I signed up for online Sunday Ticket for $100/yr when my wife was in graduate school, and DirectTv would autorenew at the student discount even after she graduated. I'm probably the only person sad to see it go to Google.
I had absolutely no idea that there were two different versions of RedZone. My mind is blown.
I finally was able to get on the student plan this season with my daughter's college ID after years of being blacked out due to a weird quirk in DirecTV having me listed in their coverage area but lacking line of sight to the satellite. Moving to YouTube will cost a hell of a lot more next season.
And this is why the NFL is absolutely lapping MLB in terms of subscribers and streaming and viewers.
NFL is looking to make the game more accessible to more fans, meanwhile MLB can’t get rid of blackouts and have lost the advantage of having a good streaming product.
Its not MLB thats preventing Blackouts from going away, its the RSN's that would go nuclear if they did,
https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/rob-manfred-blackouts-mlb-tv-rights.html
Sunday Ticket has blackouts as well. You can't watch local games or the games on NBC, ESPN, NFL Network, and Amazon.
MLB has games on Apple+ for free and gives away their version of Sunday Ticket through phone carriers like Tmobile. MLB's problem with GenZ isn't access, it's that they don't want to watch baseball. Somewhat true for the NBA as well.
MLB has games on Apple+ for free and gives away their version of Sunday Ticket through phone carriers like Tmobile. MLB's problem with GenZ isn't access, it's that they don't want to watch baseball. Somewhat true for the NBA as well.
My understanding was non-Directv viewers could watch a different Red Zone on the NFL network. I never saw it.
I know what the problem is. The issue is that MLB can’t come to some sort of profit sharing agreement with the RSNs in order to stop the blackouts and make all of the streams available.
I know the NFL is structured differently from a broadcast perspective, but again, they’re killing baseball, and MLB’s streaming platform is actually quite good. Better than DirecTV’s by a mile.
While this is true, this is one game per market, and that game is on local television and you can watch it with any TV with either basic cable or an antenna. So you aren’t restricted from the game, you just have to switch inputs on your TV. Far from the case with MLB.
Good point. They even simulcast the local MNF and Amazon games on OTA channels.
I've been watching the non-DirecTV one for years (ever since I got rid of DTV). I'd always wondered why they fired Andrew Siciliano. Turns out they didn't.
Again though you make it sound simpler than it is, as the above article states, there are a minimum of 30 contracts that would need to be re-worked, and thats not counting Fox/TBS, etc (Even apple) to account for this massive change... Legacy TV is dying and these RSN's are not going to roll over just because
At $300 a pop, you would need over 8 million subscribers just to breakeven on the fees. I have no idea what a realistic subscriber count is but if you are going to lose a bunch of money on this, what's the business purpose.
What MLB must fix is the "extended" blackouts. Blackouts should only apply when the game is available in a local channel in your area, so if you are in NESN's area you don not get the Red Sox.
Extending blackouts such that almost all of Florida do not get the Marlins when there is no alternative to watch is the problem.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35304457/nfl-sunday-ticket-headed-youtube-2023-season
ESPN article claims ~2 million subscribers is what DirecTV is getting. At a little over 2 Bill, either Google's going to be losing a billion+ a year on this at a min unless the price or subscribers goes way up.
ESPN article claims ~2 million subscribers is what DirecTV is getting. At a little over 2 Bill, either Google's going to be losing a billion+ a year on this at a min unless the price or subscribers goes way up.
I think a big part of MLB’s problem with the Gen Z market is that there are now a zillion entertainment options available. As such, each league needs to figure out how to compete against a much expanded entertainment industry in general. The NBA figured this out ages and ago and has continually developed a coherent strategy to address it. The NFL has an inherent advantage in being weekend appointment viewing, often with feasting; people like feasting. The NHL… hockey players are lunatics. MLB doesn’t lend itself to any of the strategies of the above, and haven’t figured out how to come up with one, and the problem is more than just internet access.
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I've never understood the all-or-nothing approach to premium sports league packages. If I live in Chicago, I have to shell out hundreds of dollars just to watch the Pats games that I could watch for free if I lived in Cranston. I don't give a shit about being able to watch Cardinals or Seahawks games. I would pay a smaller fee for just Patriots games.
