A Spirited Perfect Ten

[Todd H]

If cable ever went a-la-carte there would be very few channels I'd buy...HBO (Game of Thrones)...FX (The Americans)...and A&E (The Walking Dead). I would buy ESPN only during college football season. The rest of the reality show filled wastes of time can die off for all I care. I'm always surprised at how little television I actually watch.

 

[twebber55]

If cable ever went a-la-carte there would be very few channels I'd buy...HBO (Game of Thrones)...FX (The Americans)...and A&E (The Walking Dead). I would buy ESPN only during college football season. The rest of the reality show filled wastes of time can die off for all I care. I'm always surprised at how little television I actually watch.

like a true SEC fan

 

[Travel Junkie]

They can't just show the games online for free if ESPN has a contract. ESPN signed a 15 year deal with the SEC. those games are only on ESPN. They have contracts with the NFL for Monday night football and the NBA and MLB too. If you want to watch those sports you will need ESPN. No legal way to get around it (and the illegal ways will get shut down fast if a la carte takes off). The pay-per-view concept may take off, but again you will be paying ESPN for the right to view that single event.

They won't be changing you $6 for ESPN. If you want it a la carte it will be more likely in the $20s. The idea that we as consumers will just pick and choose which networks we want and continue to just pay the wholesale price for them is fantasy. The networks change so little per subscriber because they are guaranteed a large number of subscribers.

Yes I am fully aware of how rights work. ESPN only has select games. If you are the fan of the Yankees, are you paying $20 a month for 10 games a year on ESPN, $20 a month for 10 games on Fox sports or $10 a month for 142 games on the YES network? The bulk of the programming is on local RSN’s not ESPN, Fox Sports or NBC Sports. If you are the fan of a particular team or cities teams you aren’t getting ESPN for the select national games. Also when those contracts do come up those leagues/teams will look and see if they are better suited to take control over production and cut the networks out. If they can make more money broadcasting themselves or choose one partner and co-produce, they will go that route. TV is going to be a fascinating thing to examine over the next 10-20 years and see how it evolves.

ESPN is smart in trying to grab as many different sports and leagues rights as possible to make it difficult on consumers in an a la carte world, but ESPN will now show all of your favorite team’s games. The SEC network is a unique partnership but even the SEC’s biggest football game of the week is usually on CBS.

 

[Todd H]

like a true SEC fan

Amen.

 

[GoofGoof]

Yes I am fully aware of how rights work. ESPN only has select games. If you are the fan of the Yankees, are you paying $20 a month for 10 games a year on ESPN, $20 a month for 10 games on Fox sports or $10 a month for 142 games on the YES network? The bulk of the programming is on local RSN’s not ESPN, Fox Sports or NBC Sports. If you are the fan of a particular team or cities teams you aren’t getting ESPN for the select national games. Also when those contracts do come up those leagues/teams will look and see if they are better suited to take control over production and cut the networks out. If they can make more money broadcasting themselves or choose one partner and co-produce, they will go that route. TV is going to be a fascinating thing to examine over the next 10-20 years and see how it evolves.

ESPN is smart in trying to grab as many different sports and leagues rights as possible to make it difficult on consumers in an a la carte world, but ESPN will now show all of your favorite team’s games. The SEC network is a unique partnership but even the SEC’s biggest football game of the week is usually on CBS.

True for baseball...until you hit the playoffs.

 

[Tony Perkis]

Amen.

Bleh.

 

[maxairmike]

Yes I am fully aware of how rights work. ESPN only has select games. If you are the fan of the Yankees, are you paying $20 a month for 10 games a year on ESPN, $20 a month for 10 games on Fox sports or $10 a month for 142 games on the YES network? The bulk of the programming is on local RSN’s not ESPN, Fox Sports or NBC Sports. If you are the fan of a particular team or cities teams you aren’t getting ESPN for the select national games. Also when those contracts do come up those leagues/teams will look and see if they are better suited to take control over production and cut the networks out. If they can make more money broadcasting themselves or choose one partner and co-produce, they will go that route. TV is going to be a fascinating thing to examine over the next 10-20 years and see how it evolves.

