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Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?

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Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?

#21

Post by potatolicious »

waterside81 wrote: post #15

Like others have said, sports is the only thing that keeps me buying cable, but this whole "cable is dying" argument neglects one main point: the TV viewing experience is still way better than online video. Try flipping through 100 streaming videos as quickly as you can flip through 100 TV channels. Until IPTV or whatever you want to call it can perform as well as cable, and it can't yet, I don't see cable dying. Mar…

It's a demographics issue - all the 20-somethings I know follow shows, almost nobody does the whole "I just want to see what's on" thing anymore. There's a major shift in how people use TVs, and the new user mode supports intentional watching (as opposed to passive surfing).

This is supported by the rise of DVRs, allowing people to choose when they want to view their content without delving into the online realm of Hulu, Netflix, etc.

The problem right now is that none of the major online streamers have really good integration into any TV set. There also does not exist a good discovery system ("you like House? You might also like...") for anyone except Netflix, and they're more of a movie house than a television one.

Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?

#22

Post by vsprabhakara1 »

adestefan wrote: post #10
kyleslattery wrote: post #2

I 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.

DirectTV has a strategy of using sports as an acquisition/retention tool, and paying handsomely for it. They also have exclusive NCAA Tournament content - like being able to watch 4 games at once on your TV. Sunday Ticket is the biggest driver here, though, for sure.

Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?

#23

Post by larsberg »

I buy a digital cable package with HD just for the football season. We only turn it on for football games. ~300 channels and an extra $80 or so over my cable modem costs for 2-3 games per week. We cancel post-Super Bowl every year and restart for preseason.

Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?

#24

Post by bbatsell »

waterside81 wrote: post #15

Like others have said, sports is the only thing that keeps me buying cable, but this whole "cable is dying" argument neglects one main point: the TV viewing experience is still way better than online video. Try flipping through 100 streaming videos as quickly as you can flip through 100 TV channels. Until IPTV or whatever you want to call it can perform as well as cable, and it can't yet, I don't see cable dying. Mar…

> Until IPTV or whatever you want to call it can perform as well as cable, and it can't yet, I don't see cable dying.

As someone who recently moved from Time Warner Cable to U-Verse, U-Verse (which is an entirely multicasted IPTV system) is substantially faster than TWC in terms of channel acquisition speed — it's literally instantaneous. I suspect a lot of that has to do with Time Warner's increasing use of switched digital video rather than encrypted QAM, but that certainly isn't going to change anytime soon.

Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?

#26

Post by kgermino »

maukdaddy wrote: post #25

ESPN and NFL network are the only reason I still pay for cable. I'd cancel tonight if i could stream both (willing to pay significantly for both as well)

ESPN recently started letting you watch a simulcast of their cables channels if you (or say your parents) get ESPN from their Time Warner cable service. I don't know that there is any other providers signed on yet but they seem to be working on adding more. It's how I cut the cord.

http://espn.go.com/espnnetworks/index

Re: Is The NFL Keeping Cable/Satellite Companies In The TV Business?

#29

Post by davidj »

davidj wrote: post #27

did the author of this article actually take a moment to google for NFL Streaming? The game hasn't started yet but I have it open in a browser and watched many games this way before. Horrible article.

Go ahead and down vote me for suggesting the author do a simple web search. BTW New England is up 3 to 0.
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