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New NBA Deal to Raise Everybody's TV Rates

Over the last few years, arguably the biggest factor for rising cable bills can be attributed to the price of sports programming. DirecTV is spending close to $1.5 billion annually to offer the NFL Sunday Ticket. Time Warner Cable spent $8 billion acquiring SportsNetLA, a Los Angeles Dodgers only channel.

Now, Disney and Time Warner are paying the NBA $24 billion for nine additional years of TV rights. One research company (The Diffusion Group) notes that the deal by itself will likely “raise the average American’s pay-TV bill by a couple dollars per month.”

Based off the continued sky-rocketing prices being paid by the TV providers for sports programming, is it any wonder why so many are cutting the cord? As the research company notes, the overall price of sports TV deals, like the NBA deal, will likely “lead to greater incumbent subscriber loss."

The NBA deal does in fact show some forward thinking in that it anticipates a new OTT service that would make NBA games available to viewers outside of the pay-TV (TV Everywhere) framework. Currently, those with the NBA’s existing League Pass service are forced to deal with restrictive blackout rules and the exclusion of all national broadcast games.
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en103
join:2011-05-02

en103

Member

Does anyone really not see a problem with this ?

I know that L.A. is a BIG basketball market, but effectively NBA/NFL/NHL and even MLB are going to effectively be ~50% of everyone's TV bill unless they cut the cord.

What's next... ?
NBA/NFL-NBC Universal-Comcast corp.
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72

Member

Re: Does anyone really not see a problem with this ?

More scary that this is a 9 year contract. I don't expect to have cable in 9 years (or even in a year when my bundle expires)... Who is going to pay for this? It's going to be like land lines. The last guy out the door is paying bigtime.

The obvious target will be the broadband fees and below the line fees not seen since a baby bell land line, but you guys know the operators will misbehave and will likely lead to regulation, outroar, or a payoff to congress to avoid such regulation.

I see Comcast/TW merger being a spin off of their full TV properties to shield them from the crash. Now AT&T will be on the hook for billions for NFL.

Bread and Circuses....
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

1 recommendation

silbaco to en103

Premium Member

to en103
I don't see a problem with it. Cable TV is a nonessential service. If you don't like the rates you don't have to subscribe.

That said I wouldn't pay a dime to watch sports programming.

mackey
Premium Member
join:2007-08-20

3 recommendations

mackey

Premium Member

Re: Does anyone really not see a problem with this ?

said by silbaco:

I don't see a problem with it. Cable TV is a nonessential service. If you don't like the rates you don't have to subscribe.

That said I wouldn't pay a dime to watch sports programming.

If the ISP portion was a separate company from the TV portion I would agree. However, if people seriously start cutting the cord they're just going to jack up the internet rates to cover the costs of these billion dollar long term contracts they signed. In this area TWC is the only ISP offering decent internet speeds In a few years I can see my internet (only) bill being 2x-5x what it is now in order to subsidise all these sports channels I don't even get.

/M
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72

Member

Re: Does anyone really not see a problem with this ?

+1. It's not like this happens in a vacuum.

It's like renting a car at the airport. It cost $29 a day for the car and $50 in "fees" per day, typically all below the line fees and say $20 for a convention center charge which somehow has to do w/ renting a car? What if you aren't going to the convention center? FU pay me. We "town XYZ" decided to build a conv center and need to recoup the money somehow, because the CC is not profitable. What are you going to do, walk?

So HSI will have the "convention center charge" in a few years of $20 a month to pay for all those bloated sports contracts you have nothing to do with.
amungus
Premium Member
join:2004-11-26
America

amungus to mackey

Premium Member

to mackey
It has already doubled here.

When I first got Cox HSI, it was around $30/mo. for "preferred."
It's now ~$63.

In another some years (8-10) it'll probably be doubled again.

The current "cheaper" internet "deals" are also no deal at all. ~$10 less per month, and your speed drops from 50 to 5Mbps. No "in between," let alone better cost options because 90% of people would go for it. It's too bad uVerse deals in this "middle ground" are not much better, nor do they go much faster on the other end of the spectrum.
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco to mackey

Premium Member

to mackey
If a surge of cord cutters were to happen as a result of these continued price hikes, then things could indeed get interesting to say the least. The deal seems to be between Disney and Time Warner Inc. (not the ISP). They may have to get creative. I personally don't see cable providers being willing to sacrifice broadband revenues to pay for TV license deals. I know if my ISP loses too many TV customers and has to risk losing more money, then they will probably just cut their TV service entirely.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Netgear WNDR3700v2
Zoom 5341J

