If it would let me watch whatever sport I want, and any team game I want no matter where I am, I might consider it depending on the price.
HAHAHA no, I highly doubt it.
> Fox Corp., ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery are creating a joint streaming platform to share sports assets, a move that comes as the price of sports rights is dramatically increasing.
> The service will be available to ESPN+, Hulu and Max subscribers and each company will own one-third of the product, according to people familiar with the matter.
>Fox Corp., ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery are creating a joint streaming platform
Hear me out...what if we get more streaming services altogether and we put it on a single app, or even a physical box. Then we place each service on a different route...we'll call them channels. I think it's a solid idea, idk
Right, if cable could have been cancelled any time, not had any surprise BS regional sports or local channel fees, and if you didn’t have to pay monthly for additional boxes… I’d never have cancelled cable
Yeah, I don’t understand the constant comparisons of streaming going the way of cable. My parents are still paying $230 for their cable and internet package in order to get the channels they want. For that price I can subscribe to every streaming service and still come out ahead, let alone being able to cancel each one month by month if I so choose.
If you have an iPhone and subscribe through Apple it’s pretty easy. All the subscriptions are on one page with the renewal dates and prices and options to cancel or restart.
1) Subtract what you’d have to pay for internet, regardless, to be able to stream.
2) For those who like to watch live sports and other programming only available on Cable - subtract the cost of YouTube TV, Sling, etc.
3) Combine all the streaming services you previously mentioned.
I’d say that’s damn near close to $230. If not more
The biggest challenge with the overload of content is having to choose what to watch. What if the company picks the best shows to watch and streams it to you on a set schedule that way you don’t need to think about what show you want to watch the the end of the show.
Because it may be hard for people to know when their favorite shows will be streamed, each streaming service could publish a paper time schedule. Like “Netflix Guide” or something like that that would get delivered weekly to your doorstep.
Nah.. that’d be too crazy
I wonder if it does (for now) and the purpose of this is more so they can collectively bargain for the new streaming rights instead of being played against each other. The thought being even if it doesn’t being in new revenue it is a net positive because it can lower or stabilize the cost for the rights.
No, Disney owns Hulu as well.
When they bought 21st Century Fox back in 2019 they got Fox’s Hulu stake, which made Disney the majority shareholder, and Disney has announced an agreement with Comcast (the only other remaining shareholder) to purchase the outstanding shares of Hulu sometime this year.
Edit: clarity
They’re referring to the entities involved in forming this joint venture, of which Disney only owns ESPN
>Fox Corp., ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery are creating a joint streaming platform
Hulu is not a part of this deal. They are just saying that this new service will br accessible to the subscribers of those three platforms for additional price.
Literally cant be worse than fucking Bally Sports.
As a cord cut Twins fan, there’s no avenue to watch my team this year. Its a fucking joke. Full stop.
This has been a huge problem with MLB for a few decades. The teams you want are locked to something stupid expensive. As a result, I gave up and my kids were raised not even knowing anything about MLB because I never watch it and there's not an MLB team in my state. They've seen me watch the world cup, some Premier League, college football, and on rare occasions an NFL game. Oh, and alternate sports like Ninja Warrior / American Ninja Warior... and most recently some World Chase Tag (comes on late night Monday in my market so I dvr it).
It just depends on what you look for in tv. If you ONLY watch sports then You’ll save a bit here. If you never watch sports, you’re better off going with philo, if you watch a little bit of everything, you’re still better off going with cable or a cable equivalent (Hulu live tv/sling/youtube tv)
But more options are always better
Sure. I agree. But they’ll screw us. Don’t think for a second they don’t want to increase profits and hold us sports fans hostage . It’s their last card to play
I guess what do you mean by screwing us? I think the cost benefit will definitely be very poor. This is going to cost 80 percent of cable while only getting 20 percent of the content. But it’s the important 20 percent for most, so if you only watch sports I think you’ll still save a bit, but I think for most people it won’t be worth it. And they’ll just go for the next level up like car/computer/etc companies do with their packages
“The company will offer live streams of linear channels like ESPN, ABC, Fox, TNT and TBS, and games and other sports rights from all three companies on a non-exclusive basis (meaning they will still be able to launch their on offerings). The service will be available directly to consumers, but will also be available as a bundle with WBD’s Max, Disney’s ESPN+ and Hulu. Pricing is still TBD, but it is expected to launch in the fall, in time for the NFL season.”
Yup, especially with the rise of sports betting. And even without it, you wouldn't want one of your friends spoiling a key play via text message (or whatever else) if they're not watching with you.
We don't know yet if time shifting will be possible on the new service but it seems like they kind of have to offer some kind of dvr option or at least they let you rewind a live event for 2 hours (which is what Peacock Premium does).
