I haven’t done a thoughts post in ages. It’s fine time you’ve been provided one. Lets do this. As usual, they come in bullet form.
- How much is too much? When will the sports rights fee bubble burst? When will there be major blowback from a major cable or satellite provider against one of the major or regional sports networks? I have feeling that the providers are reaching the end of their proverbial ropes on constantly rising subscriber fees from sports programmers. They are a major reason why your pay TV bills are increasing. While sports fans feel the battles have become par for the course, a majority of the country doesn’t follow sports and wonder why they have to subsidize something they don’t watch.With Fox Sports’ purchases involving YES and Sports Time Ohio and creating two all-new sports networks along with Time Warner’s Los Angeles Lakers channel and potentially a Dodgers network, the price for subscriber is only going to go up. And with rights fees growing exponentially, the sports fan who might be living paycheck to paycheck may find him or herself priced out of watching sports on television.With many consumers cutting the cord on cable or satellite and finding alternate ways to watch TV, one wonders if networks and leagues will cut deals directly with YouTube or other online distributors to reach viewers.
- Looking forward to seeing the debut of “The Crossover” with Michelle Beadle and Dave Briggs on NBC Sports Network. While we saw a sneak preview after the Pro Bowl on Sunday night, it certainly looked like an exact clone of her old show, SportsNation. It was only five minutes. We’ll see if it’s any different when it finally airs. Michelle is so funny, that the show will probably work.
- There was a time when network’s only Super Bowl pregame programming came on Super Bowl Sunday. Now with CBS, NBC and soon, Fox developing their cable sports networks, they all need inventory. So CBS Sports Network has 50 hours of programming this week, NBC Sports Network has its share, NFL Network has 140. Because there’s interest in the game, the networks provide the programming. It works because people will watch and it’s the NFL. If the Super Bowl didn’t get the ratings, the networks would not do much, but again, how much is too much? Is there a limit to this too?
- Speaking of Fox, it appears their cable sports strategy is taking shape. Not only will Speed be converted to Fox Sports 1, John Ourand at Sports Business Journal reports that Fuel will be rebranded to Fox Sports 2 with Fox Soccer becoming FX2 and no longer in the sports business. So Fox will have two all-cable sports channels to handle college basketball, college football, MLB, MMA, NASCAR, soccer and other inventory the division will develop. And I would not be surprised to see a lot of Super Bowl programming on both Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 in advance of Super Bowl XLIX in New York/New Jersey next year. And there won’t be any sports on FX once FS1 and 2 come to fruition.
- Quick movie recap: Les Miserables A, Django Unchained A+, Movie 43 C minus and Silver Linings Playbook with A+. SLP was much better than I thought it would be. Very impressed with Jennifer Lawrence’s performance and Bradley Cooper was very good.
That’s all.