KrK to mackey

Premium Member

to mackey
Yes, that's what they already do. They charge penalty pricing for Internet only service, making Internet far more profitable then PayTV. They can do this because of the lack of competition. In a real market, Internet access, being much cheaper to offer and free from all these expensive content contracts would be much much cheaper then the PayTV packages.... but we have an artificial market, and so Internet service alone is staggeringly over-priced.

karpodiem
Hail to The Victors
Premium Member
join:2008-05-20
Troy, MI

karpodiem to mackey

Premium Member

to mackey
said by mackey:

said by silbaco:

I don't see a problem with it. Cable TV is a nonessential service. If you don't like the rates you don't have to subscribe.

That said I wouldn't pay a dime to watch sports programming.

If the ISP portion was a separate company from the TV portion I would agree. However, if people seriously start cutting the cord they're just going to jack up the internet rates to cover the costs of these billion dollar long term contracts they signed. In this area TWC is the only ISP offering decent internet speeds In a few years I can see my internet (only) bill being 2x-5x what it is now in order to subsidise all these sports channels I don't even get.

/M

said by mackey:

said by silbaco:

I don't see a problem with it. Cable TV is a nonessential service. If you don't like the rates you don't have to subscribe.

That said I wouldn't pay a dime to watch sports programming.

If the ISP portion was a separate company from the TV portion I would agree. However, if people seriously start cutting the cord they're just going to jack up the internet rates to cover the costs of these billion dollar long term contracts they signed. In this area TWC is the only ISP offering decent internet speeds In a few years I can see my internet (only) bill being 2x-5x what it is now in order to subsidise all these sports channels I don't even get.

/M

exactly. they will get their pound of flesh - a quantity of which they will define. there is no escaping this.

premium only
@50.182.138.x

premium only to en103

Anon

to en103
said by en103:

I know that L.A. is a BIG basketball market, but effectively NBA/NFL/NHL and even MLB are going to effectively be ~50% of everyone's TV bill unless they cut the cord.

What's next... ?
NBA/NFL-NBC Universal-Comcast corp.

All these sports league deals should be like NFL Sunday ticket. If you want it pay extra. If you don't care, it should not be in your bill. I wouldn't want to pay a nickel for NBA pkg. What a worthless pkg of programming g that is.

DaveDude
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey

DaveDude

Member

drop turner and nba

How about even better we drop turner and nba !

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

1 recommendation

IPPlanMan

Member

Close your wallet...

These companies only understand one thing....

Closing your wallet.

Don't pay for it if it's more than you want to pay... No matter what team is playing.

neill6705
join:2014-08-09

neill6705

Member

Screw them.

Good thing I don't subscribe to TV service anymore. Netflix, YouTube, and Popcorn Time for new releases are all I need.
bigballer
join:2014-09-25

bigballer

Member

Re: Screw them.

True that, do we really need another reason to cut the cord?
Albert71292
join:2004-10-31
West Monroe, LA

Albert71292 to neill6705

Member

to neill6705
This. I got rid of cable a few years ago. Don't miss it at ALL. Find plenty to watch over-the-air on the 19 channels I get with my outdoor antenna, online podcasts, Netflix, and Hulu Plus.
WhatNow
Premium Member
join:2009-05-06
Charlotte, NC

1 recommendation

WhatNow

Premium Member

Re: Screw them.

If I did not live just out of range of all the major cities surrounding me I would be on OTA and trying out Netflix. If TWC offered full a la carte I could get by with a 15 channel package and that is counting the OTA channels. I would even up the internet speed if I dropped the TV.

I think this is going to cost cable. They need to put the sports channels in a package like HBO and let the sports fans pay for sports.

neill6705
join:2014-08-09

neill6705 to Albert71292

Member

to Albert71292
You should check out Popcorn Time. It's like Netflix, but it's all bittorrent based and they add shows the day after they come out. For example, they have all the Doctor Who episodes within hours of their release when you can't get them anywhere else in the States.

Check it out: »popcorntime.io/
biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

biochemistry

Premium Member

Re: Screw them.

This isn't a pirate site.

neill6705
join:2014-08-09

neill6705

Member

Re: Screw them.

Nope, just a download for the best program ever to grace Windows. xP

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena

Premium Member

Re: Screw them.

It is illegal. The program will upload as well, which is why it works. I have tested it but it is not reliable.
en103
join:2011-05-02

en103 to neill6705

Member

to neill6705
I expect one of these large media corporations to purchase Netflix for the sole purpose of pushing their product.
YouTube has ads already - and Google won't sell (why would they).