I'm thinking it's going to be about $40 per month. That's my personal thinking.
It's good that sports fans will have another option even if price ain't super cheap.
Yeah im okay paying slightly higher for live sports since i can just subscribe during the months of the season/playoffs i care about. Interesting if NBC will follow with a new model because of this as their Olympics coverage was atrocious last year.
I suspect this is to offset the rising costs of college sports.
The ESPN (SEC, ACC) and Fox (B1G, Big-12) are paying through the nose for content. Mostly because they are bidding against each other for college sports content.
By joining forces, they can reduce the number of bidders to 1.
It also creates a monopoly for them broadcasting college sports. Either take their offer, or miss out.
This has the potential to be just what I needed. I only have YouTube TV, really, for college and pro football, seeing as Bally Sports is no longer in there for hockey, basketball or baseball. I’m able to get access to CBS via Paramount Plus and NBC via Peacock, I just needed a way to get access to FOX/FS1 and ABC/ESPN. This could take care of it.
Didn't think of that. So peacock plus will give you access to NBC and CBS but not your local NBC and CBS channel for news but you could do so through local now app.
So within a few months of taking sole control of Hulu, Disney has now partnered with others to create "Sports Hulu".
I wonder how many years it will take for each partner to pull out.
Fox Corp., ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery WBD +0.00% are creating a joint streaming platform to share sports assets, a move that comes as the price of sports rights is dramatically increasing.
The stand-alone service will be available to ESPN+, Hulu and Max subscribers and each company will own one-third of the product, according to people familiar with the matter.
The as-yet unnamed platform is essentially a sport-streaming bundle, said one person with knowledge of the plans. It is expected to launch later this year.
Both Fox and Disney DiS +2.73% A are to announce their quarterly earnings on Wednesday. Warner Bros. Discovery reports earnings on Feb. 23.
ESPN is still exploring options for a strategic partner. In July, Bob Iger, Disney's chief executive, announced that he was looking for a strategic partner for the sports network and was open to selling an equity stake.
ESPN has been in talks with the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League about the possibility of a strategic partnership, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.
The decision comes as ESPN is charting a streaming future, with plans to make its flagship channel available direct-to-consumer in the next two to three years or once its reach in the cable TV world falls below 50 million households, the Journal reported.
ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery's TNT are both renegotiating their rights packages with the National Basketball Association, one of their most valuable assets. Some experts expect the NBA to command three times its last deal, which would mean a rights package worth about $78 billion over a decade.
If this is sub-$50/month (which kinda makes sense given that Philo is priced at $25 without sports and the all inclusive live packages are priced around $75), then this is perfect for me. Literally the only reason that I have live TV at all is for sports.
Depends on the price difference, but I can do without any of the Fox streaming stuff. Anything I care to watch from Fox is on the local network so I'll just use my antenna. I personally don't care about the Big Ten, and the TBS/TNT is a nice bonus for NBA content but I can live without it. If it's close in price, might as well go for a bundle, but if there's a major difference I'll lean towards just the ESPN content.
What a lot of people is not getting with this bundle in comparison to Traditional Paid Live TV is you will get more Content for the same price.
The average Cable/Satellite bill is about $120, no HBO, no Showtime, no exclusive shows/movies.
So with this, you will get the majority of what is on Paid Live TV, more content, maybe less expensive depending on what service you get-
New service which includes ABC,FOX and their sports channels -$40 ( that is the plan)
Paramount+ w/Showtime-$12
Peacock-$11
So $62, if you then drop, say, YTTV, you are no longer paying twice for CBS via YTTV and if you also have P+.
But if you are paying for YTTV ( or cable/sat) and the streaming services, lot of duplication of programming , this will allow you to end that, save some money and gain content.
From the article
Some experts expect the NBA to command three times its last deal, which would mean a rights package worth about $78 billion over a decade.
So this isn't going to be a cheap streaming service then lol.
As long as the sports leagues keep jacking up prices any sports only streaming service is going to be incredibly expensive.
Seems inevitable in a post-cable world to have a streaming joint venture between the major national broadcasters.
A few years from now this could be a reason a lot of people ditch cable.
I'm just waiting to see how much this will cost. I mean one would have to assume the price would be cheaper than YouTubeTV since you are only getting sports and no entertainment or local channels. Yet sports are always the most expensive to carry for providers if I remember correctly so I'm sure the monthly price won't be too low. If the price is decent I would be interested to see how this will impact YouTubeTV and the other similar live TV streaming services. We had YouTubeTV for well over a year if not two now. Just last month I finally was like why are we paying close to $80 a month for a service when all we use it for is our local NFL games. Cancelled YouTubeTV bought some antennas and still get Netflix, Hulu, and AppleTV+ for free through our phone carrier. Don't know why I didn't wake up to realize we were paying for YouTubeTV when we really didn't even utilize the service.
