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The press release from Disney said specifically that it would be non exclusive, so as far as WBD/Fox/Disney are concerned I don't think they care if you watch via their OTT apps or this new thing or through coaxial cable, just as long as you watch.

It's not a clearance/rights thing, it's just an aggregator/distributor of content thing. YTTV etc are just distributors.

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You can read between the lines right there in that press release.

"provide a new and differentiated experience to serve sports fans, particularly those outside of the traditional pay TV
bundle."

This is exactly slicing out the YouTubes/Slings/ etc.

Ultimately, we're going to get charged less, at least immediately, for just sports, than we were paying YTTV. Because they recognize the value and are cutting out the middleman.

But that press release couldn't be more clear as day, without literally saying it.

Like the very high end starting point of this thing $30. And I think that's even aggressive. It will probably start lower. When tacking on Peacock/Paramount, assuming they jump to $15 each, you are still looking at $60/month for almost all sports. Which is less than what YTTV costs. And what will YTTV cost when the big guys aren't giving them anything?

YouTubeTV died today.

That doesn't at all read as "exact" and "clear as day" to me. Yes, people will drop YouTube TV and the like for this, and yes, I'm sure these companies would love that. But the idea that they're aggressively trying to destroy them, and that YouTube TV and the like aren't going to have sports in 2025, seems way overzealous to me.

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But the idea that they're aggressively trying to destroy them

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I don't think anybody is trying to destroy anybody.

What I do see clearly is 3 mega corporations telling their shareholders "We are creating a very clear pathway to taking our revenue back".

Casualties be damned. But that is what that press statement says (without saying it). Oh, and also "consumers are sure to love it" is in there too for fluff.

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YouTube TV and the like aren't going to have sports in 2025, seems way overzealous to me.

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If we're parsing exact years, 2025 may be a bit too fast. The Peacock playoff game showed people need a little bit of time to acclimate. Tack a year on to it, but the point doesn't change. The streaming aggregators are certainly not keeping these things anywhere close to 2033.

I think you're overthinking this. None of this indicates to me that Fox/Disney/WBD want to pull any or all of their distribution via sling/yttv/fubo/etc. in the next year. I'd imagine they'd be up for renewal just like any other renewals between providers and the cable/mso operators(distributors) and subject to whatever the market is at that point.

Ferg said:

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double aught said:

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Ferg said:

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double aught said:

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So if you had this service, at a quick glance I think you'd still be missing the following:

• Half the NFL schedule
• A lot of Big 10 games (Notre Dame too)
• Most local MLB, NBA, and NHL games.

What do y'all think this'll cost? My guess is $20/month to start, but like every other streamer, it'll increase pretty quickly.

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The first two could be covered by an Antenna or Paramount Plus and Peacock.

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I put an antenna on my roof a few months back, and it's been great. Way more channels than I would've guessed (some of them are even decent!).

Funny that all this tech has pushed me back to broadcast TV signals, as basic as it comes. Somehow we are surviving.

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I have a legacy tablo dvr that my antenna feeds into so i can record. They have a new one 4th gen, but seems like a lot of bugs at least on Roku.

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I may check one of those out. Thanks.


Although, it feels almost liberating when I realize I missed a show and there's not much I can do about it.

double aught said:

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Ferg said:

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double aught said:

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Ferg said:

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double aught said:

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So if you had this service, at a quick glance I think you'd still be missing the following:

• Half the NFL schedule
• A lot of Big 10 games (Notre Dame too)
• Most local MLB, NBA, and NHL games.

What do y'all think this'll cost? My guess is $20/month to start, but like every other streamer, it'll increase pretty quickly.

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The first two could be covered by an Antenna or Paramount Plus and Peacock.

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I put an antenna on my roof a few months back, and it's been great. Way more channels than I would've guessed (some of them are even decent!).

Funny that all this tech has pushed me back to broadcast TV signals, as basic as it comes. Somehow we are surviving.

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I have a legacy tablo dvr that my antenna feeds into so i can record. They have a new one 4th gen, but seems like a lot of bugs at least on Roku.

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I may check one of those out. Thanks.


Although, it feels almost liberating when I realize I missed a show and there's not much I can do about it.

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I have a tablo dual lite which is a legacy product a few years old and works well, and I pay $5/Month for a tv guide integrated into it and makes the DVR (using an external drive) work well for scheduling entire series to record.

The new product the 4th Gen seems to be having issues using Roku with it crashing. Sounds like software issue on the Roku side. I had one for about a week and returned it. but if you hold off it could be the better
product once its resolved. The guide is free on it, and it pulls in a bunch of Free Streaming channel in addition to the OTA ones. It does seem to work well with the $20 ONN Google TV streamer. (don't get the $18 one though as I saw it works better on the $20 one) see the post below on reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/tablotv/comments/1al576p/tablo_finally_works_great_for_me/

New JV won't disrupt (for now, I'm sure) current distribution.