I get why the leagues don't want a pay-per-view model, but I think there's a third way.
I get why the leagues don't want a pay-per-view model, but I think there's a third way.
Okay, it's 82.3% unimportant since they've played 14 of 17 games. As long as the players know when the selection is, I don't see it as an issue. Is there some player negotiating a contract and when someone proposes a bonus for making the Pro Bowl says "Wait! It's picked after 14 games? What if I go nuts in the last 3?"
NFL still selects their teams later than the other major sports.
I'm just saying...why not wait until the year is actually over? What possible harm is there in it?
I could buy that when they had an actual Pro Bowl, but since they no longer even have it, there's literally no harm in waiting to the end of the year. Obviously I'm just complaining, and you can't do anything about it, haha. Just me thinking that it's stupid is all. Carry on.
Ronnie Hillman passes away at 31 due to rare form of cancer. Damn.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35304107/former-broncos-rb-ronnie-hillman-dies-cancer-31
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35304107/former-broncos-rb-ronnie-hillman-dies-cancer-31
Is there a team only option on the NFL Game Pass?
I usually watch Red Zone with my family when we can stay in on Sundays (it's included in the Cable TV package over here, at least in the tier I pay).
Also I know it can go week to week, so if your team's game is not available locally or nationally you can pay for that week's NFL Game Pass.
Not sayong that solves everything but it's not really all or nothing.
BTW MLB Tv does have a team pass.
This is a good article on the value to YouTube - they can make the NFL content available to content creators to do all kinds of stuff with these rights (though, AFAICT, only for the NFL channel or YT Shorts). I'll be curious to see just how much leeway they have to use NFL video.
I assume that this deal includes some obligations on the NFL to more effectively patrol Twitter, TikTok and other social media platforms for NFL content to ensure YT's "exclusive" rights to NFL content. I expect they're going to wind up forcing analysts who like posting clips to Twitter to create those as YT shorts and share those on Twitter.
Also, RIP to the Andrew Siciliano RedZone.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/23/23523280/youtube-nfl-redzone-channel-sunday-ticket
I assume that this deal includes some obligations on the NFL to more effectively patrol Twitter, TikTok and other social media platforms for NFL content to ensure YT's "exclusive" rights to NFL content. I expect they're going to wind up forcing analysts who like posting clips to Twitter to create those as YT shorts and share those on Twitter.
Also, RIP to the Andrew Siciliano RedZone.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/12/23/23523280/youtube-nfl-redzone-channel-sunday-ticket
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As soon as it was announced that Directv would lose sunday ticket, I was excited because I can't wait to cancel directv.
Now I need to visit the cutting the cord section. Feels a little overwhelming, but directv has been a disaster since the ATT takeover and so I'm looking forward to making that call.
Sunday Ticket definitely brings youtube to the top of the list in deciding what to do.
I don't reflexively hate the idea of the local blackout - "hey, watch this game on the network that paid for the rights to it" is an outdated concept, but it makes some degree of sense to consumers. However - if consumers are to play along with that, you have to make it easier for them to comply. It's not the fact that you have to watch a different broadcast partner sometimes, it's the hassle in figuring out where to go or switching back and forth between different platforms and properties that causes the friction. This is why shady streams are popular - it's every game and RZ in a single place. No thinking. MLS and Apple are banking on the utility of this kind of a deal. It's putting the fans before the broadcasters, with the idea that the pie grows when things are frictionless for the users.
A while back there was some agreement stuck and now all the networks publicize games on the other networks. CBS will show a graphic that has the NBC, ESPN and Fox logos along with game times. It must kill some old-fashioned execs to tell people to watch a rival network, but that was a fan friendly move in the best interests of the NFL. Nobody cares what network the game is on, they just want it to be easy. If the NFL can realize that even this minor step is a useful thing for everybody, there must be a way to get to figure out the rest.
A while back there was some agreement stuck and now all the networks publicize games on the other networks. CBS will show a graphic that has the NBC, ESPN and Fox logos along with game times. It must kill some old-fashioned execs to tell people to watch a rival network, but that was a fan friendly move in the best interests of the NFL. Nobody cares what network the game is on, they just want it to be easy. If the NFL can realize that even this minor step is a useful thing for everybody, there must be a way to get to figure out the rest.