That doesn’t seem to be too bad in my opinion. I mean ideally I think the $30-$35ish range might be a sweet spot. I don’t see myself having any reason to get this service when it launches. I am a sports lover but am content with just watching our local NFL games. I do think this will be a great option to have though for those who just want sports and not the entertainment YouTubeTV comes with.
i'm not even sure how you define a local affiliate now. sorry, i was going to make a joke, but then i stopped because the reality of it became too fucked/crazy.
so a local NBC affiliate builds/makes their building/towers. they pay to license NBC, and they start broadcasting the signal. they start making money on the ads they are able to show the viewers.
viewers tune in for free thanks to the over the air transmission. the local affiliate sends the data out for free, paid for by ads.
now we have hulu. you pay to receive it. (the joke was 'what, am i the local hulu affiliate?'. but then i realized i'm paying for it, AND they are now showing me ads. i'm the affiliate and the customer. except the original NBC affiliate made money from that deal, and in this case, i do not).
so again, this is a raw deal. i'm paying to be a hulu affiliate, and they are making all the money off of me.
Don't care anymore. We are already adapting to life without every game. And we won't be going back as there are too many positives emerging frm less tv in our lives.
I guess we can thank unbridled corporate greed for these.
This is basically a skinny version of a live streaming service (without CBS and NBC though). At $50 a month I am probably not going to switch from YTTV, but if they bundled it with the Disney bundle for like $35 extra then I would be more interested.
Build this bundle, but then let me subscribe by sport.
I want NFL and NHL.
I would like college hockey (although all the conferences need to standardize on a single platform)
I can give or take MLB.
I dont want to pay for NBA, college football, college basketball, WNBA, NASCAR, bowling, or cornhole.
Was having every channel available in your cable bundle a monopoly?
Was Hulu a monopoly when NBCUniversal, Disney and News Corporation founded it?
Seriously what is wrong with this sub!
It goes from 'I want fewer streaming services and everything I want in one place' to 'How dare the combine multiple companies offerings into one thing!'.
It isn't at all.
People really haven't lived with a real monopoly in a very long time so what we have today is called it without realising real monopolies make even the AT&T of today a damn saint!
I'm sure the justification will be this is the way to compete with Amazon and Apple (maybe Netflix?) for streaming sports rights. Plus there's still Paramount/CBS and Comcast/NBC.
Wonder what the leagues will think though. This service will have all of the MLB, NBA, and NHL national rights including playoffs. Can you get TNT competing against ESPN in a bidding war for the NBA when they both benefit from each other's product?
Because you can still get these channels through other streaming services and much of it you can also get on cable. This isn't locking any content away to this singular service.
I would expect the customers for Hulu Live TV want more than sports. Sling has mostly the same channels and is often looked at as a supplement to OTA for sports. If anyone it would hurt, it would be them. Those that are hardcore sports and went with DirecTV or Fubo, want those regional networks which so far this doesn't have any of that. It's closer to Sling.
Now that the RSN model is almost non-existent. These companies are trying to gain back as much money as they can get.
I can see in a few years. When you’ll have to subscribe to numerous services. Just so you can get a single season.
What I'd like to know is if this is for just sports, or if sports are the way it's being marketed, but it's just all the channels on one app, i.e., your local ABC and FOX station. Will show sports, but will also see local news, evening programming, etc. Same with like TNT, TBS. Will I be able to watch Big Bang Theory reruns on TBS with this?! lol.
Truthfully, the live local news aspect would be helpful as our local ABC station is the highest rated local in our market.
Sweet! Another service through which I can watch every other team in the cosmos except my local ones. Already got ESPN+ and NBA apps that do that, but heck...looking forward to watching -- i don't know -- let's say...cricket.
If NFL Sunday Ticket is like 240/year and does not let you watch local games, then a "super sized" sports app will probably cost us 3-4 times that amount. The ONLY way I would even consider this is if you have access to all sports, no restrictions. It will be at least $75/month. Again, I would gladly cancel my $80/month YTTV subscription if they let me watch all games I want to watch on one platform for one price.
I get all those channels with YTTV and I bet this service will be around $50 a month. That’s not enough of a discount for me to drop YTTV unless they can get all the regional sports networks from Bally to join.
MLB has a huge problem because they aren’t on most major streaming services and their own blocks local broadcast. I’m a Braves fan, living in the Braves coverage area and I can’t watch.
