Disney/ESPN

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Gophers1992 said:
So I'm pretty much the least knowledgeable person in the world on this stuff, but isn't a good chunk of the funding behind the huge contracts NBA players are getting based on these huge TV deals that are being signed by the league? So if networks, providers, etc. can't hold up their end of the bargain and eventually lose enough customers, does this whole thing blow up in everyone's face?

I'm just using the NBA as one example but obviously similar concepts apply to CFB, NFL, etc.

Help me understand how all that works.
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On the one hand, the cable/broadcast networks are losing viewers in large #'s. On the other hand, live sports is the only thing that keeps the remaining ones around. So for now, some of them are still willing to overpay for sports. Not sure how much longer it can go on. You're already seeing teams local rights (Twins/Wolves/Wild with Bally Sports) take less $$. But the national contracts are immune for now, but you're going to see even more games go to Amazon, Netflix etc.
 

Word said:
DirecTV's streaming service is good and a relatively good value. I've had it for a few months and have been impressed (aside from the Disney dispute). It's the only streaming service that offered all the channels I want.
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I haggled the price for the satellite version down to about the same as stream. And you can use the app so it's basically like getting both versions, so I don't dislike them, current issue excepted.

However, they have gone from a combined 15 million customers 2 years ago to 11 million today. They lose about 500K per quarter. I'm not sure how long they can hold on, and the streaming service is still much smaller than the satellite side. YouTube TV is dominant in that area.
 

forever a gopher said:
DirecTV (content provider): owned by AT&T, who also owns Turner Broadcasting (content producer).

Comcast (content provider): owns NBC Universal, who owns NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports (content producers).

Hulu (content provider): Owned by both Disney, who owns ABC and ESPN (content producers), as well as Fox (content producer).

It is such a disgusting clusterfu** of anti-trust conflicts of interest that you cannot just blame the content producers. The content producers and the providers are often one in the same.
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Given the antitrust exemptions afforded sports leagues (and their owners, players, and business associates and given the real impact on many citizens’ monthly outlay perhaps contract increases should need to pass scrutiny like insurance rates. Do costs make sense. Why is grandma paying for players to sign $300M contracts.

“Hmm, I see here Mark Coyle earns $1.2M…? Explain that to me” (looks over top of glasses)
 

From the can't make it up file, received an email from DirecTV today informing me that they are raising my rate by 8 dollars next month.
I realize this has probably been in the works for some time, but maybe hold off while you're already losing lots of subscribers
 

short ornery norwegian said:
to follow up on Weather Guy -

I assume most people know this, but if some don't...

the way the cable bundle traditionally works is like this: Cable Company XYZ wants to carry ESPN. ESPN says that's fine, but we will not give you ESPN as a stand-alone offering. If you want ESPN, you have to take all of our Disney-owned channels including Freeform, FX, the Disney Channel, Lifetime, etc. so XYZ has to pay Disney for all those channels, and the XYZ customers pay a monthly fee for each channel, whether they watch them or not. some fees may only be like 50-cents per channel per month, but others, like ESPN or the Bally RSN's, can be up to $10/month.

so when Grandma Betty gets XYZ cable, roughly $10 of her monthly bill is paying for ESPN, even if she never watches one minute of ESPN. it's the same deal with Warner Brothers/Discovery and all the major providers - you have to take all of their channels, which is why your traditional cable lineup has 110 channels but you only watch about 10 of them.

now, the distributors, like XYZ cable, are fighting back - saying they want to be able to offer customers smaller packages at a lower cost - AND they want to put some of the more expensive sports channels on a separate tier, so Grandma Betty doesn't have to pay for Bally Sports Idaho unless she signs up for the sports tier.

this is what is triggering all of these recent disputes.
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Thank you SON from Windom. That was very helpful. We dropped cable 15 years ago due to dollars.

Yet today, we keep the poison of cable out of our home. Fake news, Hollyweird, and Kneelers have no room in my home or budget.

If I want the Gophers I go online to KFAN and listen to Grimmer, DT, and JG. Very happy with our decision.
 



Breakin' The Plane said:
I know people hate doing this, but one of my favorite parts of having DirecTV, was calling them up to cancel right as my contract was ending, just to see what I could get them to throw at me to re-up. Got a few years of Sunday Ticket and plenty of HBO by doing that.

