I want to know what the "tax" is for all of the TV I don't watch. I don't watch late night TV. I don't watch day time TV. I don't watch the Housewives of anywhere. I don't watch Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, or anything on TLC. I don't watch the Travel, Style, etc. channels. I don't watch political coverage on TV, local TV news or the network nightly news programs. I don't watch Fox News (in fact, I rarely watch CNN or MSNBC either). I don't watch any business channels. I don't watch shows about models, either in underwear or competing to become one. I don't watch gossip shows (ET, Extra, TMZ, etc.). I don't watch singing competitions, shows where people compete to be a couple for a few months before breaking up, Survivor, entertainment shows masquerading as sports (WWF, e.g.), or shows based upon people eating gross things.
How much extra do I pay for all of this stuff? I bet it is at least the $8.33 a month that sports apparently cost everyone. -- David Risner On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 8:08 AM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 4:08 AM, Joe Hass <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Oh, I know I could. In fact, I have two of them bookmarked on my computer >> right now. But that's not the point: I *want* to pay for this. I'd be happy >> to pay for this. The leagues/teams simply refuse to do this because they >> will not trade the known (TV rights fees) for the unknown (online licensing >> payments), even though the unknown could be significantly higher. They are >> the pinnacle of risk-averse when it comes to their business models. And that >> just drives me up the wall. >> >> (Besides: those streams don't allow me to watch the event with any sort of >> time shifting, which is kind of important for those who don't want to wake >> up at 3:30 AM CT for a Grand Prix from Asia.) >> >> I will stop here before I turn this into a larger rant that ends with me >> telling an entire generation of people to just start dying already. > > > Like Joe I too am an avid sports fan, and have both the means and the > motivation to pay hundreds of dollars a year to get the kind of access I > want to my preferred sports events and teams. I am not sure why living in > Chicago makes it so difficult for you to sign up for the MLB package - it > seems like if I wanted to I could watch every single baseball game every > season, as all non-GIant and non-A's games (my home market teams) are on the > package, and every single one of my home market team's games are on either > cable or broadcast television. But maybe Chicago has different rules? I am > content to just watch every one of my home team's (well, Giant) games. I am > an avid follower of an out of market sports team (Lakers) and so I do get > the NBA package, which allows me to watch every single Laker game (with one > irritating exception - they have me as being in both the home market for > Sacramento and Golden State, and Sacramento does not have a cable deal, so > when the Lakers are playing in Sacramento I am blacked out, and have no way > to see them). I do not follow what to me are more boutique sports (in the > US) like F1, but I can see how getting access to that might be difficult. > > All of that to say that, while risk aversion does seem to be a hard wired > bias for homo sapiens (I am just finishing up the interesting > "Scorecasting", which explores how this relates to sports in different ways) > I am not convinced that the reluctance of sports leagues to move to online > licensing payments instead of TV rights fees is all that irrational. I think > you (Joe) are overestimating just how many people are both able and willing > to pay the kinds of online fees that would be necessary to make such a > system work. The key element in the current model, which motivated this > thread in the first place, is that millions of people that under (or never) > utilize the project are already paying a hundred dollars a year to subsidize > sports on cable television. If you were the MLB or NBA (and I agree the NFL > is sui generis) I think you would need a hell of a lot more than back of the > envelope figuring to be convinced that you can make more money by charging a > fraction of the population more money to watch your games than you can by > getting the total universe of cable homes, including the majority who don't > give a damn about your games, to pay less money not to watch your games. The > current model seems both more likely to generate higher revenue, but is also > more stable and resistant to cycles (recession, or a downturn in the appeal > of a particular team or sport, might crater niche-based online licensing > payments in particular years). > > Part of what makes the TV rights fees so lucrative in the modern era is that > first broadcasters and then cable outlets (illustrated by I think CBS in the > early 90s, and Fox throughout their experience with MLB; NBC with the > Olympics and SNF; ESPN with most obviously the NFL, but also other sports) > are motivated to significantly overpay for sports rights, hoping that it > will leverage other interests for them (advertising prime time programing, > intangible prestige, extorting cable providers). As long as TV is willing to > overpay, I am not sure the kind of online payments you envision will be able > to generate as much, or as consistent, revenue. > > The situation might be different however for smaller (in the sense of US > demand) sports, almost by definition those unable to get huge cable rights > fees. It seems to me that the kind of system you are asking for is much more > likely to start in a sport like that than with one of the well established, > high demand, pro or college leagues. > > > -- > 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 -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! 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