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I have an annual subscription to ESPN+ and I’ve never missed a UAB games except for a few basketball games. Anyway, they raised their price from 54.99 to 64.99. That’s annual…think they have other packages.

We do the bundle with Disney+ and Hulu but it also went up to $13.99 a month (from $12.99).

(07-27-2021 07:00 PM)jcduncan13 Wrote:  We do the bundle with Disney+ and Hulu but it also went up to $13.99 a month (from $12.99).

Same. My kid watches Disney daily, so I can easily justify the cost of this.

I have gotten the feeling lately that ESPN+ subscribers are being nudged to get Disney packages. I don’t think they would cancel ESPN+, but I watch Hulu so I probably should look at bundling

(07-27-2021 07:00 PM)jcduncan13 Wrote:  We do the bundle with Disney+ and Hulu but it also went up to $13.99 a month (from $12.99).

Yep!

(07-27-2021 07:17 PM)blazr Wrote:  I have gotten the feeling lately that ESPN+ subscribers are being nudged to get Disney packages. I don’t think they would cancel ESPN+, but I watch Hulu so I probably should look at bundling

That bundle's a good deal. Lots of good stuff on Disney, and Hulu has an absolute ton. If you are a cord cutter, Hulu Live will also get you your local news channels without needing an antenna.

(07-27-2021 09:11 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  

(07-27-2021 07:17 PM)blazr Wrote:  I have gotten the feeling lately that ESPN+ subscribers are being nudged to get Disney packages. I don’t think they would cancel ESPN+, but I watch Hulu so I probably should look at bundling

That bundle's a good deal. Lots of good stuff on Disney, and Hulu has an absolute ton. If you are a cord cutter, Hulu Live will also get you your local news channels without needing an antenna.

I watch Hulu constantly. I actually forgot my subscription was up on ESPN+ and they ran the annual subscription.

I’m cheap, I wait for emails with deals. Just got an email offering the bundle for $9.99 for 3 months.

I’ll wait until as close to the first espn plus game as possible to subscribe and then check the length between it and the next game and decide whether I want to cancel. I only use it during football and basketball season, but if the men’s games aren’t on it then I don’t care to have it. Women’s hoops for the most part is hard for me to watch. The turnovers and throwing up layups while flat footed, makes me shake my head.

I’ll do the same with Spotify and Apple Music, they’ll have competing offers via email. I look for the 3 months for the price of one deal.

I quit watching WWE a few years ago, but they had been sending 99 cent offers to get subscribers back. now they are on peacock which is $5.

I know our tv deal sucks monetarily, but the reality is I’ve been able to watch the most UAB content I have ever been able to watch the last four years.

I love ESPN+ and I much prefer it to the other broadcast options. Being able to watch it anywhere, and on any device, and to always know where to look as well as to be able to bounce to other games easily is good user experience.

This past season, to see games, I had to get Hulu Live, CUSA TV, ESPN+ and then when the Fox regionals were dumped by Hulu I had to get YouTube TV. It was a royal pain. A less dedicated fan would have just given up.

Put it all on ESPN family -- all of it -- please, and then if ESPN wants to sublicense the linear broadcasts to CBSSN or others, fine.

I think the Disney+ bundle with Hulu and ESPN+ is a very good deal. I just wish I could add access to all the ESPN channels. I'm guessing there would be lots of opposition to a stand alone ESPN service from Disney's distribution "partners": cable, YoutubeTV, DirectTV, etc.

Agreed

(07-28-2021 12:50 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  I think the Disney+ with Hulu and ESPN+ is a very good deal. I just wish I could add access to all the ESPN channels. I'm guessing there would be lots of opposition to a stand alone ESPN service from Disney's distribution "partners": cable, YoutubeTV, DirectTV, etc.

I believe that’s where things are moving towards. Give it a few more years but I think we’ll get there.

(07-28-2021 12:26 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  I love ESPN+ and I much prefer it to the other broadcast options. Being able to watch it anywhere, and on any device, and to always know where to look as well as to be able to bounce to other games easily is good user experience.

This past season, to see games, I had to get Hulu Live, CUSA TV, ESPN+ and then when the Fox regionals were dumped by Hulu I had to get YouTube TV. It was a royal pain. A less dedicated fan would have just given up.

Put it all on ESPN family -- all of it -- please, and then if ESPN wants to sublicense the linear broadcasts to CBSSN or others, fine.

Agreed!

The other side of "put it all on ESPN" is the current mess in the Big 12 and ESPN and the SEC's march toward making super-conferences happen. ESPN has way too much power over college football as it is. That said, C-USA's TV is a huge mess, and desperately needs an improvement.

(07-29-2021 08:42 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  The other side of "put it all on ESPN" is the current mess in the Big 12 and ESPN and the SEC's march toward making super-conferences happen. ESPN has way too much power over college football as it is. That said, C-USA's TV is a huge mess, and desperately needs an improvement.

No doubt the Mouse is a king-maker. But we've also seen what happens when you cross them.

Here's what I see: ESPN is facing a long-term problem that every college athletic program also has to deal with: Young people do not watch sports like previous generations did. They live in their phones, have cut the cord and don't sit still for 3 hours to watch games. SportsCenter is not part of their experience. The teams and leagues have been counting on live sports to be immune to these factors, and that is proving not to be the case to the degree expected. This is going to further drive the big dollars toward the big brands and make everything else niche. ESPN has a vested interested in making that happen. They are not a neutral party "covering" the sports -- they are the business model.

(07-29-2021 08:42 AM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  The other side of "put it all on ESPN" is the current mess in the Big 12 and ESPN and the SEC's march toward making super-conferences happen. ESPN has way too much power over college football as it is. That said, C-USA's TV is a huge mess, and desperately needs an improvement.

Sun Belt seems to be just fine with using ESPN. One of the negatives is they move some of their games to week nights.

I’d love if all of our games were on CBS Sports and Stadium as Spectrum offers both. However, I understand folks have different providers and streaming services. If they can guarantee that all of our games are to be on ESPN+, I’d subscribe annually. The issue with that, is WIFI going out at the most opportune times and there’s going to always be a paywall to see our games, which non-diehards are going to avoid. That’s the downside of ESPN+. I don’t want to have to rely on internet to watch games. Also, Saturday’s are for the boys, that’s when we want to go to or watch our games and really don’t want interference with our HS games on Fridays. Want nothing to do with weekday games.

I will likely never subscribe to ESPN+. The games televised only there give me the occasional opportunity to listen to the quality effort put forth by David Crane and company on the radio.