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

KrK to neill6705

Premium Member

to neill6705
Don't worry. They'll jack up your internet service to cover it. And if more people turn of PayTV they'll keep jacking up the Internet to offset that.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

1 recommendation

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Sports welfare

It's been obvious for a while now that sports broadcasts have gotten so expensive that they cannot support themselves. If the people who watch this stuff had to pay the full cost of it, the whole system would collapse, so the programmers and cable/sat companies must spread the insane cost over all their offerings, forcing everyone to subsidize the sports channels.

It's long past time for a-la-carte. The programmers and cable/sat companies like to say that it'll be more expensive, but what they don't bother to mention is that most people don't watch and don't want 90% of the channels they sub to, so, no, t won't, unless the channels are priced such that 10% of them will cost as much as they all cost now. They can try that, but then no one will pay, and they'll all go bankrupt. And really, would it be that great a loss if they did?
en103
join:2011-05-02

en103

Member

Re: Sports welfare

Yup - kind of reminds me of the Ontario Teachers Pension fund in Canada. »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On ··· ion_Plan
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to ISurfTooMuch

Premium Member

to ISurfTooMuch
And yet they still suffer from strikes about not making enough money. Where is it going? Are the league owners burning it on hookers and blow or something.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Re: Sports welfare

Many people's attitudes about money seem to be, more or less, "If I can get this amount, then I'll try for more." If the team owners are making out like bandits, then the players feel they should be, too. After all, all the owners have to do is raise ticket prices, and the fans will still pay, so, in the players' and owners' minds, what's the problem?

And, if you think about it, we're the suckers for paying for all this. How much stuff do we buy now or pay radically more for than we did 20 years ago? Cable? Way more. Internet? Only a very few people had dialup, and they usually paid around $20 a month. Cell phones? Most people had landlines instead, but they weren't paying close to $200 a month for those, including long distance. Satellite radio? Um, well, I don't know anyone who pays for that now, but it's still there, and someone must be paying. How would our lives be different if we scaled back or eliminated some or all of this stuff?

Titus
Mr Gradenko
join:2004-06-26

Titus

Member

Re: Sports welfare

said by ISurfTooMuch:

Many people's attitudes about money seem to be, more or less, "If I can get this amount, then I'll try for more."

That would be called greed.
gene32
join:2004-05-03
Reynoldsburg, OH

gene32 to ISurfTooMuch

Member

to ISurfTooMuch
said by ISurfTooMuch:

It's long past time for a-la-carte. The programmers and cable/sat companies like to say that it'll be more expensive, but what they don't bother to mention is that most people don't watch and don't want 90% of the channels they sub to....

Well, if those 90% of channels had programming that was worth a sh*t, I wouldn't mind paying for them. But since TLC, Discovery, History, Food Network, HGTV, etc. broadcast nothing but CRAP "reality" TV shows..... they are useless to me. If they had good, original programming, I'd still be a paying TV subscriber. Cut the cord a few weeks ago and I'll never go back.

As for the main point in this article, I could give a spit about sports so having to subsidize that stuff was insult to injury.

Cord cut
@68.208.122.x

Cord cut

Anon

Cut it now

Cut your cord/cable tv now if it wasn't for sports and reality tv shows the cable companies would be bankrupt. I cut my uverse tv and have saved over $100 a month I have plenty of shows/movies to watch with netflix/amazon OTA/homerun tuners live tv with mediabrowser/plex and 2 rokus.

imanogre
join:2005-11-29
Smyrna, GA

imanogre

Member

Re: Cut it now

It took some convincing of the better half, but once i got her on board..... loving life now that we cut the cord. Saving over a 100 a month here as well.

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena

Premium Member

Re: Cut it now

said by imanogre:

It took some convincing of the better half, but once i got her on board..... loving life now that we cut the cord. Saving over a 100 a month here as well.

It was pretty easy to convince the wife here. We weighed the pros and the cons, and in the end the pros won. We had 2 big cons, one being our favorite sports teams (Angels and Ducks), the other being OWN (Oprah's Network) programming, which is not yet available through any online streaming deal.

I could get over losing the Ducks, she could get over losing OWN. We gained a lot of new programming instead from independent online broadcasters, from foreign countries (english), and whatever we can find on Amazon Prime and Netflix.

Cutting the cord really puts YOU in control of what you watch, instead of letting big media companies decide when stuff appears on your DVR.

ctaranto
join:2011-12-14
MA

ctaranto

Member

I love it!

Cutting the cord is validated every day now!

