Sports Media

[zambonir]

Local broadcasters are crucial for MLB. Now many are in trouble

[zambonir]

$249 presale, price rises to $349. And you need YouTube TV first. Which I have, but this is not a product I have ever wanted (except when it was free with regular DirecTV). And certainly not now that I live in Philly.

Cool that it is fully online across all devices etc. and the presale price is probably not that unreasonable if you can't live w/o 10 of your team's games (call it $25 a game), but certainly doesn't compare favorably to MLB.TV (less than $1 a game with much more inventory of course) or college football (pretty much 100% free at this point).

Oh, you can get it w/o subscribing to YT TV but that price is $349/449.

Huddle up football fans, the NFL Sunday Ticket presale kicks off today

[andyb]

I think the package was just under $300 for Direct TV. DTV was losing money so the higher price point makes sense, though the wider availability might make them profitable at the same price.

I guess I was really hoping for the ability to get 1 game or 1 week for something in the $30-$40 range. I don't think they get casual subscribers with this price, but there will be a bunch of fans that just want a random game or two over the course of the season.

[zambonir]

Yeah I might have done that once or twice when I was living out of market. Ditto a single-team package though I doubt it will be that much cheaper when they finally do it, MLB's is what, a 15% reduction? It was always worth it to me to pay that extra little bit even if I just watched 10 non-Phillies and non-Mariners games, or only used it the last week of the season.

[schillingfan]

I guess I was really hoping for the ability to get 1 game or 1 week for something in the $30-$40 range. I don't think they get casual subscribers with this price, but there will be a bunch of fans that just want a random game or two over the course of the season.

There is always at least one Eagles game a season that I can’t get. Eagles are 1st priority on Fox, but on CBS, it is The Steelers for Northeaast PA. So if the Eagles have a game against the AFC that is on CBS and the Steelers have a game in he same time slot I get the Steelers.

[andyb]

Edging towards in-market streaming:

The future of MLB TV blackouts: Is an all-30 team streaming service possible?

[andyb]

The latest evolutionary step in Phoenix. I am sure the rights fees are going to be much lower with this model, but are there other benefits to expanded reach that can make up for much of that (higher ratings = more advertising money, more fans going to games, buying jerseys, etc.).

I think more over the air games on broadcast TV are part of the eventual solution. Not all of the solution but part of it. In 10 years I could see baseball have an expanded national package (i.e. more games go to ESPN, TBS, streaming services, etc.) coupled with more games on free TV in Philly that can also be seen on MLB.TV. Baseball needs to have higher ratings in whatever replaces the RSN model.

Suns and Mercury abandon Diamond Sports RSNs

[HopeSpringsEternal]

Watching some hockey on TNT tonight - Jim Jackson is the PBP announcer. He’s very good IMO. Wish he was still with the Phillies

[zambonir]

Does he not still sub occasionally (on a game basis)? He has the Voice for sure, not sure he is that strong on baseball itself (nor would I want him to replace Frantzke. TV, that's another story of course).

I actually am always pleasantly surprised when Murphy ends up in the booth.

[zambonir]

WSJ News Exclusive | ESPN Plans to Stream Flagship Channel, Eyeing Cable TV’s...

[andyb]

I feel this is the same story that leaks every 6 months. They have been planning this for years. Now we have reached the point where cable HHs are below 50% so they have to do it. They also have contracts with cable systems that prohibit this. They need to let those run out first.

Big question for me really is whether we have to subscribe to several different services to get everything. I think ESPN has designs of being an aggregator for sports content owned by other rights holders. If a game is on Fox it would still show up on the ESPN app and Fox would get a fee for ESPN sending you over to the Fox game. That is what ESPN hopes the future will be if they can pull it off.

[zambonir]

At this point I don't really have much of a sense of what ESPN stuff would be blacked out if I didn't have my ESPN/ESPN+ account linked to my YouTube. But yeah it really depends when their carriage deals run out and what those deals prohibit. I do feel like when they've discussed this previously it was admittedly something like a 10-year plan.

[bkox]

MLB will take over production and distribution of all local #Padres games starting 5/31. The new arrangement gives fans the option to now watch on TV or stream digitally without local blackouts (subject to national exclusivity)!

San Diegans can NOW watch Padres games in-market both LIVE and on demand through a NEW MLB Single Team Padres subscription. Additionally, Padres games remain available locally on TV for 2023 on the channels below. pic.twitter.com/937YNWxmNN

— San Diego Padres ( @Padres ) May 31, 2023

[andyb]

Pricing of $19.99 a month is the same for the regular single team out of market package.

MLB.TV Out-Of-Market Packages | Buy MLB.TV

Guessing they will rethink an in-market surcharge for the future to avoid blackouts. They probably could not get away with an increased price in the middle of this season since lots of fans were expecting their RSN to keep carrying the games anyway.

[andyb]

MLB giving the Padres at least 80% of the money in their RSN contract. Says it is for this year only and they will do it for any of the other Bally clubs too. Seems a dangerous precedent to set to me.

MLB to make up 80 percent money owed to Padres

[zambonir]

For Manfred and those teams and the smaller market owners it is probably the precedent they want though, no?

[andyb]

This developing story makes me less likely to want to watch any golf. I get that this is a settlement based on the PGA tour's shaky legal case against excluding the LIV golfers, but that does not mean you merge your TV operations with them. LIV golf is not that good and would probably have gone away in a few years because nobody watches it and the Saudis would stop wasting their money after awhile.

PGA Tour to merge with LIV Golf

[zambonir]

It would be sort of funny if it meant LIV failed but it seems that's not what happened exactly.

But, the Saudis also own a piece of SXSW and Rolling Stone and Billboard and various awards shows (and Dick Clark productions) so I have already failed to boycott them.

[andyb]

Athletic downsizing some more.

Well, the news is going to get out somehow, so might as well say it here... I was part of the layoffs today at The Athletic. The news came as a surprise and I'm still processing it, but coming close to six full years there, I'd like to think it was a pretty good run.

— Rich Hofmann ( @rich_hofmann ) June 12, 2023

Losing about 20 total beat reporters. Some consolidation into more national or regional coverage. Really sounds like the NFL beats are secure but everything else is up for grabs. Like the long dead National, it was great while it lasted.

The Athletic announces layoffs and a new approach to its sports coverage

[Philsmania]

The Athletic formed after ESPN.com let a lot of good writers go. They, with their nice--but finite--ESPN severance packages all went to The Athletic. The bill had to come due eventually.