More Changes Coming In TV Broadcasting Of NFL Games

[RiverDog]

I'll copy and paste the entire article:

Report: Netflix is looking to host Sunday afternoon NFL games​

After a record breaking Christmas Day, Netflix is looking to expand their footprint in the NFL.

You can’t spell Netflix without “NFL.”

Last season NFL fans experienced their first live NFL games on Netflix, when the streaming service hosted two Christmas Day games, first the Kansas City Chiefs defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers, 29-10, followed by the Baltimore Ravens defeating the Houston Texans 31-2.

Surely both Netflix and the NFL wanted some more competitive games to begin this three-year partnership. However, the lack of excitement did not prevent fans from tuning in. According to Nielsen, there was an unduplicated audience of nearly 65 million viewers for the NFL-Netflix doubleheader. This number became Netflix’s most-watched Christmas Day Ever in the United States.

Though the NFL and Netflix already have two more years left in their streaming deal, both parties are already looking forward to expanding their partnership past the holidays. According to Netflix’s chief content officer, Bela Bajaria, the streaming company is interested in bidding for the NFL’s Sunday Afternoon games.


The current Sunday afternoon games are split between Fox (who acquired the NFC package in 1994) and CBS (who acquired the AFC package in 1998). These current broadcast deals between the NFL and Fox/CBS run through 2033, however the league can legally scrap these deals four years early. This means, that as early as the 2029 season, NFL fans may see a completely new broadcast team for the Sunday afternoon games.

With Netflix already a player in the NFL broadcast deals, and appearing to be growing, this could and will likely lead to one of the current broadcast partners being pushed out, or as Mike Florio put it, “at best, [be] relegated to Sunday mornings” to host the international series. The NFL is a business, and in business money talks. So Seattle Seahawks fans, make sure to enjoy the current state of broadcast teams as they currently stand, because soon enough they will be changing, for better or for worse.

Report: Netflix is aiming for even more NFL rights soon

After a record breaking Christmas Day, Netflix is looking to expand their footprint in the NFL.

www.fieldgulls.com

Just one more reminder of how internet streaming is changing the TV landscape.

 

[sutz]

Oh great, more games I can't watch.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

They better damn well show them on Red Zone.

 

[RiverDog]

They better damn well show them on Red Zone.

Oh, I'm sure they will. The Red Zone is run by NFL Network which is owned by the league.

And I have a little different take than most others. The net effect of all this diversification of televised games due to internet streaming, at least so far and from my perspective, has been to give us a cheaper product. When I think of what I was paying Charter Spectrum for their package which included the Red Zone, and taking into consideration that I can share a subscription with other family members, I'm paying far less.

 

[IndyHawk]

Oh, I'm sure they will. The Red Zone is run by NFL Network which is owned by the league.

And I have a little different take than most others. The net effect of all this diversification of televised games due to internet streaming, at least so far and from my perspective, has been to give us a cheaper product. When I think of what I was paying Charter Spectrum for their package which included the Red Zone, and taking into consideration that I can share a subscription with other family members, I'm paying far less.

You Tube and NFL ticket which I had for the first and last time are not
what I consider cheap.
I found a way cheaper alternative and my previous free streamer is back
again.
The NFL can go stick it because they are NOT getting any more of my $$$.

 

[Hawkinaz]

Oh, I'm sure they will. The Red Zone is run by NFL Network which is owned by the league.

And I have a little different take than most others. The net effect of all this diversification of televised games due to internet streaming, at least so far and from my perspective, has been to give us a cheaper product. When I think of what I was paying Charter Spectrum for their package which included the Red Zone, and taking into consideration that I can share a subscription with other family members, I'm paying far less.

The last I have heard is that ESPN/Disney is close to aquiring NFL Network

 

[Hawkinaz]

I had made up my mind mid season of the past season will be my last season with NFL Ticket. 3 factors was greed, politics and Chiefs bias. I can still watch games on Amazon Prime and I will probably pick up either YTTV, Fubo or DIRECTV Stream to watch college games

 

[Cyrus12]

Outside of seahawk games it's only redzone for me but read somewhere they might cancel it. No way I'll watch all those commercials...I dont even watch primetime games anymore. All those streaming services it's just a matter of time before regular cable disappear.

 

[RiverDog]

I had made up my mind mid season of the past season will be my last season with NFL Ticket. 3 factors was greed, politics and Chiefs bias. I can still watch games on Amazon Prime and I will probably pick up either YTTV, Fubo or DIRECTV Stream to watch college games

I changed my TV provider to Fubo two years ago. I'm currently paying $79.99/month which gives me 250+ channels, unlimited cloud DVR storage, and I can share it on up to 10 screens at one time. During the football season, I'll add the package which includes the Red Zone that tacks on another $20/month, changing the subscription to the cheaper package once the regular season is over. I'm sharing my subscription with my daughter and brother. I was paying $180/month with Charter Spectrum, but that included internet which now costs me $90, so it's pretty much a push until you consider that I didn't have any DVR capability with Charter and I couldn't share it with my family.

Therefore, when I have to subscribe to Netflix for $6.00 or whatever the hell it is so I can watch a couple of games on Christmas Day then cancel it the next month, I'm not going to get my briefs in a wad over the cost of a couple of IPA's in a bar.

 

[Wsumatt1982]

This shit is stupid. The only reason it had high ratings was because it had no competition. Keep games off streaming services.

 

[DeSeahawk]

Not a surprise at all. The games will move to streaming more and more until only your local team is available on local channels. The only hope I have is that eventually they will offer a team ticket cheaper than the standard league ticket.