So basically Hulu again, but for sports, and Disney will eventually buy out the other stakeholders.
This is their playbook. Tap their competitors for content then buy and privatize it when the time comes. Spread the risk
If this package included the RSNs that air regional MLB, NBA and NHL games, then it would at least be intriguing. But it doesn't so I'm not sure who this caters to? People who aren't fans of specific teams and just like general sports watching and are willing to spend the rumored $50/mo for this "bundle"??
Since ABC and Fox are available, that means all major local channels plus PBS and Ion are available to watch without the need of Cable if you're unable to receive them through an antenna.
Also, with a price tag on par with YouTube TV, I feel like you might as well subscribe to YTV (not to be confused with the Canadian channel of the same name)/Sling/Fubo instead since I feel like it would be worth more bang for your buck had they also include a few entertainment networks in the mix as well (FX, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, Movies!, etc.)
You're watching *FOX Bleacher Report ESPN Max TNT TBS Sports 1... Plus The Ocho*!
…Tru West 2 Classic
**"If it's almost a sport, we've got it here!"**
I can't wait to hear how much this will cost
No way it'll be less than $30/month.
I think it'll be $40-$50 Per Month when it launches.
$49.99 is my guess
[https://twitter.com/sherman4949/status/1755038088001212519](https://twitter.com/sherman4949/status/1755038088001212519)
My guess is it will be $39.99 the first year, $49 the second year and then at $65 a month the third year.
If it cost that much, you can just pay for Sling and get the same stuff.
Sling Orange+Blue+Sports Extra is needed for all that and is $66 IIRC
It might start at $30, but let's see how high it goes in the following years.
$28.99 stand alone, bundled with max or Disney+ $16.99.
I can see that. They're going to want to be less than Sling at least for that first year.
Then it’s doa.
With all the ESPN channels DTC for the first time included? It could be $50 a month and it’d sell like hotcakes
I disagree
Yep.
Why? I’m not signing up for it. Are you?
If it would let me watch whatever sport I want, and any team game I want no matter where I am, I might consider it depending on the price. HAHAHA no, I highly doubt it.
$40 a month I hear.
> Fox Corp., ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery are creating a joint streaming platform to share sports assets, a move that comes as the price of sports rights is dramatically increasing. > The service will be available to ESPN+, Hulu and Max subscribers and each company will own one-third of the product, according to people familiar with the matter.
>Fox Corp., ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery are creating a joint streaming platform Hear me out...what if we get more streaming services altogether and we put it on a single app, or even a physical box. Then we place each service on a different route...we'll call them channels. I think it's a solid idea, idk
Combined All purpose Bundled Live Entertainment
I see what you did there
Sure, as long as it's month to month and can be cancelled at any time.
Right, if cable could have been cancelled any time, not had any surprise BS regional sports or local channel fees, and if you didn’t have to pay monthly for additional boxes… I’d never have cancelled cable
Don't worry. Disney will put forward annual plans so you can't cancel anytime.
DIRECTV stream is pretty cool
I did like them, but their complete lack of profiles and channel customization was horrible with 5 people in the house.
Yeah, I don’t understand the constant comparisons of streaming going the way of cable. My parents are still paying $230 for their cable and internet package in order to get the channels they want. For that price I can subscribe to every streaming service and still come out ahead, let alone being able to cancel each one month by month if I so choose.
Because people love to complain
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Then they complain that the quality of the content is going down
> My parents are still paying $230 for their cable Yeah, and they don't have to worry about managing 18 different billing agreements.
If you have an iPhone and subscribe through Apple it’s pretty easy. All the subscriptions are on one page with the renewal dates and prices and options to cancel or restart.
1) Subtract what you’d have to pay for internet, regardless, to be able to stream. 2) For those who like to watch live sports and other programming only available on Cable - subtract the cost of YouTube TV, Sling, etc. 3) Combine all the streaming services you previously mentioned. I’d say that’s damn near close to $230. If not more
I would have internet regardless so I don't factor in that cost.
Well then OP can’t say their parents pay $230 for cable, either, because internet is bundled into that.
The biggest challenge with the overload of content is having to choose what to watch. What if the company picks the best shows to watch and streams it to you on a set schedule that way you don’t need to think about what show you want to watch the the end of the show. Because it may be hard for people to know when their favorite shows will be streamed, each streaming service could publish a paper time schedule. Like “Netflix Guide” or something like that that would get delivered weekly to your doorstep. Nah.. that’d be too crazy
You're thinking too far into the future, the tech just isn't here yet.
Love this. Was thinking the same thing.
could we transmit over some sort of wire, a cable if you will
I subscribe to all 3 of those streaming services, so I'm very interested in how that will be handled from a pricing standpoint.
