OT: How Television Won the Internet

[Scarlet_Scourge]

good read: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/29/opinion/how-television-won-the-internet.html?_r=0

something to think about when the Big Ten comes up to get new TV contracts

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

MSNBC's Morning Joe has a segment on this today... talking to a guy who wrote a book about it.

 

[miketd1]

Interesting. Thanks for the link.

 

[MozRU]

I don't watch TV anywhere close to the amount I used to. I pick a show and turn it off (I've grown up and read a lot more).

I so wish I could watch the NY Giants up here in Boston without paying for the entire NFL package. I'd pay $10 to $20 bucks to watch them on a Sunday. I hate everything about the Pats, I won't turn the TV on.

When pay per view takes off, I am on board.

Lastly, people who don't watch sports, they must be getting tired of paying for it (bundles). That needs to be addressed.

 

[MozRU]

good read: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/29/opinion/how-television-won-the-internet.html?_r=0

something to think about when the Big Ten comes up to get new TV contracts

What are your thoughts? I see the cord cutters growing in numbers. When grandmas stop subsidizing these BILLION dollar college football TV contracts, where will conferences go for cash?

 

[PeteGiam07]

What are your thoughts? I see the cord cutters growing in numbers. When grandmas stop subsidizing these BILLION dollar college football TV contracts, where will conferences go for cash?

The only thing stopping me is having the comfort of live sports in my living room, which is the only TV I have with a box.
If there is a streaming service that will one day provide tha,t then no more cable box for me. I know there is live streaming services full of ads and pop ups, but I'd rather pay 10 to 20 a month for an ad-free, HD service.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

What the cord cutters are missing is that the content has to be paid for in one way or another.

If you find a source for live sports over IP then you are siphoning away advertising dollars. and cable subscriber fees.. from all the people involved in bringing you that content.. including the Big Ten and Rutgers for its sports events.

As more and more people do this, there will be less and less revenue.

It simply is not sustainable.

As for scripted content.. like Game of Thrones and the few shows these cord-cutters say they watch.. the same is true for them. Less revenue means less money to invest in bringing high quality production values.

Not sustainable.

You simply cannot "cut the cord" and expect to get high quality content. It has to be paid for one way or another. And if you don't contribute, then you are a leech.

 

[topdecktiger]

What the cord cutters are missing is that the content has to be paid for in one way or another.

If you find a source for live sports over IP then you are siphoning away advertising dollars. and cable subscriber fees.. from all the people involved in bringing you that content.. including the Big Ten and Rutgers for its sports events.

As more and more people do this, there will be less and less revenue.

It simply is not sustainable.

As for scripted content.. like Game of Thrones and the few shows these cord-cutters say they watch.. the same is true for them. Less revenue means less money to invest in bringing high quality production values.

Not sustainable.

You simply cannot "cut the cord" and expect to get high quality content. It has to be paid for one way or another. And if you don't contribute, then you are a leech.

Which is what already happened to the music industry.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Which is what already happened to the music industry.

Except the music industry charges way way way to much for its content. It is dirt cheap to produce music.

 

[Crazed_RU]

What the cord cutters are missing is that the content has to be paid for in one way or another.

If you find a source for live sports over IP then you are siphoning away advertising dollars. and cable subscriber fees.. from all the people involved in bringing you that content.. including the Big Ten and Rutgers for its sports events.

As more and more people do this, there will be less and less revenue.

It simply is not sustainable.

As for scripted content.. like Game of Thrones and the few shows these cord-cutters say they watch.. the same is true for them. Less revenue means less money to invest in bringing high quality production values.

Not sustainable.

You simply cannot "cut the cord" and expect to get high quality content. It has to be paid for one way or another. And if you don't contribute, then you are a leech.

Thank you, thank you. Someone who gets it. I say to friends and family all the time that the people who make shows like the Walking Dead, and Game of a Thrones certainly are not doing it so everyone can consume it for free. Forget about live sports, sports fans will be in for a rude awakening if the current economic system for sports content gets broken up.

 

[Scarlet_Scourge]

What are your thoughts? I see the cord cutters growing in numbers. When grandmas stop subsidizing these BILLION dollar college football TV contracts, where will conferences go for cash?

The same place that HBO will go and that is to offer subs right to the fans.

These are the prices for BTN Plus which doesn't include football and televised Men's Basketball : https://www.btn2go.com/packages?type=0

You will end up paying a premium just to get only what you want.

CBS, NBC, FOX and ABC were always free, and they still are, you don't need a cable box to view them.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

CBS, NBC, FOX and ABC were always free, and they still are, you don't need a cable box to view them.

And yet a portion of your cable bill goes to these networks... even for the broadcast channels and not just their cable channel offerings. CBS helped do this with their hold-out vs cablevision (or was it comcast) a couple years ago. At the time they were seeking to move their share of your cable bill from $1 to $2... not sure how close they got. And you know that Disney owned ABC and associated channels has a similar deal as does Fox. Sports is usually the reason.. the TV networks win out.

That "Morning Joe" link above had a guy that wrote a book about this explain that revenues from cable subscriptions are approaching that of advertising revenues. In other words, the networks have done the netflix subscription thing with the cable companies handling all the overhead.

The following chart from a WSJ story about a year ago...

About the only thing that can reverse this trend of spending more and more for these channels is people pulling the plug.. but that will lead to degrading content offerings. Strange situation...no way to "win"... other than to read more and allow your brain to handle the "production value" question.

 

[Scarlet_Scourge]

Screw tv just read books and for sports just go to the games.

You are correct in that we will pay no matter what.