re: PS Vue, LIVE Internet TV streaming | NFL Network and Redzone available

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I wonder how sustainable their pricing model and channel lineup really is.

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I've written a few times that, while the current crop of streaming services are nice and are a decent value, I think they've still got the wrong idea: the bundle. It's good that the pricing is transparent, the contracts are gone, and the provider is separate from the service that brings it to us, but phase two is going to have to break down the channel bundles. Otherwise, one of two things will happen... either the cost of streaming services as they add channels will gradually approach the cost of just getting cable, or the bundles will "churn" as channels are added and dropped so the service can maintain a particular price point.

So IMO, the answer is 'not very sustainable'.


It's just such an odd industry, the way it's all structured. The expensive channels (ESPN) need the bundle because they don't want to look so expensive (and expendable), so they want other channels to come along with them to average out the cost in the consumer's mind. The cheap channels also need the bundle, because they would rather tag along with ESPN and get 50 cents each from ten million subscribers (plus more exposure and ad revenue) than get $2 each from one million subscribers if they were standalone.



On the bright side (at least I think it's the bright side), I think the ESPN and live sports bubble is on the verge of bursting. The broadcast rights deals are so astronomical, and combined with shrinking subscriber bases I think will put a lot of pressure on them to make some changes. They may think they can just keep charging more and more and people will pay, but that just seems foolish considering their subscriber numbers are already shrinking fast due to high prices. They're going to have to either start offering some reasonably priced streaming packages direct to consumers, or just let the bubble burst and let Disney bail them out and start over with a less aggressive approach than buy-all-the-rights. But the problem with THAT is the leagues are now accustomed to raising rates faster than healthcare, so the product may suffer a bit. That wouldn't be necessarily bad, IMO, I'd like to see sports get back to their essence: competition, rather than spectacle.


That's enough rambling, I guess.

Not surprised. They need to start filling their commercials until the networks do it themselves. There's a lot of money not being used. Promote movies, video games, etc instead of the vacant PS Vue commercial screen.

No paw patrol hurts us bad

I think we'd pay an extra $10/month just for NickJr. Need that Paw Patrol for my 3 yr old.

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I'll probably just buy a season of paw patrol for now.

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What about Blaze, Shimmer and Shine, Peppa Pig, etc ....I guess maybe some of that isn't important if you have a son and not a daughter.....I'm pretty sure my daughter couldn't live (at least in her mind) without Peppa, Shimmer and Shine, Bubble Guppies, etc.

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If my daughter doesn't hear the "Line up, line up, everybody line up" song 1x or more a day. Get ready for a fricking M-E-L-T.

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shite...I heard that

I have a daughter but she hasn't discovered that yet. I plan to avoid it all.

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Unless something has changed since I had sling a few months ago, you can't use your sling credentials to log into the apps though, which is pretty aggravating.

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Pretty sure it's still the same, and yeah it's aggravating. Even if you could log into all of the "TV Everywhere" apps though, it's still aggravating switching apps all the time. Using Plex is so much better.

Same issue for me at the moment.

Eta: back working now.