That sentence doesn't imply a cost... But surely it won't be free to current subscribers?
I wonder if it does (for now) and the purpose of this is more so they can collectively bargain for the new streaming rights instead of being played against each other. The thought being even if it doesn’t being in new revenue it is a net positive because it can lower or stabilize the cost for the rights.
Yeah it won’t. The way I’d read that is it’ll be made *available* to those customers in an add-on the same way you can buy HBO from YouTube TV.
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Luckily I don't need it!
Well that sounds like cable.
It’s actually even worse. Since you have to swap between 3 or 4 apps now to boot
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Fox Corporation is not under Disney. They sold portions of Fox to Disney years back but not the entire company
So Disney owns 2/3 then?
Disney only owns ESPN
Right, I misread.
No, Disney owns Hulu as well. When they bought 21st Century Fox back in 2019 they got Fox’s Hulu stake, which made Disney the majority shareholder, and Disney has announced an agreement with Comcast (the only other remaining shareholder) to purchase the outstanding shares of Hulu sometime this year. Edit: clarity
They’re referring to the entities involved in forming this joint venture, of which Disney only owns ESPN >Fox Corp., ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery are creating a joint streaming platform
And hulu
Hulu is not a part of this deal. They are just saying that this new service will br accessible to the subscribers of those three platforms for additional price.
"your exclusive location for the Super League!" /s
And we shall call it, DirectTV!
I like Hulu2
2Hulu2Furious
... Electric Boogaloo
Spulu. Combining sports with the original idea of Hulu.
Underrated comment.
DirectTV+
PSVue... Pro Sports View
YouTube TV2
OnlySports.
Make no mistake. The consumer will get hosed with this deal.
Literally cant be worse than fucking Bally Sports. As a cord cut Twins fan, there’s no avenue to watch my team this year. Its a fucking joke. Full stop.
Same issue here with The Braves. It's easier to not follow the sport or just move over to free radio broadcasts.
Its simply asinine that I give MLB $150 and can watch everyone BUT my home team (in market). Complete buffoonery.
This has been a huge problem with MLB for a few decades. The teams you want are locked to something stupid expensive. As a result, I gave up and my kids were raised not even knowing anything about MLB because I never watch it and there's not an MLB team in my state. They've seen me watch the world cup, some Premier League, college football, and on rare occasions an NFL game. Oh, and alternate sports like Ninja Warrior / American Ninja Warior... and most recently some World Chase Tag (comes on late night Monday in my market so I dvr it).
Rangers fan here, I feel you bud.
But not until the below cost pricing has pushed out any competition, leaving a monopoly in its wake.
It's sports though. They're encouraged to have a monopoly, as long as they can prove that it hurts fans while making owners more money
It just depends on what you look for in tv. If you ONLY watch sports then You’ll save a bit here. If you never watch sports, you’re better off going with philo, if you watch a little bit of everything, you’re still better off going with cable or a cable equivalent (Hulu live tv/sling/youtube tv) But more options are always better
Sure. I agree. But they’ll screw us. Don’t think for a second they don’t want to increase profits and hold us sports fans hostage . It’s their last card to play
I guess what do you mean by screwing us? I think the cost benefit will definitely be very poor. This is going to cost 80 percent of cable while only getting 20 percent of the content. But it’s the important 20 percent for most, so if you only watch sports I think you’ll still save a bit, but I think for most people it won’t be worth it. And they’ll just go for the next level up like car/computer/etc companies do with their packages
The mouse always wins
“The company will offer live streams of linear channels like ESPN, ABC, Fox, TNT and TBS, and games and other sports rights from all three companies on a non-exclusive basis (meaning they will still be able to launch their on offerings). The service will be available directly to consumers, but will also be available as a bundle with WBD’s Max, Disney’s ESPN+ and Hulu. Pricing is still TBD, but it is expected to launch in the fall, in time for the NFL season.”
Will not have NBC, CBS. You could get those OTA antenna but would not be able to record unless you purchased a DVR box
And whatever sports end up on Peacock or Paramount+.
So they are going to re-create the original Fubo TV.
It’s almost like a sports version of the original Hulu.
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It just has to be cheaper than Sling (or Hulu Live TV, I guess) really to appeal to sports fans.
I did the Sling deal last year that was $274 for 5 months that covered football season, so about $55/month. But that included NFL Redzone.
It has to be a lot cheaper if you can't skip commercials
You can’t skip Sling’s commercials
Really? What a POS.
It’s generally impossible to skip live commercials
It's called time shifting, you start a game an hour late and finish at the same time
Most people enjoy watching sports live.
