DIRECTV unlikely to keep NFL Sunday Ticket

Status
Please reply by conversation.
Let's examine what you're doing here, Sam. You're moving the goalposts. Your original statement which I called out as incorrect was:

"Lots of kids played soccer, but are now grown ups and have sports viewing tastes that are indistinguishable from previous generations."

So you're saying that soccer viewership in the US is no more popular now than it was a generation ago. And I call BS on that.

In response to that, you're now switching the argument to say that soccer viewership in the US right now is far lower than football, baseball, basketball or hockey. No $hit, sherlock. But again, that's not what we were debating. It's whether there's been a material increase in soccer viewership as increasing numbers of young Americans play soccer as kids and then grow up.

And taking viewership of just MLS into consideration isn't an accurate measure of total soccer viewership. Only now is MLS starting to draw the kind of money and talent it needs to be taken seriously alongside professional soccer leagues in the UK and continental Europe. American soccer fans watch those leagues as well on NBC, Fox Sports, Peacock, Paramount+, and other sources.

Note that I'm not predicting that soccer will ever become as popular a spectator sport as the big 4 I listed above. Maybe it'll eventually surpass the NHL, maybe it won't. But it IS becoming more popular among Americans and I see every reason to think that trend will continue.
American soccer will collapse long before any other sport does
 
  • Like
Reactions: SamCdbs
Once again, sports do not attract the viewership as much as they think and should not get the high price tag they demand.

Most nights, that 400k in the market is more than any other cable network channel. That’s why sports can demand and get what they do.

Also, nationwide, on aggregate, there are about 13 million people watching baseball on their local RSN… more than just about anything else, including the broadcast networks.
 
American soccer will collapse long before any other sport does

Have you looked at the finances of most European teams? Sure there are a handful of global brands, but outside of them, teams are struggling.

Blackburn Rovers… former premier league champ was recently in League One.

Barcelona is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Players leave South America because paycheck have been known to bounce.

MLS and USL are making money.
 
  • Like
Reactions: navychop
Even if your numbers are correct, I think it is pretty sad that only .031% of the New York Metro Area watch the Yankees, imagine what the ratings are for the real bad teams.

Once again, sports do not attract the viewership as much as they think and should not get the high price tag they demand.

DirecTV has the most sports out of all the Live TV Providers, yet they still have lost at least 11 million subscribers in the last 7 years, Dish got rid of the RSNs, yet their losses are not as bad, Hulu and YTTV also do not have them, yet they are gaining subs.
Have Directv drop sports and see who is left !
 
Fast forward this trend 15 years and think about what that portends for the available talent pool for the NFL in 2037. I'm not saying there won't still be quite a lot of talented young men willing to risk permanent brain damage. But those guys will increasingly be men of color coming from economically disadvantaged backgrounds (kind of like the lower ranks of the US military, for similar reasons).

Think about the coming social discussion around old rich white dudes paying for luxury boxes at NFL stadia so they can watch broke young black guys knock their brains out trying to get their piece of the American dream.
Is that REALLY why people go to these games ?

Thats not why I watch the games.

I can't believe you posted that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SamCdbs
I hope apple doesn't get NFL ... I dont have apple stuff
I don't do the Apple thing (phones or tablets whatnot either)
However, I was able to make an Apple ID and found a way to watch the MLB Friday night game on Apple. Thankfully.

It an App, not a piece of equipment.

If you can't get the App on your TV, there are boxes that will work ROKU, probably Fire Stick I would imaging.
I didn't have any of those at home, so I logged in on the computer and eventually Casted it to my TV ...

Now that was Baseball, but I gotta thing, IF Apple does get it, the NFL will work much the same way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AZ.
Because they can...its really that simple...anytime a cable system drops YES..all hell breaks loose...Dish never carried YES but everyone else does
Who besides Directv and local cable carries YES?
 
I don't do the Apple thing (phones or tablets whatnot either)
However, I was able to make an Apple ID and found a way to watch the MLB Friday night game on Apple. Thankfully.

It an App, not a piece of equipment.

If you can't get the App on your TV, there are boxes that will work ROKU, probably Fire Stick I would imaging.
I didn't have any of those at home, so I logged in on the computer and eventually Casted it to my TV ...

