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by bryang
3887 days ago
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Serious questions: If sports viewing goes online (like MotoGP) wouldn't the organization lose a considerable amount of money and effectively ruin their relationships with tv networks that pay serious money for rights coverage? I'm of the mindset MotoGP is doing ok because they never had insane tv rights viewership or distribution. Another example, the NHL has their online viewing program but it blocks out regional games or games with specific rights attributions. And then, theoretically, let's say these organizations do survive by moving all (or the vast majority of) their viewers onto their own live platform - would that be considered a monopoly of some sorts by forcing out all the other players? That being said, I'm totally ok with all of this because the cable box as we know it is dying fast and sports are the only thing keeping it alive. |
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They maintain production and distribution rights on their most valuable content, pay-per-view events that go for something like $60-80USD on cable. They compete with themselves by offering a yearly lock-in for what's basically the price of one of these events. It's not complete, since they don't have full distribution rights on their weekly show, which appears on their streaming service after a one-to-two week delay.
If the service takes off, that'll be a big nail in the coffin of TV sports. That said, it's had middling success to date (I haven't paid close attention, as I'm not a wrestling fan in the least).
Other sports contract out their production and distribution rights to TV networks, so trying to go to a streaming model will be very difficult by comparison. They'll be building out what is basically a full on-air platform at the same time they're building out a streaming service that can support the added demand of local viewers while simultaneously breaking off relations with their current broadcasters. And to make things even more complicated, some of those broadcasters own the teams they carry (in hockey alone, the NY Rangers and Cablevision TV are both owned by Jim Dolan, while the Toronto Maple Leafs are owned by a conglomeration of Bell and Rogers telecoms). With these complications, the rights may be the bigger block than the technology.