Cord cutting revisited

[mu_hilltopper]

62% of the US doesn't watch college football, doesn't care about sports in general.

I'm good if YoutubeTV never carries any of the ESPN channels again.

[MU82]

Me too. I'll just cancel YTTV and go with a different distributor.

[BM1090]

If anyone has YTTV and wants to watch the game Sunday, Fubo has ESPN and offers a 5 day trial. Order it Friday and you'll get MU Sunday and the Packers Monday

[MU82]

From The Athletic's "Money Call" e-newsletter:

I totally get the business disagreement, because it's been the same issue ad nauseam since the cable bundle ascended more than four decades ago: Disney wants X dollars per subscriber from YouTube TV, and YouTube TV would like to pay less than X.

What makes this iteration of the age-old battle between content company and distributor a bit different? In short, neither of these sides currently needs a deal to happen.

YouTube TV's parent company Alphabet (market cap $3.35 trillion) doesn't really need YouTube TV at all. (It's a "nice to have, but not Nvidia," so to speak.)

Disney (market cap: $200 billion) is in the business of selling its content to the broadest audience possible, but its revenue from YouTube TV isn't existential.

It's worth noting that ESPN does pay the NFL around $2.7 billion per year for its game rights and makes hundreds of millions in revenue related to those rights, so losing out on a couple million potential viewers for a "Monday Night Football" game isn't an ideal ROI.

And so those of us who generally like the YouTube TV offering are left hanging. We're not necessarily switching (although there are very viable options), but a flimsy $20 credit from YTTV after a nebulous "extended period" of missed games didn't really help me last Saturday during that inaccessible SEC football tripleheader.

They will eventually resolve this negotiation, but it isn't like previous ones, which wrapped up before the blackouts really started.

We are one missed college football Saturday, one missed NYC Marathon, one missed "Monday Night Football" game (and "ManningCast") and one CFP fake-bracket reveal into this, and there might be more misses to come in the week (or two?!) ahead, which I would not have predicted a week ago. We're in "unstoppable force meets immovable object" territory.

[Pakuni]

Monday Night Football ratings were down 21% from the same week in 2024.

https://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/monday-night-football-rating-falls-cowboys-cardinals-espn-youtube-tv.html

[TallTitan34]

If anyone has YTTV and wants to watch the game Sunday, Fubo has ESPN and offers a 5 day trial. Order it Friday and you'll get MU Sunday and the Packers Monday

I currently have YTTV but I just began the Fubo five day trial.  It seems like a pretty good deal.  And for you Illinois sports fans it includes Marquee and Chicago Sports Network.

[muwarrior69]

Youtube just signed an agreement with C-SPAN so they have to cut something I guess.

[Pakuni]

I currently have YTTV but I just began the Fubo five day trial.  It seems like a pretty good deal.  And for you Illinois sports fans it includes Marquee and Chicago Sports Network.

I imagine I'll be doing the same tomorrow or Saturday morning if this thing isn't settled by then.

[MU82]

I imagine I'll be doing the same tomorrow or Saturday morning if this thing isn't settled by then.

Same here - Sat morning will do trial with DirecTV or Fubo.

[Jay Bee]

Youtube just signed an agreement with C-SPAN so they have to cut something I guess.

https://youtu.be/PRzuDnRIYaw?si=q0KYN1i9vf9AMpo5

[We R Final Four]

https://youtu.be/PRzuDnRIYaw?si=q0KYN1i9vf9AMpo5

I've just gone down a rabbit hole listening to vol 1,2, and 3.
So stupid....yet so funny.

[CreightonWarrior]

Same here - Sat morning will do trial with DirecTV or Fubo.

didn't mind DTV when I did the free trial last weekend, trying out fubo this weekend. Refuse to pay for two streaming services by YTTV's days are very limited when my next payment is due.

[#UnleashMalik]

Billionaires fighting over a few million they will never notice, while us peasants scramble to attempt to watch our favorite teams.


Sounds like a perfect analogy for 2025.

[CreightonWarrior]

Billionaires fighting over a few million they will never notice, while us peasants scramble to attempt to watch our favorite teams.


Sounds like a perfect analogy for 2025.

no kidding, sounds eerily familiar to some other situation going on right now.

[reinko]

I currently have YTTV but I just began the Fubo five day trial.  It seems like a pretty good deal.  And for you Illinois sports fans it includes Marquee and Chicago Sports Network.

What do you think of the UI, easy to navigate?  Is it right, that multi-view is limited to two screens vs. 2?  (I read that 4 screen multi-view is limited to Apple TV players, and the newest Roku TVs)

[reinko]

Apparently I signed up for a Fubo trial in 2022, so I am not eligible, and they do a bit of bait and switch on the pricing page where they don't include a $15.99/month regional sports fee (which I don't want because I don't live near the teams I cheer for), and I can't opt out of.

Figure this the eff out.

[MU82]

Apparently I signed up for a Fubo trial in 2022, so I am not eligible, and they do a bit of bait and switch on the pricing page where they don't include a $15.99/month regional sports fee (which I don't want because I don't live near the teams I cheer for), and I can't opt out of.

Figure this the eff out.

Try DirecTV. Also, Sling has daily and weekend passes available from 5-10 bucks.

[#UnleashMalik]

What do you think of the UI, easy to navigate?  Is it right, that multi-view is limited to two screens vs. 2?  (I read that 4 screen multi-view is limited to Apple TV players, and the newest Roku TVs)

Another thing reminding me of the glory days of PS Vue.

That UI + a ps 4 controller that never missed an action.... So gooooooooooooooooooooooood.

[We R Final Four]

Apparently I signed up for a Fubo trial in 2022, so I am not eligible, and they do a bit of bait and switch on the pricing page where they don't include a $15.99/month regional sports fee (which I don't want because I don't live near the teams I cheer for), and I can't opt out of.

Figure this the eff out.

Yes—I too have expired all of my free week trials. Fubo.....tubi..some others.
I need Pac 10 network for this game........I needed sec network on a different carrier for that game.
I'll do $5 sling for the game as 82 and others have said.

Agree....figure it out.

[MU82]

Just signed up for DirecTV. Had to give credit card and other info, but oh well. Will cancel Wednesday and pay $0.00.

[Pakuni]

Got Fubu this morning. Interface is decent, but lack of multiview (at least on non-Apple TVs) is a bummer.

[MU82]

So far I hate the fast-forward capability on DirecTV's DVR. Gotta go in 30-second increments.

[TallTitan34]

What do you think of the UI, easy to navigate?  Is it right, that multi-view is limited to two screens vs. 2?  (I read that 4 screen multi-view is limited to Apple TV players, and the newest Roku TVs)

I would compare the interface to a mixture of YTTV and Peacock. 

The cons I have are it doesn't have the live stats and "watch key play" feature YTTV has and I don't love that there are ads for PPV events mixed throughout the interface.

I have an older Roku stick so I can't do the multi-view but several of the packages come with an Apple TV box which allows it if you commit to six months.

The DVR appears to be identical to YTTV.  You can record shows or sports teams and it has seems to have the same unlimited recording and save for eight months.

Marquee, Chicago Sports Network, and ESPN Unlimited would cost me $90/month in addition to my YTTV.  All of those are included along with 4K, Apple TV box, and NFL Redzone in the $104/month package so I think this is the way for me to go. 

[TallTitan34]

Possible issue with Fubo... no TBS, TNT, or Time Warner channels which Marquette will have games on.

May need a Fubo subscription and a HBO subscription.

[Jay Bee]

At some point just flying to every game will be most economical.