Allow me to offer a concurring opinion here: I also hate this, but not because of the subsidy idea. Rather, it's the fact that sports organizations are so addicted to the smack of TV revenues that the only way I can watch the stupid things is through TV, especially with local sports.
Example: I live in Chicago and root for the Cubs, Red Wings and Chelsea FC (and generally follow the EPL and UEFA Champions League), as well as follow F1 religiously. Because I live in the Chicago area, there is no way for me to buy the MLB.TV package to watch the games that aren't on WGN or WCIU. I could get GameCenter for the Red Wings, but there's no way to purchase just Red Wings games (and if you live in Detroit, thanks to the Ilitch family's insane 10-year exclusive deal with Fox Sports Detroit, you would only get the few games on NBC or CBC). Bernie Ecclestone has the F1 rights sewn up so tightly that the only way you can follow the sport online is the race highlights on Speed's Internet presence if you're in the US. The only one that comes close is the EPL and UEFA Champions League which I can get through foxsoccer.tv, but even then I'm screwed if the match is on ESPN. Right now, the NHL Gamecenter Package is $170. MLB.tv Premium was $120. Foxsoccer.tv is $170. (Remember: in-market games are blacked out). If these folks had any brains at all, they'd say: one out-of-market team is half-price, one in-market team is 3/4 price, and you get the whole league for that price. I'd gladly pay $85 (Wings) + $90 (Cubs) + $170 (UEFA) + $170 (F1) = $515. As long as you gave me *every* game, (no stupid Fox/ESPN/NBC Sports Network blackout crap), I'd give you my credit card number *tonight* for that offer. And I am almost positive that a large portion of true sports fans would do the same thing. Hell: I'd pay $15/month just for ESPN anywhere. I'm sure if it wasn't so late and I didn't feel like doing the research right now, I could back-of-the-envelope the numbers to try to figure out what the break-even point is. But all of this would require three things: 1) the realization that the further you push rights fees, the less accessible your sport is to the general public; 2) the acceptance by sports owners that getting less revenue on the front end could results in getting even more revenue on the back end, but that this will require a little more acceptance; and 3) that, with the sole exception of the NFL and select college football programs, sports is no longer appointment television, and believing that you control this instead of your fans simply alienates you from them more. A boy can dream, can't he? On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 10:35 PM, Paul Murray <[email protected]> wrote: > Excerpt: > > Although “sports” never shows up as a line item on a cable or > satellite bill, American television subscribers pay, on average, about > $100 a year for sports programming — no matter how many games they > watch. A sizable portion goes to the National Football League, which > dominates sports on television and which struck an extraordinary deal > this week with the major networks — $27 billion over nine years — that > most likely means the average cable bill will rise again soon. > > Those spiraling costs are fraying the formerly tight bonds between the > creators and distributors of television. Cable channels like ESPN that > carry games are charging cable and satellite operators more money, and > broadcast networks are now doing the same, demanding cash for their > broadcast signals and using sports as leverage. > > And higher fees are raising concerns across the industry that cable > bills may be reaching the breaking point for some consumers who are > short of money. > > http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/business/media/for-pay-tv-clients-a-steady-diet-of-sports.html > > (Why yes, as a matter of fact this *is* one of my long-standing pet > peeves ...) -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
