Questions regarding the future impact of cord cutting on sports:

Do you foresee those pro sports leagues changing their blackout rules for their own streaming platforms?
Will college sports always be tied to a cable/satellite/streaming site and rely on them to distribute content?


For the past few years, we've only had satellite or streaming service to maintain viewership of sports, but each year, it gets easier to not do that because other options like Disney + or Netflix keep getting added and grow in popularity. And right now, I would purchase a MLB or NBA season pass, but if watching a local team it doesn't really do any good because of blackouts, even if it is cheaper than cable/HULU etc. So the alternative is to either not watch or watch a non-league certified stream of the game. It is getting easier to not purchase cable/HULU, etc than it was a couple years ago. So I have to think that leagues and conferences are in jeopardy of losing quite a few fans, especially young ones.

So what is on the horizon and how does that impact the networks?

I've never understood why local teams are blacked out on the league passes. Is it just because the league pass channels don't count towards ratings and the local channels want all the viewers to watch the actual local channel?

NFL gives you all games on CBS, Fox and NBC free streaming now.

I imagine most things depend on existing contracts and what happens when they are up. I think short term they likely rely on allowing the network to stream like MNF streams on ESPN app if you subscribe to ESPN.

Longer term, who knows. I know the cord cutting will cost someone like me a lot more than traditional cable as we are a diverse family with lots of interests.

mavsfan4ever said:

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I've never understood why local teams are blacked out on the league passes. Is it just because the league pass channels don't count towards ratings and the local channels want all the viewers to watch the actual local channel?

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Because the local regional network pays a ton to broadcast it.

ORAggieFan said:

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mavsfan4ever said:

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I've never understood why local teams are blacked out on the league passes. Is it just because the league pass channels don't count towards ratings and the local channels want all the viewers to watch the actual local channel?

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Because the local regional network pays a ton to broadcast it.

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Right but you are still watching the local broadcast when you watch it on league pass, right? If it is, they would still be getting the same number of viewers. Are you saying that the commercials on the league pass broadcast are different than the local broadcast?

I guess I don't know because the local games are always blacked out on league pass. If they are different broadcasts, it seems like an easy solution to just broadcast the exact local broadcast on league pass for customers in the local area.

mavsfan4ever said:

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ORAggieFan said:

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mavsfan4ever said:

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I've never understood why local teams are blacked out on the league passes. Is it just because the league pass channels don't count towards ratings and the local channels want all the viewers to watch the actual local channel?

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Because the local regional network pays a ton to broadcast it.

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Right but you are still watching the local broadcast when you watch it on league pass, right? If it is, they would still be getting the same number of viewers. Are you saying that the commercials on the league pass broadcast are different than the local broadcast?

I guess I don't know because the local games are always blacked out on league pass. If they are different broadcasts, it seems like an easy solution to just broadcast the exact local broadcast on league pass for customers in the local area.

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No commercials on MLB TV. Also, they get to charge cable companies to be in a package. Without that their revenue goes way down.

mavsfan4ever said:

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ORAggieFan said:

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mavsfan4ever said:

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I've never understood why local teams are blacked out on the league passes. Is it just because the league pass channels don't count towards ratings and the local channels want all the viewers to watch the actual local channel?

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Because the local regional network pays a ton to broadcast it.

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Right but you are still watching the local broadcast when you watch it on league pass, right? If it is, they would still be getting the same number of viewers. Are you saying that the commercials on the league pass broadcast are different than the local broadcast?

I guess I don't know because the local games are always blacked out on league pass. If they are different broadcasts, it seems like an easy solution to just broadcast the exact local broadcast on league pass for customers in the local area.

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Heres why that doesnt work (from the league perspective):
You buy league pass type offering to see out of market games. The in market games are blacked out because (as mentioned) some local broadcaster paid lots to broadcast the games and based that payment off ad rates they are going to sell by being the exclusive carrier of local games.
League pass options for something like MLB dont require you to have a local cable or sat plan (I dont think nba does either). So if you dont blackout the local game then you are taking money away from the home market broadcast rights holder by creating a competitive service.

Historically ESPN has had a provision in their contract with the cable/satellite companies that they will not distribute broadcast content (meaning ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN and ACCN) directly to the consumer. That means there will be no ESPN subscription service for at least a few years. Note that what is included in the Disney service is ESPN+ which is not broadcast content.

Contracts aside that product would cost about $35/month and I don't really think anyone wants to see how well that would be received. So since ESPN is the dominant player for college sports it's going to be a few years at least before we see that content detached from the cable/satellite/streaming bundle.