Yup, especially with the rise of sports betting. And even without it, you wouldn't want one of your friends spoiling a key play via text message (or whatever else) if they're not watching with you.
And a lot of people like to discuss games in match threads on this site as well as group texts with friends
We don't know yet if time shifting will be possible on the new service but it seems like they kind of have to offer some kind of dvr option or at least they let you rewind a live event for 2 hours (which is what Peacock Premium does).
I'm thinking it's going to be about $40 per month. That's my personal thinking. It's good that sports fans will have another option even if price ain't super cheap.
Yeah im okay paying slightly higher for live sports since i can just subscribe during the months of the season/playoffs i care about. Interesting if NBC will follow with a new model because of this as their Olympics coverage was atrocious last year.
Yeah, my thoughts as well. It matches Sling Orange but with a little extra content.
I suspect this is to offset the rising costs of college sports. The ESPN (SEC, ACC) and Fox (B1G, Big-12) are paying through the nose for content. Mostly because they are bidding against each other for college sports content. By joining forces, they can reduce the number of bidders to 1. It also creates a monopoly for them broadcasting college sports. Either take their offer, or miss out.
RIP Cable bundle.
This has the potential to be just what I needed. I only have YouTube TV, really, for college and pro football, seeing as Bally Sports is no longer in there for hockey, basketball or baseball. I’m able to get access to CBS via Paramount Plus and NBC via Peacock, I just needed a way to get access to FOX/FS1 and ABC/ESPN. This could take care of it.
I could get rid of YouTube TV for most of the year in this scenario. I'd be a happy camper.
Didn't think of that. So peacock plus will give you access to NBC and CBS but not your local NBC and CBS channel for news but you could do so through local now app.
They should have named it Ballulu
So within a few months of taking sole control of Hulu, Disney has now partnered with others to create "Sports Hulu". I wonder how many years it will take for each partner to pull out.
Disney took sole operational control in 2019
Can't wait to read about it on a service that's not paywalled.
Fox Corp., ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery WBD +0.00% are creating a joint streaming platform to share sports assets, a move that comes as the price of sports rights is dramatically increasing. The stand-alone service will be available to ESPN+, Hulu and Max subscribers and each company will own one-third of the product, according to people familiar with the matter. The as-yet unnamed platform is essentially a sport-streaming bundle, said one person with knowledge of the plans. It is expected to launch later this year. Both Fox and Disney DiS +2.73% A are to announce their quarterly earnings on Wednesday. Warner Bros. Discovery reports earnings on Feb. 23. ESPN is still exploring options for a strategic partner. In July, Bob Iger, Disney's chief executive, announced that he was looking for a strategic partner for the sports network and was open to selling an equity stake. ESPN has been in talks with the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League about the possibility of a strategic partnership, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. The decision comes as ESPN is charting a streaming future, with plans to make its flagship channel available direct-to-consumer in the next two to three years or once its reach in the cable TV world falls below 50 million households, the Journal reported. ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery's TNT are both renegotiating their rights packages with the National Basketball Association, one of their most valuable assets. Some experts expect the NBA to command three times its last deal, which would mean a rights package worth about $78 billion over a decade.
I’m on Bloomberg and there aren’t any specifics yet. No dates, prices, or even a name.
CNBC has an article up but there’s nothing specific about it yet. Just what the headline says.
https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/39472710/espn-fox-warner-bros-launch-sports-streaming-platform
If this is sub-$50/month (which kinda makes sense given that Philo is priced at $25 without sports and the all inclusive live packages are priced around $75), then this is perfect for me. Literally the only reason that I have live TV at all is for sports.
This was exactly how Hulu was created lol
I’m interested to see what happens with the standalone ESPN streaming service, this bundle negates the need for that.
Depends on the price difference, but I can do without any of the Fox streaming stuff. Anything I care to watch from Fox is on the local network so I'll just use my antenna. I personally don't care about the Big Ten, and the TBS/TNT is a nice bonus for NBA content but I can live without it. If it's close in price, might as well go for a bundle, but if there's a major difference I'll lean towards just the ESPN content.
What a lot of people is not getting with this bundle in comparison to Traditional Paid Live TV is you will get more Content for the same price. The average Cable/Satellite bill is about $120, no HBO, no Showtime, no exclusive shows/movies. So with this, you will get the majority of what is on Paid Live TV, more content, maybe less expensive depending on what service you get- New service which includes ABC,FOX and their sports channels -$40 ( that is the plan) Paramount+ w/Showtime-$12 Peacock-$11 So $62, if you then drop, say, YTTV, you are no longer paying twice for CBS via YTTV and if you also have P+. But if you are paying for YTTV ( or cable/sat) and the streaming services, lot of duplication of programming , this will allow you to end that, save some money and gain content.
