The End Of A Family Tradition

[RiverDog]

So, I should have made it clear at the beginning I was writing this more or less for my older relatives that are not computer savvy, myself I am aware of all the work arounds, but tell old Uncle Bob or Grandpa Joe what a streaming service is would require more patience than I have. And he / they would never watch a complete game on a computer screen anyway, smart TV, yea right. Hell, I still have older relatives that grumble about basic cable.....

I'm 70 years old, a baby boomer, which means I was born with a belly button on my stomach, not a USB port like subsequent generations have, so I can sympathize with your predicament.

I cut the cable a couple of years ago. I was paying about $180/month for cable/internet through Charter for the package that included the Red Zone and other channels I wanted. I did some research and found that the best streaming service for what I wanted, ie ESPN, NFL Network, Root Sports (Mariners), and the Red Zone, that Fubo was my best option for $120/month during football season. When you add in what I have to pay for the internet, about $80/month through Charter, it's about a push.

However, I can share my Fubo account with 3 other family members and stream it on 10 devices at any given time. I also have 1000 hours of DVR cloud storage, something I didn't have with Charter. And I can change my subscription level at any time, so once the season's over, I'll drop the Red Zone package and save $20/month or so. You can also pause your service if you're going to be away from home for a couple of months.

I was already a Amazon Prime member so the TNF games didn't cost me anything extra. So far this year, I had to buy a month's subscription to Peacock for $4.99 to watch a SNF game and I paid $6.99 to watch the two Xmas day games on Netflix. My wife discovered that Netflix had the Lincoln Lawyer series that she wanted to watch, so she was delighted that I signed up for a month. A happy wife is a happy life.

 

[Maulbert]

I'm 70 years old, a baby boomer, which means I was born with a belly button on my stomach, not a USB port like subsequent generations have, so I can sympathize with your predicament.

I cut the cable a couple of years ago. I was paying about $180/month for cable/internet through Charter for the package that included the Red Zone and other channels I wanted. I did some research and found that the best streaming service for what I wanted, ie ESPN, NFL Network, Root Sports (Mariners), and the Red Zone, that Fubo was my best option for $120/month during football season. When you add in what I have to pay for the internet, about $80/month through Charter, it's about a push.

However, I can share my Fubo account with 3 other family members and stream it on 10 devices at any given time. I also have 1000 hours of DVR cloud storage, something I didn't have with Charter. And I can change my subscription level at any time, so once the season's over, I'll drop the Red Zone package and save $20/month or so. You can also pause your service if you're going to be away from home for a couple of months.

I was already a Amazon Prime member so the TNF games didn't cost me anything extra. So far this year, I had to buy a month's subscription to Peacock for $4.99 to watch a SNF game and I paid $6.99 to watch the two Xmas day games on Netflix. My wife discovered that Netflix had the Lincoln Lawyer series that she wanted to watch, so she was delighted that I signed up for a month. A happy wife is a happy life.

Embrace change instead of fighting it. Kudos.

 

[Lagartixa]

It's just another conspiracy theory of fevered brains.

Yeah, well, the fact that these regular-season Netflix games set viewing records suggests that the NFL and the various companies making money from it are still well within what they can charge for access. I'm sure they have really good analytic-marketing people measuring this stuff carefully and getting better and better estimates of the current optimal pricing for all the different modes of access.

So the zero-percent-surprising conclusion is that if that boycott even exists still, it's obviously not affecting Netflix's business, nor the NFL's decision to give Netflix more exclusive games at times when more people are likely to be watching.

In the short term, I was thrilled that the NFL's analysis led them to charge me ridiculously little for NFL Game Pass this season, because a long delay in a work project this year cost me six or seven months of expected revenue and caused some major cash-flow concerns, but now that I can take a slightly longer-term view, I wonder if I should be worried that NFL Game Pass being so cheap for what it is might be a sign that they're seeing how low they have to go in price to get enough interest to generate enough demand to make it worthwhile for them. I sure hope not. For the moment, it's got great cost-benefit. I'd pay $100 for a season and I wouldn't have to stop to think about it. Paying $80 or so feels almost like I'm getting away with something shady.

 

[RiverDog]

Embrace change instead of fighting it. Kudos.

Yep. My dad used to tell a story about my grandpa, a carpenter by trade. He was using a hand saw to cut roof rafters off at the eaves on a garage he was building for my dad. A neighbor saw what he was doing, brought over a new-fangled electric circular saw, buzzed off a few rafters, and handed it to gramps. Grandpa took it, examined it for a moment, then set it down and resumed sawing with his hand saw.

It's not rocket science. But it does require patience and a little humility, especially for old Fockers like me.

 

[Hawkinaz]

When you are spending $400+ on the NFL Ticket I do expect to have access to all the games, the NFLs greed is pushing me away. This will probably be my last year with the service

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Netflix is free on t-mobile, so is apple and MLB tv

 

[NoGain]

I'll admit that at my age that the technological changes of the past 25 years or so annoy the hell out of me at times. They make me have to think and research more than I want to.

When it comes to football, back in the day it was easy. My teams games were almost always available to see for free, as were other big games and the playoffs on the major networks. From that perspective, has it really gotten better as a consumer for me, other than nicer technologies, screens, sound, and the like? Not really.