Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?
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Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?
1–10 of 32 posts
Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?
#2I think one aspect of this is that every NFL game is on a national network. Most NBA, MLB, and NHL games are on local stations.
I think the NFL has the tendency to sign big exclusivity contracts, given that the only way to watch out of market games is through DirecTV.
Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?
#3I think this is an accurate assessment based on my own observations. My brother (in his twenties) just told me the other day that the only reason he wants cable is for Monday night football.
The one factor that cable companies can rely on is that they have positioned themselves to be the primary ISP for a good portion of the US population. It will be interesting to watch how/if these companies pivot in the next few years.
Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?
#4Key point here.
You can't actually stream any other major pro sport in your local market you only get out of market games (ie no Giants baseball in the Giants territory - and the territory extends north to oregon and about 300 miles south of SF)
Here's the funny thing - you generally don't need cable to watch your local NFL team. You can actually usually get your local NFL team using an over the air HD antenna and if you get a decent signal you can get pretty good HD. This is because most NFL games air on local broadcast affiliates which still transmit an OTA signal. Most of the other sports games are on local cable nets.
So really NFL is actually the only sport where you can get a local game feed without cable. So to answer the article's premise - no.
Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?
#5The main reason I subscribe to cable is for sports. Football is infrequent enough that I can go to a bar, but if I went to a bar for every baseball game I'd be poor and drunk all the time. MLB.tv is great if your favorite team isn't your local team. If you like the home team you have to go through hoops (alternate billing address, proxy) and always live in fear that you'll be cut off.
Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?
#6I think it's the reverse at this point: The cable companies are keeping the NFL off of the internet. The NFL makes so much money off of broadcast / cable TV that I don't see how they could make it up with internet fees.
Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?
#7Key point here. You can't actually stream any other major pro sport in your local market you only get out of market games (ie no Giants baseball in the Giants territory - and the territory extends north to oregon and about 300 miles south of SF) Here's the funny thing - you generally don't need cable to watch your local NFL team. You can actually usually get your local NFL team using an over the air HD antenna and if…
But what about blackouts? When the team stadium sales are below x% they aren't allowed to broadcast the game at all, in order to theoretically drive more ticket sales.
Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?
#8Key point here. You can't actually stream any other major pro sport in your local market you only get out of market games (ie no Giants baseball in the Giants territory - and the territory extends north to oregon and about 300 miles south of SF) Here's the funny thing - you generally don't need cable to watch your local NFL team. You can actually usually get your local NFL team using an over the air HD antenna and if…
Yeah, but a lot of people want to watch the Monday and Thursday night games.
Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?
#9I think it's the reverse at this point: The cable companies are keeping the NFL off of the internet. The NFL makes so much money off of broadcast / cable TV that I don't see how they could make it up with internet fees.
So why the downvotes?
Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?
#10I think one aspect of this is that every NFL game is on a national network. Most NBA, MLB, and NHL games are on local stations. I think the NFL has the tendency to sign big exclusivity contracts, given that the only way to watch out of market games is through DirecTV.
I wonder how many DirectTV subscribes would jump ship if they lost Sunday Ticket.