Streaming Wars For Live Sports, Entertainment, and Gambling

Choice comments in this article by Bettman on Amazon’s new English-language coverage of the NHL in Canada:

“First of all, I believe Prime is more widely distributed than any other platform — cable or satellite — in the country,” Bettman said. “Most people have Prime. And as the media landscape continues to evolve with technology, there are going to be changes in distribution. Having said that, judge the quality of the product they put out and how they cover the game and then decide instead of in advance whether or not there’s a concern there and I think Prime’s going to do a great job.”

He’s well on the mark.

Rinse and repeat for the NBA though not so much MLB.

Here were my comments:

“Mr. McMahon” is a Top 10 show on Netflix now for good reason, for it’s mostly good though starts to go dark in Episode Four of the six akin to as did WWE by the late 1990s, but it does recover in the last episode.

The regional sports network operator has filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for approval of a long-expected naming-rights deal with FanDuel. The pact with the sportsbook operator will give FanDuel naming rights over the portfolio of networks and replace Bally Sports, as that pact expires at the end of the Major League Baseball season.

As part of the deal, FanDuel will gain a 5% equity stake in DSG, with performance-based warrants to acquire another 5%. DSG is also moving to keep the financial terms under seal, but it said the agreement contains “a significant rights fee payment and certain media and advertising spending commitments.” DSG is also set to gain some content currently shown on FanDuel TV, while FanDuel is incentivized to help increase DSG’s subscriber base.

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Good luck increasing the subscriber base. See how that works out for you.

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It’s the Cord Cutting, Stupid

The trend that was cited here two years ago after all the cord cutting is with us anew.

Eric Fisher is quite the hack for the establishment sports / NFL media, and perhaps somebody at ESPN is picking up his “business lunches” or a bar tab in Manhattan for all we know:

Even before the shift, though, MNF has been performing well on ESPN so far this season.

Dude, the reason this is being done is because it’s an EASY ratings grab for ABC and ESPN, c’mon already.

Nobody without cable or YouTube TV, which is basically cable TV on streaming, is signing up for cable to get ESPN, and very few for ESPN+, just to watch Monday Night Football.

It’s peak sports season with more competition than ever, so anybody sane who paid billions of dollars for rights to live sports has their product everywhere people can go to watch.

The networks said Friday they are scheduling six additional MNF games for the ABC simulcasts of ESPN coverage. The new games set for the dual-network presence are:

  • Week 6 (Oct. 14): Bills at Jets
  • Week 7 (Oct. 21): Ravens at Buccaneers
  • Week 9 (Nov. 4): Buccaneers at Chiefs
  • Week 11 (Nov. 18): Texans at Cowboys
  • Week 12 (Nov. 25): Ravens at Chargers
  • Week 16 (Dec. 23): Saints at Packers

Before this move, ESPN planned to show 11 NFL regular-season and playoff games this year on ABC, a marked reduction from last year’s schedule that featured 19 games either simulcast or shown exclusively on the broadcast network. With the revised schedule, that number reaches 17 and the overall 2024 MNF broadcast slate will now look much more like last year’s.

That “marked reduction” that this hack is writing about WAS supposedly largely due to the writers’ during strike last season, but given this decision it is now immaterial, and I figure that it is MORE likely this decision was in the works all along anyway.

All this is being reported with that slant by Eric Fisher even as he well knows that Disney has multiple plans for entirely new streaming ventures to include live sports.

ESPN’s total, 25-game NFL lineup for the 2024 season (including the playoffs) now includes 17 contests either simulcast or shown exclusively on ABC, seven tied specifically to ESPN, and one exclusive to ESPN+.

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Utah HC is one of five NHL teams with a hybrid local distribution model that includes free over-the-air broadcasts and paid streaming offerings that have evolved in the wake of widespread RSN collapse. In this setup, teams—who are footing the bill for production and distribution costs—want their games on cable and satellite providers for them to reach the broadest audience.

In the article, Bettman seems to imply that in these five NHL markets, which include Utah and Chicago, the local cable company better figure it out. That company is COMCAST in those two markets, and well as a former Comcast customer, I’d say those people don’t figure terribly much out along these lines and by contrast provide subpar coverage for live sports they do cover, including here via NBC Sports Network Philadelphia all along even before mass cord cutting.

FOS asked Bettman whether he was concerned that these carriage and retransmission disputes would take a hit on the NHL’s bottom line ahead of negotiations toward a new collective bargaining agreement with the players that will begin in a few months. The current CBA expires after next season.

“No,” Bettman says. “We set a revenue record last year. We anticipate doing it again this year based on the number of clubs and with their arrangements. What we’ve been able to do is to substitute market by market; we think our clubs are going to be fine.”

