP).

The reality is that in a future model where ESPN has 25M subscribers, the lion's share of those people are still around. If your 84 year old grandmother doesn't subscribe to ESPN in an a la carte structure, no big deal since she wasn't watching anyway.

No doubt ESPN would prefer to keep the current way of doing business but I suspect the real end result is the TV rights bubble bursting, hurting the leagues much more than ESPN or the consumers.

I actually think it will be a hybrid because as much people *think* they want true a la carte, they generally still want the all-you-can-eat buffet at a lower price. Eventually, there will be so many different streaming services that it will eventually come back to people wanting to bundle all of those together (as I'll note below).

Let's get this out of the way: ESPN financially *can't* be a $10 per month service a la carte. It won't even be close to that amount. Remember, they're getting $7 per month from *everyone* that is a cable subscriber right now. So, who's willing to pay $30 or more per month for ESPN plus $20 plus per month for your regional sports network? Those are the types of prices that we'd be seeing for sports networks. The shows that you see on Netflix and Disney+ would have been shown on general purpose networks that generally receive less than $1 per subscriber per month, so charging $5 to $15 per month for a streaming service for those shows has some financial viability. That simply isn't the case for sports.

I'm not arguing that the cable bundle may be deconstructed because of how the world is turning. I totally understand that. However, I really don't understand why sports fans would want that to happen. We're the ones that will be paying significantly more in an a la carte environment.

Plus, the highest likelihood is that all you'll see is a bundle in a different form. To the extent that the bundle is deconstructed, it will likely be having to buy *all* of the Disney channels (not just ESPN), *all* of the AT&T/Turner channels (not just TNT), *all* of the Comcast/NBC channels, etc. via multiple streaming services. That's exactly why all of those companies are starting their own streaming services to provide a baseline for that future. We are already very close to coming out of the period of price arbitrage where streaming is clearly cheaper than the cable bundle, as evidenced by the prior posts here showing DirecTV Now kicking up their prices further along with all of the content creators pulling back their content from Netflix (which IS a massive bundle of shows from many different content creators).

My guess is that there's going to be a shakeout of these streaming services and/or the cost of procuring each of those services will be so high that people will eventually want to bundle all of those together. Maybe people here have a high tolerance for juggling multiple subscriptions, but that's generally not the case for most households. Once you get past paying for Netflix, a Disney+/ Hulu bundle and having an Amazon Prime account, there's a huge question as to whether the market can really bear many more streaming services.

Up until very recently, Netflix essentially served as that bundle since it had a large Disney library plus key shows from multiple owners (The Office, Friends, Breaking Bad, etc.). I always wince whenever people refer to Netflix as "a la carte" since it is actually the largest *bundle* of all-you-can-eat content of all-time that goes far beyond anything that cable provides. What you're seeing is that old "Netflix bundle" from multiple content providers unraveling where each of those providers is creating their own services... and I'm not sure how much the market can bear beyond that. Probably sooner rather than later, we'll be seeing the "streaming bundle" where you get one price for all of the Disney, Comcast, Fox and Warner streaming services since people really don't want to deal with a dozen different a la carte subscriptions, which is essentially the same as today's cable bundle.
10-30-2019 08:38 AM
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