Fox CEO: New sports JV w WBD, Disney 'will offer broad sweep of sports' from 14 linear networks. Plan is 'proudly consumer first, distribution agnostic.' Fox remains 'committed to existing distrib partners'

— Brian Steinberg (@bristei) February 7, 2024

That tweet and more info from Fox CEO via Awful Announcing

Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch reveals ESPN/WBD joint streaming venture target audience, tries to downplay risk to Fox News https://t.co/0VrBTYQNa5 pic.twitter.com/Nj0pcaE23h

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 7, 2024

good summary

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/warner-fox-espn-streaming-spots-joint-venture-1235900161/

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Fox Corp., Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney are set to launch a new streaming joint venture that will make all of their sports programming available under a single broadband roof, a move that will put content from ESPN, TNT and Fox Sports on a new standalone app and, in the process, likely shake up the world of TV sports.

The three media giants are slated to launch the new service in the fall. Subscribers would get access to linear sports networks including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPNews, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV and ESPN+, as well as hundreds of hours from the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL and many top college divisions. Pricing will be announced at a later date, but the companies will likely set a monthly subscription that is more than a consumer would pay for a standalone regional sports network, which costs $20 to $30 per month, and less than a larger digital programming package such as Hulu + Live TV or YouTube TV, which cost around $75 to $80 per month, according to a person familiar with current discussions.

. . .

The concentration of top sports under one roof would be significant. Between them, ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery have most rights to the NHL and the NBA, while Fox, WBD and ESPN control at present the majority of rights to Major League Baseball. Only the NFL would enjoy a large presence with entities that are not a part of the joint venture, with "Sunday Night Football" at NBCUniversal, "Thursday Night Football" at Amazon and a package of Sunday afternoon games at CBS.

. . .

The three principals did not make outreach to Comcast or Paramount Global, the person familiar with the matter says, realizing that Disney, Fox and WBD together control approximately 85% of the U.S. sports rights market and feeling that bringing in more partners would make the structure unwieldy and make the price of a subscription too high for many consumers to bear.

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bizag07 said:

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Wow. I doubt many saw Fox and ESPN joining forces.

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Can I introduce you to…how Hulu was created?

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You don't need to. I'm very familiar with the crap Hulu interface. Which reminds me that I need to fire them.

Random data point I saw earlier, YTTV has passed 8 million subscribers. So there's some pretty significant revenue there for ESPN/etc.

Dude has a live thread going on the Disney investor call. Really good stuff in here.

Disney investor call has begun. ...Bob Iger is on the call. as is CFO Hugh Johnston

— Brian Steinberg (@bristei) February 7, 2024

Rumors on the radio saying to expect it to be around $50

Gonna need a grid by sport and maybe even team or schedule to see which platforms/networks are going to have what. Somebody get on that. Thanks.

This of course isn't everything (I know nothing about soccer and NASCAR, for instance), but starting latter this year, and into 2025, the sports media landscape should look something like this...


With the NEWLY ANNOUNCED PLATFORM ($30-$50/month):

ABC / ESPN
- NFL (Monday Night)
- NBA
- MLB
- NHL
- PGA Tour
- College Football (ACC, Big 12, SEC, Playoff)
- College Basketball (ACC, Big 12, SEC)
- College Baseball (ACC, Big 12, SEC)

FOX SPORTS
- NFL (Sunday)
- MLB
- NHL
- College Football (Big 10, Big East)
- College Basketball (Big 10, Big East)
- College Baseball (Big 10, Big East)

TNT / TBS / truTV
- NBA
- MLB
- College Basketball (March Madness)

____________________


With AMAZON PRIME VIDEO ($14.99/month):

AMAZON PRIME VIDEO
- NFL (Thursday Night)
- Regional Professional Sports (various NBA, MLB, NHL teams)

____________________


With PARAMOUNT+ ($6-$12/month):

CBS
- NFL (Sunday)
- PGA Tour
- College Football (Big 10)
- College Basketball (Big 10, March Madness)
- College Baseball (Big 10)

____________________


With PEACOCK ($5.99-$11.99/month):

NBC
- NFL (Sunday Night)
- College Football (Notre Dame)

Anyone feel free to amend/add to this.

Sports and leagues set to be included in the new ESPN, Fox Sports, and Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service:

🏈 NFL, UFL
🏈 College Football Playoff
🏈 ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC
🏀 NBA, WNBA
🏀 March Madness
🏀 Big East
⚾️ MLB
🏒 NHL
⛳️ The Masters
⛳️ PGA Tour, PGA… pic.twitter.com/yG8jB3FAe3

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) February 7, 2024

Apple signed a new 10 year 2.5 billion dollar deal with MLS (US soccer) last season for exclusive rights, though there are occasional Fox and ESPN games. Have to say the coverage is awesome, every game streaming live with a whiparound show and pre and post game studio shows.