And for basketball? Really? The worst of the big 4.
zod5000
join:2003-10-21
Victoria, BC

zod5000

Member

It's getting ridiculous

I'm in Canada,

So I rank this about as crazy as Roger's paying 5.2 billion for NHL rights.

It's driving the prices up so high that people will start cutting. Why are the cableco's signing these deals when in the long run it will contribute to their demise? I guess they're in competition with each other (outbidding each other for sports content) but it's getting out of control.

The pro sports leagues are laughing all the way to the bank.

•••

Flyonthewall
@206.248.154.x

Flyonthewall

Anon

Thank you so much.

I really appreciate being given more reasons to stop subsidizing jocks. Why people who don't watch sports should have to assist paying for those that do is just more evidence that we need a la carte. Looking forward to when my Bell sat contract is up so I can drop them cold. Find some other sucker.
bookertdub
join:2012-10-08
San Diego, CA

bookertdub

Member

Re: Thank you so much.

The reason why jocks are subsidized so much is because sports is the only DVR proof programming out there, that's the reason why sports command so much dough.

capn
@166.137.244.x

1 recommendation

capn

Anon

sports

sports should be a seperate tier for all carriers. make them pay for there own sports

NOCMan
MadMacHatter
Premium Member
join:2004-09-30
Colorado Springs, CO

NOCMan

Premium Member

I dont watch basketball games

Yet I'm forced to subsidize these businesses through my cable bill. This is exactly why people want pay per channel programming packages so we can pay a decent rate for channels we actually watch.

Maybe it will take a class action lawsuit to end these kind of deals being forced to pay for something were not actually using.

drjosh121
join:2002-01-06
Matthews, NC

drjosh121

Member

Most people with cable like sports

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the majority of people like to watch sports. »www.gallup.com/poll/1542 ··· rts.aspx This being said I still dont like the fact that channels are not ala carte. I myself enjoy almost every sport and would be just fine with having a sports only plan. One of the reasons this will never work is that large channels , ABC CBS FOX NBC TNT USA TBS ESPN have figured out that they get much larger ratings for sporting events than they do for a rerun of the Big bang theory, Mike and Molly, or NCIS. More ratings=more money from ads. This brings me back to why it will never work to have sports fans pay for sports. Large channels simply do not want to miss out on the 63% of the population that is interested in sports. So either you pay for everything, watch OTA, or pay for nothing. But simply charging people for sports is not possible. Even if they did make ESPN an Ala carte channel do you seriously think that they wouldn't start charging more for all of Disney's other channels. Which in turn raises prices. I guess what I'm saying is if you don't like it stop paying and for those that have I wish you the best of luck and I am glad to hear you are saving money.

••••
IanR
join:2001-03-22
Fort Mill, SC

IanR

Member

If I opt out of NBA coverage can I claim a discount?

Title gives my feelings.

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena

Premium Member

Re: If I opt out of NBA coverage can I claim a discount?

said by IanR:

Title gives my feelings.

Of course not. The cable company won't let you pay for 1 major league team either. Are you a hockey fan in New York and would love to watch the Rangers all winter long, but could care less about MLB and NBA? TOO BAD, you SHALL pay for the Yankees, Mets, Knicks and your big fat rival the Islanders too. Please open your behind a little wider so we can scrape the money out of it.
neufuse
join:2006-12-06
James Creek, PA

neufuse

Member

haven't watched...

I haven't watched a NBA game in 20 years? or an NFL game in probably 10? never watch baseball or hockey..... so I have to pay for them to watch the channels I do watch? that is and always was BS... I think sports should be pay if you want them channels... not everyone wants to watch sports.. you have to pay to go to the game, then you should have to pay to watch the game if you want them... there you have a choice now... it's like Comcast when I renegotiated my bill.. they saved me $30 but the guy said "oh and you get all the sports channels too!" I told him I never watch sports what's the point? can't I save more without them? nope.... they are packaged into my package....
DMS1
join:2005-04-06
Plano, TX

DMS1

Member

Simple solution

There's a very simple solution. The broadcasters can just agree among themselves that when the contract for a particular sport comes up for bid, none of them bid more than a tenth of the current contract value. Such collusion is illegal when used to push prices up, but it would be a very brave lawmaker to get involved when they would be working against virtually everyone's interest.

And for anyone that says the sports couldn't survive on a tenth of the broadcast income - of course they could. They can scale their variable costs, principally salaries, accordingly.

RyanThaDude
Indiana's No. 1 Zero
join:2004-01-24
Walkerton, IN

RyanThaDude

Member

Even more reasons...