 

[Maulbert]

Cable and broadcast are dying. The sooner you old fogies accept it, the easier it'll be.

 

[Lagartixa]

You Tube and NFL ticket which I had for the first and last time are not
what I consider cheap.
I found a way cheaper alternative and my previous free streamer is back
again.
The NFL can go stick it because they are NOT getting any more of my $$$.

I think the NFL's league office probably has one of the strongest marketing departments in the world. A lot of people use "marketing" as a synonym for "advertising," but it isn't. Marketing is much broader than that. The NFL understands the markets that are relevant to its business and specific segments of those markets it can target with its products and services, and I am sure that every important decision that goes into developing new products and modifying or maintaining existing ones is driven by data and with specific strategic goals in mind.

So you might think it's kind of weird that the NFL's offerings in its overwhelmingly most important national market, the USA, are so frustrating and expensive that it's making some fans seek alternative means or just plain miss games, while the NFL offers a spectacularly great and accessible product at a great price to fans in countries that are much less important to the NFL's current bottom line.

I live in Brazil and this last year I paid less than 85 dollars for a year of NFL Game Pass, which gives me live access to every NFL game, no matter what network or streaming service is carrying it, with no blackouts (In Brazil and many other countries; I beileve this is not the case in the U.K. and Ireland, for example), from the preseason through the Super Bowl, plus NFL network, plus RedZone, plus access to a library of old games. In the current season, every game that has been played can be viewed in three formats: the whole broadcast with the commercials removed, a 40-minute condensed version, or a 10-minute just-the-best-parts version. Live games come with the national commercials, and I know many would disagree, but I actually like having the commercials, because it makes me feel like I'm back in the house where I grew up watching football there, mostly with my dad when I was a kid and with my mom when I would go back to visit as an adult. I also think the commercials are better than the basically blank screens that are often the placeholders for local commercials.

Anyway, even for those who don't like having to see commercials in a live broadcast, well under a hundred bucks for a year of access to everything NFL Game Pass offers is just a great price for a great product. NFL Game Pass is proof that the NFL is capable of offering convenience and value in its products.

And while it may seem bizarre that the NFL would offer such great value to those of us outside the USA and make things so inconvenient and expensive to those in the USA, but I am sure there's strategy involved. My best guess is that they're trying to grow the international market and are squeezing the U.S. market just enough that while many are frustrated with at least some aspects of following an NFL season, overall profits are increasing. If they drive some people to pirate streams, it's in a way that serves the NFL. I'd guess that they grow the audience overall despite losing some, and that they also bring in more fans in key demographic groups. Those fans can, for example, make advertising on NFL games more valuable, and therefore increase the value of future NFL broadcast contracts.

And yeah, it does suck that "key demographic groups" comes down to "people who will spend more money," but that's just the way things work.

It will be really interesting to me to see how the NFL responds to a hard economic downturn.

 

[Seahawks Guy]

.

 

[Seahawks Guy]

Cable and broadcast are dying. The sooner you old fogies accept it, the easier it'll be.

Streaming services are fine but right now we have to pay for subscriptions to 4 extra streaming services to see all the games. Streaming services were supposed to save us money, but the NFL and networks have figured out a way to suck those savings out of our pockets.

 

[RiverDog]

Cable and broadcast are dying. The sooner you old fogies accept it, the easier it'll be.

Agreed. You can piss and moan all you want, but the TV broadcast landscape is changing, and it's not going back. The only person you'd be hurting by boycotting it is yourself. If rape is inevitable, you might as lay back and enjoy the sex.

Some of the advantages of streaming include no equipment, less infrastructure, it's portable, no long-term contracts, and they generally offer more subscription levels than cable/satellite. There's also a ton of competition, which will keep prices low. And at least in my case, I can share my subscription with others.

Having said that, there are a few things that some of these streaming services can improve on. One is the fast forward/rewind feature. There are times I'll start watching game an hour or so after kickoff so I can fast forward through commercials, halftime, etc. Fubo's, my TV provider, is far inferior to my friend's DirectTV system.

 

[James in PA]

I hate the NFL more with each passing year. They are lucky that most fans are so loyal to their team that they're willing to put up with this BS. That might change at some point.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

I'll never stop watching, ever.

 

[Torc]

Streaming services are fine but right now we have to pay for subscriptions to 4 extra streaming services to see all the games. Streaming services were supposed to save us money, but the NFL and networks have figured out a way to suck those savings out of our pockets.

Consumers begged and pleaded and threatened to get ala carte channels instead of the big cable packages. It does save you money.....if you're willing to subscribe to one or two services. But most of us want multiple options, so we end up paying more for less.

It boggles my mind that there still isn't a way to buy a streaming season ticket for your favorite team and get all the live games. We get the NFL+ package that lets us stream the games when they're completed, or we can watch them live on a phone or tablet. We only got that because Fox doesn't have a streaming option like CBS/Paramount does. I'm sure it has to do with the NFL contracts, they can't compete with the broadcast stations. That just makes it more annoying.

 

[Seahawks Guy]

Consumers begged and pleaded and threatened to get ala carte channels instead of the big cable packages. It does save you money.....if you're willing to subscribe to one or two services. But most of us want multiple options, so we end up paying more for less.

How does it save money?

When games were on ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox, you just need basic cable or YouTube TV subscription to get all the games. Now you need that plus a subscription to Peacock, Amazon, Netflix, and Paramount.