ESPN is now off YouTube.
- Thread starter L4Dawg
- Start date
This means you’ll be even less informed. Which everyone thought was an impossibility.
This is a very transparent master plan for ESPN. And, I honestly don’t think its going to work. They first spend billions on acquiring NFL Network, UFC content, pretty much everything not held by Fox/CBS/NBC.
Then they launch their own streaming platform at an absurd cost of $29.99/month. Then bundle it with Disney / Hulu to try and sink their teeth into more casual sports fans with kids. Then they start charging exorbitant fees to providers to keep their content, essentially making the providers be bulk subscribers to their streaming platform.
What they actually want is providers to stop carrying them so it pushes more and more folks to their streaming platform, or providers pay hand over fist. YouTubeTV called their bluff. The reason why I don’t think it works is because everyone who only had YTTV for ESPN has already cancelled to get the streaming service. Guess we’ll see what Sling and the others do next.
Then they launch their own streaming platform at an absurd cost of $29.99/month. Then bundle it with Disney / Hulu to try and sink their teeth into more casual sports fans with kids. Then they start charging exorbitant fees to providers to keep their content, essentially making the providers be bulk subscribers to their streaming platform.
What they actually want is providers to stop carrying them so it pushes more and more folks to their streaming platform, or providers pay hand over fist. YouTubeTV called their bluff. The reason why I don’t think it works is because everyone who only had YTTV for ESPN has already cancelled to get the streaming service. Guess we’ll see what Sling and the others do next.
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Disney now owns 70 percent of FUBOTV. So ESPN is on it and you get locals 250 channels and automatic access to ESPN +.
I've been on it for a few years now and like it quite a bit. Pay quarterly and you get a discount.
I've been on it for a few years now and like it quite a bit. Pay quarterly and you get a discount.
Some how , I think all of this could come into play:
Antitrust laws are designed to promote competition and prevent monopolies that harm consumers and stifle innovation.
Antitrust laws are designed to promote competition and prevent monopolies that harm consumers and stifle innovation.
Understanding Antitrust Laws
Antitrust laws are a collection of federal and state regulations aimed at promoting fair competition in the marketplace and preventing monopolistic practices. The primary U.S. antitrust statutes include:- Sherman Act (1890): This act prohibits monopolization and conspiracies to restrain trade. It is the foundation of antitrust law in the United States.
- Clayton Act (1914): This act addresses specific practices that may harm competition, such as price discrimination and certain mergers and acquisitions that could lead to monopolies.
- Federal Trade Commission Act (1914): This act established the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prevent unfair methods of competition and deceptive business practices.
The game is on.
The fact that the channels were pulled after Thursday night NFL and college football tells me that both sides understand that it better be worked out by Saturday morning…
The deadline was always after that, the time had been known for months. We will see. I think Disney holds all the cards here.
The $29.99 price isn’t bad for me because it let me drop Sling + the sports add on, which was $50ish, I think. Maybe people watch TV more than I do, but I really just used it for sports. I will rotate 1-2 other services at a time like HBO until there’s nothing I want to watch
100% disagree. $30 is a bargain compared to what I have paid in the past for DirectV, YTTV, and Sling for the few channels that my house watched. Now the ESPN app, HD antenna, and Netflix is all we have and it’s the cheapest my TV costs have been is a long time.
It’s glorious, not absurd…
If you just used it for sports and don’t watch that much TV in general, you can do Sling day pass 4-5 times for less than the $29.99. If you start it in the afternoon on Saturday, you get the next day’s early NFL slate as well. Can also do 3 full weekend passes for the same price, and as a bonus you get all the other channels, too.
Those are great options for people who don’t watch too much TV, or who don’t always watch the games at their own house.
It’s absurd to pay $30 / month for essentially 3 channels. It may still be worth it to some people like yourself based on their lifestyle, and that’s fine. But it’s a really poor overall ratio of what you’re paying vs. what you’re getting. And that’s just the starting price to get people on board. I guarantee you it will be $50 / month or more within a couple of years.
It’s also a hell of a lot more expensive than the $10 - $12 / month that providers were paying ESPN to carry their lineup as recently as 2-3 years ago. You have to watch a hell of a lot of content on 3 channels for $30 per month to be worthwhile. I know I come nowhere close to it in my household right now for anything besides Disney+, because of my kids. And I’m paying like $12-$15 for that.