NBC/Peacock has Premier League (UK soccer) rights in the US, games that aren't shown live on an NBC affiliate are streaming.

Yeah soccer is as follows.

Fox Sports for most of the International competitions. Warner Bros. has the USANT rights for men and women.
CBS Sports for the UEFA Champions League and Europa League
MLS is on Apple TV
Premier League is on NBC/Peacock
English Cup competitions are on ESPN+
Spanish and German Leagues are on ESPN+
Italian Leagues are on CBS Sports/Paramount
French Leagues are on Bein Sports

wangus12 said:

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Rumors on the radio saying to expect it to be around $50

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I think this is more realistic, my guess is after the introductory weeks or whatever, it is between $45-50/month.


These media companies killing the middleman of cable/sat/Internet options are also killing off a lot of revenue from those providers.


It is easier to cancel an app/streaming service than it was the old cable/sat bundles.

I guess in the end, the winners will be the companies that provide the Internet.

Thank you. NFL is scattered across 5 platforms. That's going to piss off NFL fans.

I only care about A&M and Cowboys so I guess my best bet is the new JV once I can't get it on YTTV.

Why do you not think you'll be able to watch NFL via YTTV?

I wouldn't worry about the no YTTV thing. The poster talking about all that was being way overzealous. We'll be into the 2030s before that becomes a reality, if ever. I have a feeling YTTV will pivot and evolve, though, into whatever it needs to be. Eventually, my guess is that YTTV, Apple, Amazon, Roku, etc will be the glorified "cable companies" of tomorrow, able to bundle all sorts of apps and packages together, under one interface.

It'll be interesting to see the pricing on this. I listened to the Town podcast and there were split on whether this new sports app would be $35 or $45. I kind of think they need it to be $45 so that they don't get too many people cancelling cable/YTT/Sling.

Like others have said, this Sports app wouldn't capture all sports, including a big chunk of the NFL that is on NBC (Peacock) and CBS (Paramount+). I think that will be a draw back. If you only care about college sports, you could just get ESPN+ already, right? I guess if you want all of college football then you need Fox as well.

At this point I'm not really seeing the appeal of this as a service unless I were a sports fan who had already cut the cord but didn't have a streaming package or wanted to cancel my existing package which seems like a pretty slim demo.

Who exactly is the target market here?

Nailed it. The press releases from all the CEOs seem to reference those exact people in their statements since the announcement.

I am in this boat. Don't have cable or streaming service, so I am interested in this but not at 50 bucks. Will be interested if their is a price break if you bundle it with another service. 50 seems too high.

What do you do for sports watching currently?

Comcast, Paramount Global Held Early Talks About a Peacock-Paramount+ Combination https://t.co/h6q1tL12ct

— Variety (@Variety) February 16, 2024

"Hey baby I'm gonna make some dinner then we can settle in to check out what's on MountCock+" https://t.co/l6RxNZmLDC

— Harry Wood (@harrymwood) February 16, 2024

Also, random, but because we discussed it here before, YouTube TV has FINALLY added two features I've been waiting years for...

1) When you select a channel on the live guide, start watching that channel, and then eventually go back to the live guide, the grid view is now on the channel you're watching and no longer starts all the way back at the top.

2) They also finally added a "last channel" feature. When you press and hold the "select" or "ok" button on your remote (for me it's the big circle on the Apple TV remote), it instantly takes you back to the last channel you were watching. Then, when on that channel, it takes you back to the channel you just came from.

Yes, cable/satellite has had these features for decades, but YouTube TV finally adding them brings it that much closer to becoming the perfect platform. Now if they could just fix a few Library issues...

TCTTS said:

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Also, random, but because we discussed it here before, YouTube TV has FINALLY added two features I've been waiting years for...

1) When you select a channel on the live guide, start watching that channel, and then eventually go back to the live guide, the grid view is now on the channel you're watching and no longer starts all the way back at the top.

2) They also finally added a "last channel" feature. When you press and hold the "select" or "ok" button on your remote (for me it's the big circle on the Apple TV remote), it instantly takes you back to the last channel you were watching. Then, when on that channel, it takes you back to the channel you just came from.

Yes, cable/satellite has had these features for decades, but YouTube TV finally adding them brings it that much closer to becoming the perfect platform. Now if they could just fix a few Library issues...

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Maybe it was platform I was on but YTTV already had 2 for me when I was on it. It was a down select and then you pick the last channel. Regardless, we are switching back to YTTV from Hulu Hellscape this weekend.

Interesting. Maybe it's an Apple TV thing, because when I opened the app yesterday this big tutorial graphic appeared for the first time, talking about it being a new feature.

Yall are talking about two different things. YB is talking about how you press down and then four or five recent or similar channels are there to choose from. TC is talking about the "previous channel" button that was introduced by pressing or holding down your okay/select button that immediately takes you to the last channel.