Before I go on my broadcast rant..
, I would like to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving, have a great day everyone!
Problem for some of us is the NFL Sunday ticket, without it I would just stop watching the NFL entirely. I would find something else to do. That the government allowed an exclusive contract with only the NFL and DTV sucks. I have a friend at Dish, they battle this all the time, he admits that Dish is just as culpable as anyone but that when networks like Fox, AMC and others get hit shows they immediately try to renegotiate the terms (The Walking Dead) and when contracts come due it gets very nasty. He said lots of other providers wanted in on NFL Sunday Ticket and even fought it via the FCC but were denied claims saying it wasn't anti-competitive.
He has also discussed the point that while some folks are going free from cable etc. and going to the airwaves that the next thing coming is the Networks will start scrambling signals and charging if you want it, back to tech, otherwise the the ad revenue will suffer. So it wont be free forever, Im referring to cord cutting. Now while he works for a big company in this business he is pretty reasonable about what he thinks will happen, but he is very committed to the fact that cord cutting will last for a short period and then they will find a way to charge you and are already working with the large internet providers on it. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon are all already in contract discussions for the long term with major networks and outlets so it really isnt free now and wont be in the future. They also already charge you to use their service, so it isnt free. Particularly sports.
The biggest problem with cutting the cord is that the content is limited and will always be limited, paying $5 for CBS or $15 for HBO isnt really a good deal unless that is all you want to watch and then when all networks do it then next thing is your paying $60-100 for the networks you want. Im not sure I watch either of those channels, maybe CBS for football.
The tech coming out is the real threat and as a very basic example NFL Sunday ticket tracks your IP, unless you spoof it but they also have the ability to see that also via some very interesting tech and algorithms. So if your in a region where a game is on local or blacked out or in Europe or Asia you are not getting the games, believe me I have tried in those places. It is just a matter of time before the major networks have a similar approach to make sure they get your money. It is important to understand that the tech behind broadcast TV is huge, hundreds of thousands if not millions of software engineers constantly working on it. I think ultimately we are doomed to pay for the content we want to view, regardless of the insignificant cut the cord movement we see today.
