ET, you have a lot of great points that needed to be made, and I agree with them 100%. That said, I hope you will forgive my use of your post for evil. Spoiler VPN's are great tools for avoiding blackouts. Streaming services are notoriously terrible at aiming blackouts at the correct local audience. I don't usually break rules on streaming services, but this one I unapologetically make an exception for.
That sounds like punching the bear - the mainstream media - in the face. Kind of risky behavior on their part.
I just don't run into many blackouts of games I want to watch to justify the cost of a VPN. The YouTube app, not to be confused with YouTube TV, shows free live college football games on Saturday. The Watch ESPN app shows a lot of games. Add these to those games on YouTube TV and I can't watch all of the available games that I'd like to watch. By the start of the NFL season, YouTube TV hopes to have the kinks worked out of their new PIP in which you can watch up to 4 games at a time with video on 1 game at a time. If you are referring to blackouts of NFL games, that is lost on me. I watch a few games and the Super Bowl, Amazon offers a Thursday night game, and don't really care about out of market games. Back in the spring I could have bought the NFL package on YouTube TV for 50% off, more than a VPN but no loss of streaming speed performance which I encountered when I used a VPN. Happy Streaming!
Internet cost plus all of the add ons I would want would save me about $20 a month. Not worth when all I have to do is turn on my TV.
I've saved more than 5 times $20 monthly for the last 6 years. Yes, $1,200+ annually. I've been as high as $1,500 annually before and I'll be more than that if Disney packages the ESPN channels next year. I prefer not to flush my money down the toilet. Once you learn streaming, it is almost as easy as turning on your TV.
I cut the cord / smashed the satellite over 7yrs ago, best thing I did in a long time. It wasn’t just the ridiculous $$$ either, getting away from all the mind numbing nonsense was worth far more than that, to me. With that said, the crappy alphabet sports & agenda driven network in Bristol Connecticut will never get another nickel of my money. To date I haven’t missed watching a single Gator football game either, they’re plenty of ways out there to do that too, just saying.
ESPN standalone streaming starts with these two hires: Disney Taps Two Former Executives to Help Sell ESPN Stake (msn.com) We'll be able to get all of the streaming ESPN channels as a separate streaming service. I expect it will be available before the start of the 2024 college football/NFL seasons. The price I've heard most mentioned is $20 with a range between $15 & $25. Get it done Disney, I'm in.
Yep . . . sounds good . . . but I think that's where my Hulu+ started and SlingTV started and the others and are all now $75-$85 for that same month. LOL! Price is 3X higher (plus) but we don't get 3X as much programming. It would probably be the final nail in the cable TV coffin though.
I use You Tube TV for football season (we stream) and cut it off after the NCAA basketball tournament. Costs $80 a month. We use Verizon for internet service, that's around $88 per month up here in Philly.
The trade journals are putting the price at a minimum of $30 a month. Not being on cable means a whole lot or revenue needs to come from somewhere.
I'm in at $30 too. The other changes I will make will save me $25+ a month even at $30 ESPN streaming price. However, I'm hoping for $25 or less on the price.
This is the reason I think the SEC was really smart to get in bed EXCLUSIVELY with ESPN. Nobody is going to offer more inventory across all sports than ESPN. Assuming ESPN offers streaming of all SEC games and other conferences it currently has agreements with, and all the other sports it currently has, and keep the cost under $25 per month, I think they'll be, by far the most successful sports streaming service. They will be the service that most casual sports fan subscribe to just because of inventory. Big-10 sports fans will have probably have to subscribe to 3 services (Fox, NBC and CBS) to see all their games, plus ESPN for all the other sports they want to see. SEC fans will only have to subscribe to 1. I think that's a HUGE long term advantage to the SEC media deal.
Not sure I agree with this. At least at the current time, a customer can watch Fox, NBC, and CBS by putting up an antenna like I have. To get ESPN I have one choice: pay someone. Also, with 3 networks carrying the games, it potentially sets up a competition for services at the next contract which might allow a higher payday.