The flagship, direct-to-consumer version of ESPN will not be a mere streaming service, insists company chair Jimmy Pitaro, but rather a distillation of all the company’s various offerings and capabilities.

Already the most pressing initiative for not only ESPN, but perhaps parent company Walt Disney Co., the forthcoming offering will feature a wide variety of enhanced features, including multi-screen viewing, full integration with ESPN Bet, ticketing, and merchandising, fantasy content, user personalization, and advanced statistics, among others. The existing ESPN+ will also be available within the flagship ESPN streaming service.

:thinking:

I’m taking the under so far here. It simply sounds to me that this is essentially the equivalent of paid access to a virtual sports book, where in reality, the games are also on the big screen, but these games are still on…ESPN+.
:roll_eyes:

As the delivery method remains via streaming, if still via an app, that streaming of course brings forth its own issues lest the live sports stream is from Amazon.

Would people actually pay anything more for this service than they do now for ESPN+?

The new service is set to launch next August, but who knows here.

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This is a couple of months old - but this is NFL and the owners of the UFL in a joint venture. As @Paolo_X has been talking for a while - the NFL is the godfather and if the UFL loses $60 million this year - it won’t matter because there are back channel accounting mechanisms in place to offset those loses for Fox and Redbird Capital.

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Totally agree here though I feel like should inflation be tamed consistently once we are past all the fuss and hijinks in this election year in the US as we wait also for interest rates finally going doing significantly.

Lower costs and rates would truly would make that much of a difference for people to spend more money out and about, including more regularly at bars and restaurants locally not only when on travel, which has been otherwise at record levels. Here I am excluding the chain restaurants that otherwise do see enough business now. I’m venturing out more locally myself this week simply because I have more time off but am not traveling.

Alternatively now it’s as great as ever on these new TVs, far better than even when the first smart TVs were rolled out a decade ago, to just watch games at home and most importantly usually FREE.

In the US as the DirecTV case is appealed anew after the NFL won its appeal after a ruling went against them, the outcome will either simply be the status quo as described also in that fine article OR what in my opinion would be a better model for both residences AND commercial establishments.

The superior solution for watching NFL games already exists for those watching in select international markets except for Canada, and it is known as NFL Game Pass International and is via DAZN.

In Canada of course you also have a hodge-podge offering for the NFL across channels that is analagous to the regional coverage model we have in the US.

The rest is via DAZN, but this international offering by DAZN would be superior all the same especially when some games can be simulcast to both streaming and broadcast as well.

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Don’t know what to think of this one - but thought I
would throw it out there.

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So as yet another example of the way of the future for more sports or any given entertainment genre beyond the usual movies and channels is what the PGA has done to be accessible now on overwhelmingly most TVs via a FAST channel:

  • No Subscription
  • No Stupid Glitchy App To Download
  • The wait is about the same as when we had cable channels - no inordinate lag waiting to view something ( :fu: Paramount+ now along with Peacock too - if you have experienced this especially lately, you would understand the sentiment)
  • No Cable or Satellite Company

I already see more of these channels on my TV such as for some motorsport and MMA niches, for example.

These channels are also beyond what is free already on Pluto TV or Tubi, which though are freely and easily accessible, they have a lag like other apps.

https://www.pgatour.com/products/fast-channels

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More money for content is great, for it is severely lacking on the platform other than for live sports.

As one of a few exceptions, the second season of “Lioness” has started, and I recommend the show after the first season, though it feels like the kind of show that is on fragile ground.

No spoilers please if you are a fan!

But for cartoon content targeted to kids, Paramount’s library for series (excluding Showtime, which is now only available at a premium for the service) also feels older a whole lot like CBS programming all my life. They need to shed that “60 Minutes” branding off the TV screen already!

Most of all as I have stated previously in this thread and elsewhere, and now that Larry Ellison and his son will be in charge, the app needs an overhaul and a relaunch. The performance of Paramount+ is worse than when I first subscribed in early 2022.

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FanDuel Sports Network will officially be the TV home for teams affiliated with 16 regional sports channels across the NBA, NHL, and MLB.

On Friday, the bankrupt Diamond Sports Group announced a deal for the sportsbook to take over naming rights of the company’s existing RSNs, beginning Monday—just in time for the NBA season, which starts Tuesday.

The most noticeable change will be the names of the channels. For example, Bally Sports Detroit becomes FanDuel Sports Network Detroit (which airs Pistons and Red Wings games). And of course, now FanDuel will be marketing its sportsbook operations directly to viewers that might be potential bettors across the nation.

I’m not excited at all about a sports book also owning the naming rights for media coverage when also having an equity stake in a media company.

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