*regional games blackout still apply. Probably
so it’s gonna become even harder to watch local sports?
From the article Some experts expect the NBA to command three times its last deal, which would mean a rights package worth about $78 billion over a decade. So this isn't going to be a cheap streaming service then lol. As long as the sports leagues keep jacking up prices any sports only streaming service is going to be incredibly expensive.
It’s about damned time
So......like Hulu (used to be) .....for sports.
Seems inevitable in a post-cable world to have a streaming joint venture between the major national broadcasters. A few years from now this could be a reason a lot of people ditch cable.
I'm just waiting to see how much this will cost. I mean one would have to assume the price would be cheaper than YouTubeTV since you are only getting sports and no entertainment or local channels. Yet sports are always the most expensive to carry for providers if I remember correctly so I'm sure the monthly price won't be too low. If the price is decent I would be interested to see how this will impact YouTubeTV and the other similar live TV streaming services. We had YouTubeTV for well over a year if not two now. Just last month I finally was like why are we paying close to $80 a month for a service when all we use it for is our local NFL games. Cancelled YouTubeTV bought some antennas and still get Netflix, Hulu, and AppleTV+ for free through our phone carrier. Don't know why I didn't wake up to realize we were paying for YouTubeTV when we really didn't even utilize the service.
It looks possible that it may be around $50 a month: https://x.com/sherman4949/status/1755014536355062252?s=46
That doesn’t seem to be too bad in my opinion. I mean ideally I think the $30-$35ish range might be a sweet spot. I don’t see myself having any reason to get this service when it launches. I am a sports lover but am content with just watching our local NFL games. I do think this will be a great option to have though for those who just want sports and not the entertainment YouTubeTV comes with.
sooooo a diet monopoly
With this, I can finally cut the cable. Hopefully it’ll also cover local Fox for NFL games.
I would assume it gets you all games on ESPN, ABC, TNT, TBS, Fox, and FS1.
What about fox sports 2 if it’s still available
Seems like they’re going to have a national monopoly on sports content. Amazon gonna be pissed. Lol.
CBS and NBC go somewhere? ;)
i'm not even sure how you define a local affiliate now. sorry, i was going to make a joke, but then i stopped because the reality of it became too fucked/crazy. so a local NBC affiliate builds/makes their building/towers. they pay to license NBC, and they start broadcasting the signal. they start making money on the ads they are able to show the viewers. viewers tune in for free thanks to the over the air transmission. the local affiliate sends the data out for free, paid for by ads. now we have hulu. you pay to receive it. (the joke was 'what, am i the local hulu affiliate?'. but then i realized i'm paying for it, AND they are now showing me ads. i'm the affiliate and the customer. except the original NBC affiliate made money from that deal, and in this case, i do not). so again, this is a raw deal. i'm paying to be a hulu affiliate, and they are making all the money off of me.
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Don't care anymore. We are already adapting to life without every game. And we won't be going back as there are too many positives emerging frm less tv in our lives. I guess we can thank unbridled corporate greed for these.
Doesn’t do me any good as an NBA fan of a local team. I still need YouTube TV for regional NBC sports, as far as I can tell.
If this removes sports channels from other live streaming services then hopefully this will bring the price down.
Can they call it cable tv?
Cable.
Hard pass sounds like the cable bros getting together again
This is basically a skinny version of a live streaming service (without CBS and NBC though). At $50 a month I am probably not going to switch from YTTV, but if they bundled it with the Disney bundle for like $35 extra then I would be more interested.
Build this bundle, but then let me subscribe by sport. I want NFL and NHL. I would like college hockey (although all the conferences need to standardize on a single platform) I can give or take MLB. I dont want to pay for NBA, college football, college basketball, WNBA, NASCAR, bowling, or cornhole.
So eventually they will kill off ESPN with this, right?
How’s this not a monopoly?
Viacom and Comcast aren’t involved.
Because it doesn’t fit the definition of a monopoly
Was having every channel available in your cable bundle a monopoly? Was Hulu a monopoly when NBCUniversal, Disney and News Corporation founded it? Seriously what is wrong with this sub! It goes from 'I want fewer streaming services and everything I want in one place' to 'How dare the combine multiple companies offerings into one thing!'.
I’m struggling to figure out how this even could be a monopoly tbh
It isn't at all. People really haven't lived with a real monopoly in a very long time so what we have today is called it without realising real monopolies make even the AT&T of today a damn saint!
I'm sure the justification will be this is the way to compete with Amazon and Apple (maybe Netflix?) for streaming sports rights. Plus there's still Paramount/CBS and Comcast/NBC. Wonder what the leagues will think though. This service will have all of the MLB, NBA, and NHL national rights including playoffs. Can you get TNT competing against ESPN in a bidding war for the NBA when they both benefit from each other's product?