Come on man. Some of this is true but the claim, "it's easier to use illegal streams," doesn't comply with reality.
If pops has trouble finding what network the Sunday night game is on, (something that would take maybe 12 seconds in total to Google) how do you think he's going to do with trying to find an illegal stream and actually get it to play?
"It should be easier," he says while scouring the internet's dark corners to find illegal streams. That just seems like a justification.
I didn’t say (and don’t think) that using streams is easier, just that they are a popular option for many. Lots of stuff makes that option less attractive, no doubt - but confusion isn’t one of the issues.
The streams are more of a rounding error than anything else. The number of people who even know they exist isn't that high and they kind of suck relative to a TV.
Even pirated TV shows and movies are more of an issue because a digital copy of a show or movie replicates the original. A stream doesn't replicate the picture or the sound. And it can always drop out of nowhere. The stream life is a tough one to live by.
View: https://twitter.com/michaelfhurley/status/1606390907653263367?s=46&t=wkHZrg1F3rzfFJY66WOEmg
Nothing to see here. Move along.
NFL and NFLPA found no violations of the concussion protocol with the Parker situation.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
NFL and NFLPA found no violations of the concussion protocol with the Parker situation.
I agree 100%. I’d just like to see league rights evolve towards what MLS is about to do on AppleTV - one stop shopping. Those parties are in a position to try that; the NFL is not.
I’d hate to be a sports bar manager on a Sunday trying to stream 10 games in HD on 100 tvs on YouTubeTV
I guess Parker falling into a heap at the LoS when the ball was snapped would qualify as not participating in the next play for NFL purposes.
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Participate must mean making a football move. The move Parker was making used to be called the Berbick.
Commercial rights aren't part of the deal. Someone else will handle the streaming service for bars.
Jets WR Coach Miles Austin suspended a minimum of 1 year for gambling. He claims it was on an app for table games, not sports.
View: https://twitter.com/DarrylSlater/status/1606423917526122496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1606423917526122496%7Ctwgr%5E8bd1350097d5d8d0342957d4a77bdf29b65f628d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheathletic.com%2F4032266%2F2022%2F12%2F23%2Fjets-wr-coach-miles-austin-suspended-for-violating-nfls-gambling-policy-source%2F
View: https://twitter.com/DarrylSlater/status/1606423917526122496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1606423917526122496%7Ctwgr%5E8bd1350097d5d8d0342957d4a77bdf29b65f628d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheathletic.com%2F4032266%2F2022%2F12%2F23%2Fjets-wr-coach-miles-austin-suspended-for-violating-nfls-gambling-policy-source%2F
If he had announced this 3 weeks ago the Patriots could have gifted him a commemorative varsity jacket.
Watt is one of my favorite non-Patriot players of all time. At his peak, he was one of the very best defensive players to ever play the game. A complete, destructive force. In 2012, he had 39 tackles for loss, the most of any player ever since the stat has been tracked in 2001. The next best season is 29 (done twice by Watt, in 2014 and 2015, respectively). He had four seasons of at least 43 QB hits, including seasons with 51 and 50 QB hits. For comparison, Aaron Donald, Von Miller, Chandler Jones, Cameron Jordan, Justin Houston, Khalil Mack and TJ Watt never did that once. They've only had it as a stat since 2006, but to my knowledge Watt owns the four biggest seasons in terms of QB hits in NFL history, (Nick Bosa has 42 this year).
Injuries slowed him down over the years, but he is having his best season in a while and has stayed healthy, so him retiring this year is surprising a bit.
He also seems like a really cool guy, was funny when he hosted SNL, helped raise $37 million in aid following Hurricane Harvey, and has paid for the funerals of dozens of mass shooting victims.
Injuries slowed him down over the years, but he is having his best season in a while and has stayed healthy, so him retiring this year is surprising a bit.
He also seems like a really cool guy, was funny when he hosted SNL, helped raise $37 million in aid following Hurricane Harvey, and has paid for the funerals of dozens of mass shooting victims.
He did have an episode of A-Fib this year(and his first kid), so that might have accelerated any thoughts about retirement. He'd also likely have his choice of TV gigs if he's at all interested.
I only saw him live once and he spent a lot of time pre-game playing catch with the crowd and I thought that was pretty cool