Death of Cable and the NFL’s Developing Streaming Problem
Over the last eight years “Cord Cutting” has developed an alternate definition. I, like many, shifted away from cable/sat television in 2016. My wife and I got so tired of spending countless hours on the phone with Customer Service dealing with a different price on our bill every single month after our “Bait-and-Switch” 1-to-2-year type of contract deal ran out.
By 2019 39.3 million people had cut the cord. The estimate for 2022 is up to 55.1M. Viewers take their content with them now on tablets and phones. Streaming gives all the options that true big box cable laughed at. You can basically pick what you want and pay by service. Sports fans have little problem with the transition as streaming services have made live sports an important part of their business and marketing strategy.
There are of course downsides to streaming. I for one utilize HULU to watch Sports, that’s about the only reason we have anything resembling “Live TV.” I put it in quotations because regardless how fast my internet is, we are always at least 1 play behind. Nothing like getting the group text with discouraging news of a dropped touchdown before you see it has happened “live.”
How does this impact NFL fans?
All these changes really haven’t impacted the NFL fan yet, as Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC regionally broadcast Sunday and Monday night NFL games. All those channels are included everywhere in cable packages and are even free to the public utilizing HD antennas, if you can pick up a signal.
The first real NFL streaming domino to fall occurred in 2017. The NFL partnered with Amazon as part of a tri-broadcast for Thursday nights. Change is now though, and even though it’s been building, it starts tonight with one of the most nationally anticipated games of the year: Chargers vs Chiefs.
Once the national anthem ends tonight there will be a common question asked around the suburbs of America “Do we get Prime?” As tonight’s game will be the first one to be a few steps away from Pay-Per View included with Amazon Prime membership.
The Frantic phone calls will stream in from Dad’s and Papa’s to their respective family members to figure out what to do next. OK boomer really isn’t the developing problem here though, right? We know cable has been fading away for years, and this might just be one of many nails in the coffin for cable.
Amazon and other services like Disney+/Hulu will continue to compete for the NFL. They will compete with each other and the likes of NBC, CBS, and FOX for NFL rights driving the money up and up. As long as the NFL continues to take the highest bid, we may see an even more massive shift to streaming and the true death of cable.
Streaming Issues won’t have to do with internet speeds
The underlying issue here is the people who will be and have been streaming these games for free on websites designed simply to help those who don’t want to pay any streaming/cable bills.
I imagine the NFL doesn’t bat an eye at the idea that people are able to illegally stream games for free when much of their money comes from cable-based broadcast companies like CBS, FOX, and NBC. Now the only real difference between Amazon Prime broadcast and the bootlegged free version is a basic paywall.
Now a larger audience will have to decide on Streaming or the moral more-than gray area. The idea of free music became socially acceptable and part of normal teen culture in the days of Limewire and Napster. What will stop this new age NFL fan born with an iPhone in hand taking web development classes in summer camp from doing the same?
How will this sentiment change if the NFL moves their once “free” main broadcast’s to paid streaming?
Yes, we all share our passwords to all of our streaming services with family. I assume in these business relationships the onus to solve the password sharing will be on the streaming services, and it will be on the NFL to try and crack down on the power of the people and the www. Will they be able to?
