Two things:
1) The article is false because the numbers don't add up in the way they suggest
2) The article is true (IMO) because this fragmentation will lead to customer dissatisfaction with, if not abandonment of, the sport
For (1) it says people need to pay $72.99/month for something like Hulu or u2b-tv but if they're doing that, chances are they are using it as their cable replacement and getting far more value out of it than just watching NFL. It also counts the other streaming services across multiple months but they are mostly one month bills you can cancel at any time. They point out that 70% of people who subscribe for NFL don't cancel, but that means those people are either (a) lazy/stupid or (b) getting more value out of the service than just watching NFL games.
For (2) I already crossed the threshold where I was paying too much for cable primarily to watch NFL games so I did something about it, I bought an antenna and watched over-the-air. I think there is a point where people look at their bills and ask themselves if the value of entertainment is worth the cost and make cutbacks. NFL is cashing in now, but IMO it won't last forever. I think u2b and hulu are making the same mistakes cable did, too much 'bundling' and not enough choice. The price keeps going up but the value does not.
NFL is in its glory days since it's pretty much the only media content left that is true "appointment viewing" that people will pay a premium for. NFL knows this and is leveraging this to the extreme to get marginal entities like Peacock to cash in the family silver to pay NFL for a chance to save themselves, but IMO in the end they are doomed and this is just a last gasp thing. There will be a huge shake out in the streaming world and once things settle down, NFL won't be able to extract this kind of mega-premiums out of outfits like Peacock.
Bottom line for me is I'm already cutting back my NFL viewing. I have Amazon Prime so I can watch TNF for free, but found myself rarely doing so. I used to watch 3 games each Sunday (1pm, 4pm, SNF) now typically don't even finish two. I think all of last season there was just one time where a game was tempting enough to look into getting a subscription to watch but ended up not doing so when I saw what was involved.
It's not about not having time since I'm retired. It's not about money because most all of them are still free to me via over-the-air antenna. It's about the games not being very interesting, especially since our team has been frustrating to watch the last several seasons, and that there are other things I can do with my time. I find that I watch our game for a while as long as it stays interesting, and maybe one more game if it has a good match up, and that's more than enough. It's all DVR'd so I can go back and watch later, but more and more I find myself just deleting games without watching them.
Like most people, I have other things to do. NFL product overall has declined while other activities are at least as interesting and are more accessible. Then add in all the money grabbing NFL does, it's easy to just turn it off.
One thing I find myself doing is watching the "Game in 30 Minutes" videos posted by the NFL to u2b. They are usually posted 24 hours after the game ends and are good for keeping tabs on other teams without having to commit a lot of time. I'm kind of surprised they are posting these videos for free, but they are. Sooner or later they'll find a way to charge for them, then I'll be out.
