The teams want known and fixed revenues before the season starts. They have enough revenue variability with attendance. They don't want to gamble on people signing up or cancelling a streaming service. What happens when the team has injuries and starts to suck? Everyone cancels in July. So your hope would be to get people to buy the whole season up front but some can't afford it so you also need a monthly plan, etc. It's not a great business model when you have to decide what to spend on payroll going into the season.
Exactly...a stream of revenue you know you have from a much broader group or a stream of revenue you hope to get from a smaller group of people that have to actively subscribe.
I just don't trust Corporate bureaucracy to see the future. They usually just buy out those who do see the future. The assumption you can continue to force people to subsidize RSNs as they do now is VERY RISKY. If it were not, they wouldn't be going broke.
To be clear here, these decisions are being made by the Astros and the Rockets. They're buying back their rights and can choose to distribute how they wish. Those franchises aren't exactly massive corporate bureaucracies. I'd also submit that it's POSSIBLE they have better information than you and I do on all the factors that lead into their decision as we sit here and post about it on an internet message board.
Just because you believe something doesn't make it true. MLB is super-greedy. They are also waaaay ahead of the curve on digital media. The fact that they haven't moved to that model should be an indicator of something. It doesn't help that digital media is everywhere and no one has been able to figure out how to make money on it. Streaming alone loses money. RSNs lose money when they pay $80MM in rights fees. There's an in-between there, which is simply that MLB media rights are overpaid right now. For either to work, RSNs will need to pay less to teams or streamers will have to pay way more to teams. But streaming for $10-$15/month isn't a viable option for teams if they want to maintain their current payrolls and revenue levels.
I agree. No team is going to go with a stand-alone option for streaming at this point. But leagues absolutely are and should be moving in that direction and everybody should recalibrate future expected media deals as it relates to payroll. I still think MLB should negotiate a streaming/distribution service for all teams with one of the bigger platforms… an NFL like model. Would solve a lot of economic disparity and continue to grow the game with easier accessibility.
It is not a stream you know you have. It is the promise of a stream you think you have. RSN failures prove it is an illusion. Even more than failures, trimming budgets and non-renewals are the future. A new revenue stream will emerge and those previously discarded should be revisited. Bundling (via cable) only works if there is long term value. Customers are rapidly coming to the conclusion that it doesn't have sufficient value.
Precisely. For example, I would be willing to pay $162 to stream 162 games over the season. But I am not going to pay $200/mo. to a cable company. Bottom lime, $1200 is too much and $162 is not. So under present rules, they get nothing from me, but a promise of revenue from people who don't want it and those who do and are willing to pay $1200. I do wonder where they get their figure on streaming not being profitable. Is it because they stream games with little interest to the majority of the potential market? Are they lumping in non sports streams? Are they including podcasts?
I can't believe I'm partially agreeing with the old man yelling at the cloud. I also can't believe the old man yelling at the cloud is more forward thinking on this subject... than virtually anything else he's ever commented on. That being said, one of these major streaming platforms (Amazon, Apple, Yahoo, YoutubeTV) is going to have to blow the leagues out of the water in terms of $$$, and once they're exclusive, teams and leagues can decide for themselves as to whether or not this is the way. We'll start seeing it as soon as this fall with NFL Sunday ticket now totally streaming. I know all the sports bars have had to ensure their wifi routers are able to handle the total bandwidth. In the long-run, those are easier to maintain than actual physical dishes... but there's also not just one installer/maintenance person for it.
When I moved to NY there were no options to watch the Astros. This was 1992. 10 years later MLB Extra innings came along. You had 2 choices. First choice, pay for the entire season up front I believe it was about 150 bucks, not to bad. 2nd option was to opt in after the all star break, for a discounted price. I always went for the season price, and regretted it when the Astros were eliminated by the break. But this was still cable based. No other option. We cut the chord a few years back, with smart TV's we went to youtube tv, and my wife gets mlb extra innings for free because she has sprint/T mobile for her cell provider. The options are changing yearly with Apple TV getting license for the Friday nights games, and the MLB Network was dropped by youtube TV a few months ago. My problem is which avenue to find the games on a daily basis It will be interesting to see what the future holds for delivery of games on local networks as well as streaming. I believe there is a huge shift in the way you can watch NFL this year as well. BTW, youtube tv is upping the monthly rate by 10 bucks beginning this month, with no increase in channels or 4K delivery
But the $200/mo includes 200 other channels that lots of people ARE interested in, and you end up with lots of people who aren't interested in the Astros paying to watch the Astros. In Houston and surrounding areas, you might get 2 million people paying that (with $5/month going to the RSN). So that's $60MM there during the season. The vast majority of people aren't going to pay $162/season just for the Astros games. You might get 25,000 hardcore fans. That's $4MM/season. Instead, most people will stream Netflix for $15/month and watch a gazillion other things instead of the Astros. So you lose your fanbase as none of the "casual fans" that might just watch a random game because its on TV will follow the team. And especially during the lean down years, you'll have even fewer subscribers.
Couldn't you have also just subscribed to MLB.TV back then? Was computer/laptop based at the time... but now available on all streaming boxes/devices... and most importantly smartphones that didn't exist when the product made its debut. I believe they have monthly packages now as well. The biggest downside is the blackout rules (based on the RSN's), but not a problem if you're that far away from Houston. Plus you could watch the road feed, something I used to do way back when I didn't live in the area. Sometimes nice to hear how the outsiders view our team (especially when they're dominating). Pretty cool that this service initially came out before wifi was a thing... and now with smartphone technology, its as seamless as anything (just goes to show how much we take for granted the technological advances in the last 20 years... and how 20 years from now, things could be even further exponentially advanced).
Back in 1992, the only way was to buy the MLB extra innings package through our cable company. There was no such thing as MLB TV. Hell i was downloading music through limewire.
I thought you meant 10 years later... ~ 2002, and yes MLB.TV was available at that time albeit you would need to have had high speed internet for it to be functional. I actually don't think MLB Extra innings was available in 1992. That was still the age of the old analog cable boxes and most teams hadn't gone to a RSN setup yet for all their games (which is really how MLB Extra innings and MLB.TV work... they just use those feeds). MLB.TV... pre-dated wifi, smartphones, and all other streaming platforms (including Netflix). Truly ahead of its time.
And there were no cable-based packages where you could watch out of market teams available back in 92 either as well.
As soon as a large majority of all people are streaming all of the streaming services will up their fees. All of us that saved money by cutting the cord are about done with the saving money part
For those with T-Mobile, free MLB.tv 2023 subscription will be available starting the 28th. Works great with Google VPN which is free if you have the upgraded storage plan. https://www.t-mobile.com/benefits/mlb
Not directly related to the Astros, but the Phoenix Suns just signed a deal to go back to local over-the-air TV broadcasts instead of RSN's. Not sure the math - I assume they won't get paid nearly as much, but it will triple the # of households that can watch so it may have a longer-term impact on building a fan base. https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/36310895/suns-mercury-broadcasts-over-air-tv-streaming