... to cut the cord until the cable/dish companies get a clue and move all sports to their own separate tier. Most of us know that'll never happen since it seems the content providers (ESPN, etc.) are the ones that seem to run the show, not the content distributors. So we all pay for crap TV. So until cable companies get a clue and actually tell the providers what they want on their systems instead the other way around, it's time to vote with your wallet. I know I am (looking at you Mediacom and your Regional Sports Surcharge!)

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

1 recommendation

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Until they force bundling

It's not a matter of if but when the cable companies force bundling of TV and Internet and no longer offer internet as a standalone product. They will probably require that the cable box (which will be a separate rental fee) be connected to power as per the TOS.

Cable is getting hosed by sports. Or they'll add a sports broadcast fee, even to internet only subscribers.

I myself would like to see the carriage disputes with ESPN (demanding that it be moved to a sports tier or blackout).

•••••••

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

1 edit

maartena

Premium Member

Screw you big cable/sat! CUT THE CORD!

Here in Los Angeles there are 8 major league teams and if you want to watch/follow just one of them.... you will have to pay for all 8 teams. 2 MLB teams, 2 NBA teams, 2 MLS teams and 2 NHL teams.

TWC's Lakers channel costs the subscribers $4.
Same for the Dodgers channels, another $4.

After they managed to stuff $4 for the Lakers down our throats, they tried to sell the Dodgers for the same $4 per subscriber, but none have signed on so far.

The Angels broadcast deal went for $3 per subscriber, and part of that deal was the 10 year aquisition of Pujols for $250 million.

The NHL teams have broadcast deals for around $2 each, the Clippers somewhere between $2 and $3 according to local media a few years back. The MLS teams aren't that expensive, but every nickel adds up.

And what if you are a Dodgers fan, but could care less about the Angels and the other 6 teams? TOO BAD! You want to watch one, you will PAY FOR ALL OF THEM, no exceptions. There is no choice when it comes to sports teams, and in a multi-team market like L.A., N.Y. or Chicago (Cubs/Sox etc), you are getting screwed by your cable company by having to pay for all teams.

Now there is this new deal that is no doubt going to mean that ESPN's price is going up again since Disney is involved, and TWC's Sportsnet channels might also get more expensive even still.

Now figure in the Comcast TWC merger for a second, if that goes through a cable company owns the broadcast rights to a whole BUCKload of sports teams through TWC Sportsnets, Comcast Sportsnets, NBC Sports (NBC is owned by Comcast), and deals like this one with the NBA. And guess who will get royally screwed then? The competition such as U-Verse, FIOS, Dish, DirecTV, who will be charged through the nose for those channels, knowing sports sells, and without the channels to local teams you will start to bleed customers.

WHERE WILL IT END? When will people finally see that pretty much half of their cable bill is going to be about sports? Is sports really worth it to keep getting screwed over and over and over again?

Add to that all the MYSTERY fees that no cable operator can actually explain (try giving your address and asking the sales rep to tell you EXACTLY what the bill is going to be), ever increasing lease prices for DVR units or other digital tuners.... and what do you really get in return? 200+ channels, of which (and this is purely an opinion of course) 90% of programming is utter crap.

My DirecTV bill for whole home DVR on three televisions had risen to $115 a month when I finally cancelled. I now pay $25 for Amazon Prime, Netflix, and a SmartDNS for BBC iPlayer. And that really is more then enough for on-screen entertainment.

So I am saving about $90 a month, or $1080 a year.

Sports. Or a THOUSAND dollars. Sports. Or a THOUSAND dollars. Yeah, guess who won..... If I really really want to watch a game and there is no online stream, i'll go have a pint at the local sports bar. At least then I get a cute server with huge boobs serving me the beer too.

buzz_4_20
join:2003-09-20
Dover, NH
(Software) Sophos UTM Home Edition
Ruckus R310

buzz_4_20

Member

The Bigger Problem

Many people are dropping cable due to the cost.
While many ISPs will start raising rates to keep profits up they are still going to keep losing customers, people just don't have the spending money anymore.

Some customers have a price they are willing to pay for services and that's it. You can't get blood from a stone.

carpetshark3
Premium Member
join:2004-02-12
Idledale, CO

carpetshark3

Premium Member

Re: The Bigger Problem

Let sports do what MLB does. We subscribe tp MLB only over Roku. It comes out a little cheaper for us since the rest of cable is crap as far as we are concerned. We can watch out of area games plus spring training.

Gripe about paying sports figures? They are overpaid, but so are movies stars and other entertainers.