I'm in no contract now, so that's kind of what I don't understand about these disputes. I know people don't like to change, but there's very little stopping me from cancelling DirecTV stream and moving to YouTube.
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We played that game for a while too before I grew tired of and just didn't care anymore and settled on YouTubeTV...for now.
It was always funny when the bill was going to go up to around $250/mo. and then somehow, miraculously, after you told them you wanted to cancel, they cold get you down to $75/mo.
 

The DirecTV vs Disney battle is not letting up. both sides are trashing the other through the media.

This Saturday, DirecTV filed a complaint against the Walt Disney Company to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), alleging that Disney is not negotiating in “good faith” and is making “anti-competitive demands.”
Disney responded to DirecTV’s complaint in a statement to Fast Company.

“We continue to negotiate with DirecTV to restore access to our content as quickly as possible,” the company said. “We urge DirecTV to stop creating diversions and instead prioritize their customers by finalizing a deal that would allow their subscribers to watch our strong upcoming lineup of sports, news and entertainment programming, starting with the return of Monday Night Football.”

in other developments - Disney reportedly made a proposal for DirecTV to allow ABC viewers to watch the Presidential Debate, but DirecTV said they would not do a 1-night deal. DirecTV responded by saying they would agree to a deal where all the Disney channels were available for one week while negotiations continue. and of course, Disney said no.

this one could last for a while.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
The DirecTV vs Disney battle is not letting up. both sides are trashing the other through the media.

This Saturday, DirecTV filed a complaint against the Walt Disney Company to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), alleging that Disney is not negotiating in “good faith” and is making “anti-competitive demands.”
Disney responded to DirecTV’s complaint in a statement to Fast Company.

“We continue to negotiate with DirecTV to restore access to our content as quickly as possible,” the company said. “We urge DirecTV to stop creating diversions and instead prioritize their customers by finalizing a deal that would allow their subscribers to watch our strong upcoming lineup of sports, news and entertainment programming, starting with the return of Monday Night Football.”

in other developments - Disney reportedly made a proposal for DirecTV to allow ABC viewers to watch the Presidential Debate, but DirecTV said they would not do a 1-night deal. DirecTV responded by saying they would agree to a deal where all the Disney channels were available for one week while negotiations continue. and of course, Disney said no.

this one could last for a while.
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High level, first world problems.
 



Disney has turned from peddling cuddly, harmless fairytale and Americana fare to this. Getting pretty ridiculous, Bob. Isn’t this why antitrust law exists?

Monopolist leagues and rapacious middlemen like Iger mugging grandma for her social security dollars, her just trying to get her ABC daytime game shows, ought to be scrutinized for legality of exclusive (and absurdly expensive) and seeming blatantly anti-competitive agreements between the monopoly leagues and ESPN, or ABC, or Fox, and others bought by Disney and other media conglomerates which are then wholly subsidized by forcing every paying customer of yet other monopolist middlemen to pay via their monthly contribution. This year it’s poor DirectTV, next year Youtube, then Comcast, and the vertical integration carriage swindle keeps rolling. DirectTV is no angel, either. I assume they made some money off Sunday Ticket extortion. So f*** them too.

More background


Equally as troubling, just hours before today's expiration, Disney demanded that to reach any licensing agreement or to extend access to its programming, DIRECTV must agree to waive all claims that Disney's behavior is anti-competitive. Moreover, any future lawsuits resulting from DIRECTV/Disney licensing agreements would be adjudicated in California – and not New York – because – as Disney counsel specifically stated – SDNY Judge Garnett "didn't understand the issues" when granting a preliminary injunction against Disney's Venu Sports. Disney's last-minute demands to foreclose upon any legal accountability for its growing pattern of anti-competitive actions should be troubling to all pro-consumer advocacy groups, regulators, and Department of Justice attorneys alike.