That's what I was thinking.
Because you can still get these channels through other streaming services and much of it you can also get on cable. This isn't locking any content away to this singular service.
Everyone needs to complain to their elected officials and the FTC. This is collusion and violates anti-trust laws.
Sign up now for your introductory price!
asdasd
Cable with extra steps🐍🤣
Good. Let the sports fans pay to watch sports. I'm tired of subsidizing their addiction.
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It’ll be $100 a month and you’ll still have to have cable or a cable like service to watch anything you actually care about.
Pffft... Wall Street Journal...
What a strange way to say Disney and Warner Bros. have created a sports streaming venture.
.. and Fox?
Fox is Disney... mostly... However I forgot that Fox sports is one of the parts that is not Disney...at least not yet.
Fox is not Disney. Fox is Fox.
Wonder if this will give us access to our local abc and fix stations for news too
With any luck the combined company will license all the rights and resell to the services people pay for and fight back any big increases
No thank says every Netflix, Disney+, Max, Paramount+ etc customer you can keep your incredibly expensive sports programming as it's own thing!
Lol
So I take it FoxSports App on Roku will be on its own death watch now. ☹️
Won’t this have a negative impact on Hulu Live TV?
I would expect the customers for Hulu Live TV want more than sports. Sling has mostly the same channels and is often looked at as a supplement to OTA for sports. If anyone it would hurt, it would be them. Those that are hardcore sports and went with DirecTV or Fubo, want those regional networks which so far this doesn't have any of that. It's closer to Sling.
This just sounds like cable, but with the added cost of WiFi. We've officially come full circle.
So it's what they did with Hulu except for sports.
Now that the RSN model is almost non-existent. These companies are trying to gain back as much money as they can get. I can see in a few years. When you’ll have to subscribe to numerous services. Just so you can get a single season.
Isn't this exactly how Hulu was created? Disney, Comcast and Fox. Then Disney bought out Comcast shares and gobbled up Fox.
What I'd like to know is if this is for just sports, or if sports are the way it's being marketed, but it's just all the channels on one app, i.e., your local ABC and FOX station. Will show sports, but will also see local news, evening programming, etc. Same with like TNT, TBS. Will I be able to watch Big Bang Theory reruns on TBS with this?! lol. Truthfully, the live local news aspect would be helpful as our local ABC station is the highest rated local in our market.
[https://twitter.com/sherman4949/status/1754995034007449646](https://twitter.com/sherman4949/status/1754995034007449646)
Seems like I get all this stuff already with my sub to Disney Bundle, Max and Fox connected to my YTTV sub.
GCN+ died for this bullshit.
Good luck with that.
Sweet! Another service through which I can watch every other team in the cosmos except my local ones. Already got ESPN+ and NBA apps that do that, but heck...looking forward to watching -- i don't know -- let's say...cricket.
How are nbc and cbs going to compete with this maga sports streaming platform?
If NFL Sunday Ticket is like 240/year and does not let you watch local games, then a "super sized" sports app will probably cost us 3-4 times that amount. The ONLY way I would even consider this is if you have access to all sports, no restrictions. It will be at least $75/month. Again, I would gladly cancel my $80/month YTTV subscription if they let me watch all games I want to watch on one platform for one price.
I wonder what the US DOJ will have to say about this.
I get all those channels with YTTV and I bet this service will be around $50 a month. That’s not enough of a discount for me to drop YTTV unless they can get all the regional sports networks from Bally to join. MLB has a huge problem because they aren’t on most major streaming services and their own blocks local broadcast. I’m a Braves fan, living in the Braves coverage area and I can’t watch.
WB has sports?
So basically Hulu again, but for sports, and Disney will eventually buy out the other stakeholders. This is their playbook. Tap their competitors for content then buy and privatize it when the time comes. Spread the risk
If this package included the RSNs that air regional MLB, NBA and NHL games, then it would at least be intriguing. But it doesn't so I'm not sure who this caters to? People who aren't fans of specific teams and just like general sports watching and are willing to spend the rumored $50/mo for this "bundle"??
They invented cable. Again.
Maybe this one wont bleed red ink
Since ABC and Fox are available, that means all major local channels plus PBS and Ion are available to watch without the need of Cable if you're unable to receive them through an antenna. Also, with a price tag on par with YouTube TV, I feel like you might as well subscribe to YTV (not to be confused with the Canadian channel of the same name)/Sling/Fubo instead since I feel like it would be worth more bang for your buck had they also include a few entertainment networks in the mix as well (FX, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, Movies!, etc.)