$30 for 4 months is a $120 value for college football, even though DirecTV day pass is a few bucks cheaper. DirecTV is being sued for DayPass, hopefully they win that case. For over 20 years, the only thing I have signed up for cable TV for is ESPN. Now that Tablo has a gadget to record locals and use for any TV/phone/tablet/computer in the house, I finally have what I want. ESPN will definitely raise the price as time goes on, but it will be less aggressive on the ESPN only package vs. the Hulu/Disney/ESPN bundle.
I mean, I watch every basketball and baseball game. I’m not just a football fan. Also watch soccer sometimes
I'm sick of all the price changes. I stopped satellite because of this but now I pay just as much. 20 off, come on. That's a slap in the face
This really gives me the red a**
I finally find a set up I enjoy and can navigate (Kinda old a grumpy), and not about price, just convenience……and channels I want
i dont figure this tech stuff out easily (see old comment above), and now this BS.
Tomorrow morning I will find something that works, and I will move to it to watch football, and I will cancel at end of day. And I’ll do that every damn weekend until. Screw Disney and all their BS.
There is just a point when the consumer has to be willing to reset the narrative and the market, and that comes with canceling all of Disney, ESP, and YouTube…..and just go to game in person……let their subscription revenue drop for a quarter, and they will have a whole different tune and better price point
i watch 5 channels at best
I finally find a set up I enjoy and can navigate (Kinda old a grumpy), and not about price, just convenience……and channels I want
i dont figure this tech stuff out easily (see old comment above), and now this BS.
Tomorrow morning I will find something that works, and I will move to it to watch football, and I will cancel at end of day. And I’ll do that every damn weekend until. Screw Disney and all their BS.
There is just a point when the consumer has to be willing to reset the narrative and the market, and that comes with canceling all of Disney, ESP, and YouTube…..and just go to game in person……let their subscription revenue drop for a quarter, and they will have a whole different tune and better price point
i watch 5 channels at best
This is what happened to satellite. Now it's just what the alternative was isn't cost effective anymore and more burdensome as everything is on different platforms.
However I don't think satellite dropped their costs.
Agree with everything you said, but my fear with this one is that Disney/ESPN hold all the cards. While it may only be a few channels, it’s unique in that it’s nearly exclusively content that people only want to watch live, so the willingness to wait and see what happens will be in short supply. Also, we’ve reached the point where I’m sure ESPN doesn’t mind having distribution partners, but they don’t need them, and they’re only gonna do it under their terms.
This has been coming ever since ESPN announced their streaming service, I’m afraid
I still have Dish, and it's expensive, but at least it's been stable for quite some time except for an occasional squabble with local channels. When that happens, I can do over-the-air. Also, when there's bad weather with loss of satellite signal, it switches to streaming on most channels, and I can also use it anywhere I go. I don't have the hassle of switching providers all the time and I maintain familiarization of use (since I'm old
). The only time I watch ESPN is when games are on, other than occasionally tune in to Game Day for a few minutes.No, they've not dropped. I just use autopay with them so don't pay much attention, but every time I look it's gone up again. Customer service is pretty good. I recently had a problem with the DVR hard drive, and they sent a tech out and he replaced every piece of equipment with new stuff. So I'm pretty satisfied with them even though they're more expensive than some other options.
Does anyone know of some free trials we can use just for the weekend? YouTube really screwed me over. I can’t cancel them because I got Sunday for super cheap so I’m stuck with them till January.
Do you have the Pro package? Is it easier to change channels compared to You Tube? I am thinking about Fubotv now.
I have the DirectTv Sports only package at $70/mo but they throw in all the locals and others like business channels plus USA, TBS, TNT etc. No HGTV and some others but I’m completely satisfied. But DTV does go through the channel negotiation crap too so you may miss a channel occasionally. Right now I have everything Im suppose to.
I had DTV since early 90's, but they kept going up on rates as many do and the weather played hell watching blackouts. Went to YTTV couple years ago, don't care for the rate increase, blackout now and the channel guide. May switch again.
My DTV package is not via a satellite. It’s streamed as you would YTTV.
To me it always seemed that the price of streaming services like YouTubeTV would inevitably end up being comparable to satellite service. Regardless of what service or equipment you use, the bulk of the price is related to content and licensing.