ESPN is smart in trying to grab as many different sports and leagues rights as possible to make it difficult on consumers in an a la carte world, but ESPN will now show all of your favorite team’s games. The SEC network is a unique partnership but even the SEC’s biggest football game of the week is usually on CBS.

True for baseball...until you hit the playoffs.

Not always true if you're out of the regional channel's home region. I was able to convince my wife to upgrade to the sports package so I could have the Big Ten Network (mainly for basketball season, since all but 1 or 2 football games for my school of choice are typically on ESPN/ABC) by mentioning it included NESN/YES for her baseball fix. Well, the first time we went to watch a Red Sox game on NESN we found out that unless you live in the NESN home region, you don't actually get to watch the games on NESN, so no Red Sox games unless they're on ESPN/TBS/TNT/etc. Until they get over their often ridiculous blackout policies regional sports networks are mostly useless outside their home region, if they're even available outside the region.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Well, I subscribe to MLB's At-Bat package to watch all out-of-market losses...errr....games for several years now. I dig it.

The issue with it in Florida was that somehow I was in the "Miami" market when clearly, NOWHERE near the cesspool.

 

[Tony Perkis]

Not always true if you're out of the regional channel's home region. I was able to convince my wife to upgrade to the sports package so I could have the Big Ten Network (mainly for basketball season, since all but 1 or 2 football games for my school of choice are typically on ESPN/ABC) by mentioning it included NESN/YES for her baseball fix. Well, the first time we went to watch a Red Sox game on NESN we found out that unless you live in the NESN home region, you don't actually get to watch the games on NESN, so no Red Sox games unless they're on ESPN/TBS/TNT/etc. Until they get over their often ridiculous blackout policies regional sports networks are mostly useless outside their home region, if they're even available outside the region.

MLB At-Bat for out-of-market games.

 

[ford91exploder]

If cable ever went a-la-carte there would be very few channels I'd buy...HBO (Game of Thrones)...FX (The Americans)...and A&E (The Walking Dead). I would buy ESPN only during college football season. The rest of the reality show filled wastes of time can die off for all I care. I'm always surprised at how little television I actually watch.

Same here I'd buy my locals and news channels perhaps History Channel and Animal Planet, The rest of the stuff I like I've got on DVD and other formats (not Blu-Ray).

 

[Tony Perkis]

I'd drop cable in a heartbeat if Fox Sports Southwest and MLB At-Bat allowed me to stream in-market Rangers games.

As for my scripted entertainment, there are many means to find them at great quality.

 

[Hakunamatata]

If cable ever went a-la-carte there would be very few channels I'd buy...HBO (Game of Thrones)...FX (The Americans)...and A&E (The Walking Dead). I would buy ESPN only during college football season. The rest of the reality show filled wastes of time can die off for all I care. I'm always surprised at how little television I actually watch.

The Walking Dead is on AMC.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Good points, although I suspect the Chinese Disney Channel probably would require more compromises than SDL requires. And I agree that not being able to thread that needle, even if SDL is a smashing success from day 1, is one of Iger's biggest misses as CEO.

Analysts seem to be changing their tune a little on Disney, they seem to be 'getting' that the diversification that the parks offer is a net positive rather than a net negative. Although I think two factors have helped that 1. Comcast so prominently and successfully doing the sales pitch on their parks business combined with similar impacts from the DCA re-launch. and 2. The parks and consumer products pull through of Frozen and Marvel.

The fact that the cable channel revenue growth is looking to quickly stall with OTT video providers and more pressure for more original content squeezing margins. The Parks and CP businesses look like gems compared to what Sony, Viacom and Time Warner are left with.

The way I see it, launching media networks in China is like choosing the devil you know over the one you don't. Using Nickelodeon China as a point of comparison, Disney would need to send all of its programming through the state censors and create unique content for the Chinese market. Disney already does this in the film space. All foreign films seeking exhibition in PRC must pass state censors and creating local content is seen as a plus. Designing and building a massive resort and theme park with state-owned partners with no experience in themed entertainment is a much larger task. You build up to a project like that, not use it as a starting point.