Now that was Baseball, but I gotta thing, IF Apple does get it, the NFL will work much the same way.
Unless you buy a Roku, yes, to me it is worth the $39 to buy a Roku Stick to not deal with all that casting stuff.
 
Have Directv drop sports and see who is left !
You mean the losses of subscribers would be worse then it already is….hard to believe.
 
Because they can...its really that simple...anytime a cable system drops YES..all hell breaks loose...Dish never carried YES but everyone else does
Again, making my point, you are letting the few, again only .031% of the New York Metro Area Population watching on average, make the decision on carrying this channel and paying the high price for the many who do not watch it.

I am glad my provider does not carry it, I do not have to pay for a channel and the extra RSN fee for a channel I would never watch, if YTTV did start and carry it with a fee, I would drop them ( the benefit of no contract).

I just checked the RSN fee via DirecTV for the Orlando area, $11.99, that is $143.88 just for the extra fee, I just paid $69 for Extra Innings and ESPN+ ( Center Ice is included) is roughly $5 a month ( discount price bundled with Hulu and Disney ), that is only $129, so less then the extra RSN fee alone, now I get my favorite teams ( Detroit) and do not have to pay for a channel I do not want.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: raoul5788
Yup ....
It's already happening, the more Sports move to other platforms.
How do you know since DirecTV does not report numbers, if a inside source, please elaborate.
 
Again, making my point, you are letting the few, again only .031% of the New York Metro Area Population watching on average, make the decision on carrying this channel and paying the high price for the many who do not watch it.

I am glad my provider does not carry it, I do not have to pay for a channel and the extra RSN fee for a channel I would never watch, if YTTV did start and carry it with a fee, I would drop them ( the benefit of no contract).

I just checked the RSN fee via DirecTV for the Orlando area, $11.99, that is $143.88 just for the extra fee, I just paid $69 for Extra Innings and ESPN+ ( Center Ice is included) is roughly $5 a month ( discount price bundled with Hulu and Disney ), that is only $129, so less then the extra RSN fee alone, now I get my favorite teams ( Detroit) and do not have to pay for a channel I do not want.
No..all cable channels have low ratimgs...YES is a very popular cable channel despite how the Yankees disgust me
 
  • Like
Reactions: SamCdbs
Who besides Directv and local cable carries YES?
Anybody who wants high paying premium customers..Dishmart and many streaming providers who cater to lower priced end of the scale are happy with customers looking for the best deal at the best price...obviously both models work..and dishmart does make plenty of money even more without sports..there is room for competition so that all interests are served
 
- For most people, THAT LIKE SPORTS, the local RSN is the center of their sports viewing and, in many cases, of their viewing. That is me. There is nothing else really on TV of any value at all. Rerun channels, preachers and other axe grinders, commentators on the news (most of which could not pass a basic civics test), pointless middle-school level documentaries (you can get better on YouTube for free and yet better than that from your public library) and melodrama estrogen soaked movies. They could eliminate every non-sports channel in my package and I don't know that I would notice for several weeks. It is a wasteland.

- I am the only one who noticed "moving the goalposts" is a football analogy, in a sub-discussion about soccer? I will just let that go by for a called strike, although it is probably a slam dunk if I commented upon it, just like having a empty net because the goalie is off the ice.

- Juan is correct, as usual. Dishmart and all the streamers are aiming at the low end. They have that market, and it is profitable. Rally's and Golden Corral make money. I get that. But for many others life is not a constant quest to save four cents. And, increasingly, DirecTV is being left with the entire high end (I would call it mainstream (no pun intended) and high ends) for itself.

- Back to the topic. I do not see the NFL announcing this in-season. So if they don't announce a deal by the Fall, it will be next spring.
 
Anybody who wants high paying premium customers..Dishmart and many streaming providers who cater to lower priced end of the scale are happy with customers looking for the best deal at the best price...obviously both models work..and dishmart does make plenty of money even more without sports..there is room for competition so that all interests are served
AFAIK, only Directstream carries YES aside local cable and Directv. And who is dishmart? Never heard of them.
 
Status
Please reply by conversation.