Thankfully not many will be forced to watch State vs. Arkansas
But sadly, many will not be able to watch Vandy beat Texas and South Carolina beat Ole Miss
But sadly, many will not be able to watch Vandy beat Texas and South Carolina beat Ole Miss
The interesting thing to me is that YTTV has, in not so subtle fashion, revealed what their top line bid was to continuing carrying the Disney / ESPN family. With the $20 monthly credit offered if a deal is not reached, you can safely assume they were prepared to pay slightly more than that for ABC / Disney / ESPN, which is really just ESPN, because ABC and the basic Disney channels aren’t worth diddly poo. So, if YTTV was gonna pay something like $22-$23 per month per subscriber, they would be absolutely getting fleeced to pay anything more than that considering their customer exposure. It’s very, very clear that ESPN is seeking a monopoly here.
ETA: sorry basedawg I replied to wrong post
This is an app that I use in a pinch. I can only get SD to work but like I said he does the job when I need it and it's free. Just watch it on your phone, iPad or computer. You can also buy a HDMI adapter for apple products and connect to your TV. If your Smart TV has a browser feature that works too....lastly tech savvies can cast it to their TV.
thetvapp.to
TheTVApp.to | Watch Live Sports, Shows, News
TheTVApp.to - The easiest way to watch live TV, NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL streams
thetvapp.to
This is an app that I use in a pinch. I can only get SD to work but like I said he does the job when I need it and it's free. Just watch it on your phone, iPad or computer. You can also buy a HDMI adapter for apple products and connect to your TV. If your Smart TV has a browser feature that works too....lastly tech savvies can cast it to their TV.
thetvapp.to
TheTVApp.to | Watch Live Sports, Shows, News
Just ask someone that has satellite/cable to use their log-in. Sign into ESPN on your TV, phone, tablet, laptop, etc.
The person with satellite/cable can still watch ESPN live or even stream it, because 3 concurrent streams are allowed on ESPN's app.
It costs $0 for both parties to do this.
For years, my parents have been users on a couple of streaming platforms I pay for.
For years, I have been a user of their ESPN and HBO services.
Families do this all the time- both nuclear and extended
...or pay $30/mo for ESPN, I guess.
The person with satellite/cable can still watch ESPN live or even stream it, because 3 concurrent streams are allowed on ESPN's app.
It costs $0 for both parties to do this.
For years, my parents have been users on a couple of streaming platforms I pay for.
For years, I have been a user of their ESPN and HBO services.
Families do this all the time- both nuclear and extended
...or pay $30/mo for ESPN, I guess.
I don’t think $30/month is absurd for ESPN Unlimited. The ESPN package alone includes all of the games and programming on:
ESPN
ESPN2
ESPNU
SEC Network
ACC Network
ESPNNews
ESPN Deportes
ESPN on ABC
Plus all of the digital only games and content on ESPN+, SECN+, etc.
PLUS wrasslin’ PLEs
Compared to paying for cable, satellite, or a VSP, that alone is a good deal, especially considering that gives me access to like 95% of Mississippi State’s football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, soccer, volleyball, softball, and baseball games.
Then add in all the programming on Hulu/Disney+ and I’m not sure how you can equate it to “3 channels” for $30.00.
I firmly believe this will be resolved, soon, but it may not be done by this weekend.
Each to his own, but I find it absurd to pay a minimum of $82.99 for ANY tv streaming package like YTTV. Subtract all of the channels that you don't watch from YTTV and those that do this pay a ridiculous fee for the few you do watch but have to pay for all those others too just to get the ones you watch. Do those of you that do that REALLY watch that much tv?
I'm paying the $29.99 ESPN/Disney+/Hulu package price though the end of football season then going to punt it till next Sept. because I don't give a rats arse about hoops and don't sit still long enough to watch 9 innings of baseball on tv. That $29.99 is the same price as just the ESPN by itself so why not and get the Hulu w/ it (don't care about Disney either) Otherwise I get all the locals/network/sub channels (about 15 in all) on a $70 antenna for free every month even in 'po little ole Starkville. Free (as far as I'm concerned) Amazon Prime Video, Free Amazon music, Free Amazon Photo Storage, Free Amazon Reading and all the other free channels like Tubi, Pluto, Sling Freestream, PBS, TV Garden, YouTube, etc etc etc. I even got the wife away from watching all those miserable BRAVO housewives!