Plus, this guy needs a TV show!

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Much respect to Knotts Berry Farm for having a food event that doesn't hinge on people getting s***faced and instead offering unique QUALITY dishes.
#FunBun
#Boysenberry

 

[bhg469]

Much respect to Knotts Berry Farm for having a good event that doesn't hinge on people getting s***faced and instead offering unique QUALITY dishes.
#FunBun
#Boysenberry

They seem to be having a lot of fun on twitter tonight. That bbq sauce does sound legit though!

 

[Tony Perkis]

Much respect to Knotts Berry Farm for having a food event that doesn't hinge on people getting s***faced and instead offering unique QUALITY dishes.
#FunBun
#Boysenberry

Don't be mean to alcohol.

 

[ford91exploder]

Don't be mean to alcohol.

You can COOK with it - makes a nice flash and leaves the flavor behind, I like making steak au povre because I can flare the pan for my guests (one uses cognac).

 

[ford91exploder]

So who is to say that Comcast / DirecTV, etc... will drop their rates by pulling the ESPN channels out of its lineup?? Rates are increased every year... when has anyone ever heard of a cable company voluntarily giving its customers a decreased rate?

Competitive pressure, Their BASIC package will no longer NEED to include expensive content like ESPN (current contract says it must) but a FCC ala carte ruling could negate that and that eventuality is probably covered in a 'force majeure' clause as contracts cannot mandate what is not legal.

I don't think we will see picking individual channels as the ala carte option - what I think will shake out is there will be no more 'must carry in the basic package language' so the networks will have to up their game to make it worthwhile for subs to buy the network.

What's fueled this to some extent on the FCC side is the recent blackouts of various networks because X wants a price increase yet Cable/Sat people don't see the value. Now we will probably see a system where the content owner can charge what they want,

BUT the Cable/Sat/IPTV people are free not to carry it in their basic package.

 

[Lord_Vader]

If cable ever went a-la-carte there would be very few channels I'd buy...HBO (Game of Thrones)...FX (The Americans)...and A&E (The Walking Dead). I would buy ESPN only during college football season. The rest of the reality show filled wastes of time can die off for all I care. I'm always surprised at how little television I actually watch.

Look for certain channels to have two levels of pricing, annual and monthly with monthly being much more expensive than the annual option too. For example, ESPN knows college football is huge therefore charges $30/mo during football season but $200 per year or $16.67/mo nearly dropping the price in half.

The big boys want this because they will make more money, its the entry level channels that are fighting it to the end.

And, everyone seems to be forgetting your content carrier wants their piece too. You have to get the content to your home and if you think your internet connection is capable of carrying three or four HD channels you will be shocked. Without managed video transmission through the network bandwidth demands will quickly strip supply and result in really poor quality. Most ISPs over-subscribe your connection by 20-1 or more for higher speed connections, with video they might be able to squeeze 5-1 resulting in a much more expensive internet connection price too.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Competitive pressure, Their BASIC package will no longer NEED to include expensive content like ESPN (current contract says it must) but a FCC ala carte ruling could negate that and that eventuality is probably covered in a 'force majeure' clause as contracts cannot mandate what is not legal.

I don't think we will see picking individual channels as the ala carte option - what I think will shake out is there will be no more 'must carry in the basic package language' so the networks will have to up their game to make it worthwhile for subs to buy the network.

What's fueled this to some extent on the FCC side is the recent blackouts of various networks because X wants a price increase yet Cable/Sat people don't see the value. Now we will probably see a system where the content owner can charge what they want,

BUT the Cable/Sat/IPTV people are free not to carry it in their basic package.

I think you are very close to what will happen but enough customers demand ESPN in the base package that in most areas it will be there regardless.

I am interested in how Apple intends to handle content delivery if the current rumors are true with them rolling out a video content service including ESPN, ABC, Disney, etc. very soon.