Disney's latest blackout and legal end-around comes on the heels of the recent court decision from Judge Garnett that blocked Disney from co-launching a sports-only streaming service with Fox Corp and Warner Bros. Discovery because the service would be anti-competitive by "granting a firm license to unbundle sports content" exclusively to its own group, Venu Sports, and not make it available to competing distributors. A proposed sports-only streaming service is exactly what consumers want and DIRECTV has sought from Disney, along with other genre-specific bundles such as kids, entertainment and news.


www.prnewswire.com

DIRECTV College Football Fans Sidelined by The Walt Disney Company on Opening Weekend to Force Them to Buy Other Disney Channels and Services

Makes Any Licensing Agreement Fully Contingent on DIRECTV Waiving Future Challenge of Antitrust Actions; Seeks to Avoid Future Considerations by U.S. District...
www.prnewswire.com www.prnewswire.com
 

short ornery norwegian said:
as I've said in other threads, I live in a small city that has its own municipal cable TV system. but the cost of operating the system has risen to the point where the city can't break even without jacking up the rates to a point where no one would subscribe.

so the city is working on a plan to offer a streaming service, and turn off the cable TV system. I know the telecom manager and he's promised me that, when they're ready, I will be one of the first people to beta-test the new streaming service.

the city expects that they will lose some customers, but they would rather turn a small profit on streaming with fewer subscribers as opposed to losing
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That sounds like it might be expensive to run. Maybe i'm wrong, but I remember when Century Link was providing streaming TV service about 8 years ago and they had to ditch it. I think it's such it takes so much bandwidth and peering relationships that it has to be your core business. Wishing you luck!!
 

FuboTV is $10 -12 dollars cheaper per month than DirectTV Stream. Plus they gave me $90 off, spread out over 3 months. Same basic sports channels.
 

WorkingMyTailOff said:
That sounds like it might be expensive to run. Maybe i'm wrong, but I remember when Century Link was providing streaming TV service about 8 years ago and they had to ditch it. I think it's such it takes so much bandwidth and peering relationships that it has to be your core business. Wishing you luck!!
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the plan is to license an existing service to offer through the local internet system. it's from an outfit called Southern Fiber Net, based out of Georgia. another tele-com system in SW MN is already carrying their programming. so my local provider wouldn't be running the system - just passing it along to local subscribers.
 



ESPN is terrible to watch. I used to enjoy Game Day. I still like Kirk H but don’t need it.
 

BBJones said:
FuboTV is $10 -12 dollars cheaper per month than DirectTV Stream. Plus they gave me $90 off, spread out over 3 months. Same basic sports channels.
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I've had FuboTV off and on and enjoyed it. Nice functionality and a ton of sports channel options at a decent price. My main issue with Fubo is it's a big-time data hog which can suck if you have any kind of data cap. Otherwise, it was my go-to for getting ESPN during football season when past TV providers were fighting with Disney. Comcast, Dish, DirecTV and maybe even YouTubeTV have all had their issues with ESPN.
 

We have a deal. ESPN and DirecTV have negotiated an end to their carriage dispute.

details from Variety:

After a bruising fight for both sides, Disney and DirecTV have called a truce: The companies announced a preliminary agreement on a new deal that will restore ESPN, ABC, FX, Disney Channel and other Disney networks to the DirecTV lineup after a nearly two-week blackout.

Under the new deal, announced Saturday, Sept. 14, DirecTV will continue carriage of Disney’s entertainment, sports and news channels including owned ABC TV stations, the ESPN networks, Disney-branded channels, Freeform, the FX networks and National Geographic channels.

DirecTV said Disney’s “full linear suite of networks” is being restored to satellite, DirecTV Stream and U-verse customers “while both parties work to finalize a new, multiyear contract.”

The new agreement gives DirecTV the rights to offer multiple genre-specific options — sports, entertainment, and kids and family — inclusive of Disney’s linear networks along with Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.

In addition, DirecTV will bundle Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ with “select DirecTV packages” under a wholesale agreement, and the pay-TV provider will sell the Disney streamers to customers on an a la carte basis.

DirecTV also has the rights to distribute Disney’s upcoming ESPN flagship direct-to-consumer service with its expected 2025 launch — at “no additional cost to DirecTV customers.”
 

I too had thought this was going to last quite a while after reading an article earlier in week, so a pleasant surprise it is resolved.
 


Few details, but one thing is certain: price hikes are coming. Grab your butts.
 





Glad I call earlier and got my $35 credit on my bill.
 

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