NBC Sports Network

[skurey]

With the soccer talk ITT the Champions League really needs to be on an actual channel and not a paid streaming site. Greatest sporting event short of the Olympics.

 

[cusefan88]

NBC will move sports inventory to USA. PL has been pushing them to get more games off Peacock. They have a somewhat frosty relationship now heading into negotiations for the next rights cycle. However in my experience the PL will take the most lucrative offer they get from the TV bidders. They don't care about much else.

 

[upperdeck]

its funny to hear people complain about thinking stuff should be on a free tier and then at the same time people complain about paying for channels they dont watch when stuff is batched together..

sports is a draw for this board but still on any avg day the vast majority of people are not watching sports on tv.

we went from never getting any games 20-30 yrs ago to almost any game you want on but having to pay the cost of 1 live ticket to watch 100s of games for a yr and people dont think thats a good deal..

 

[sufandu]

its funny to hear people complain about thinking stuff should be on a free tier and then at the same time people complain about paying for channels they dont watch when stuff is batched together..

sports is a draw for this board but still on any avg day the vast majority of people are not watching sports on tv.

we went from never getting any games 20-30 yrs ago to almost any game you want on but having to pay the cost of 1 live ticket to watch 100s of games for a yr and people dont think thats a good deal..

For most, it's not watching hundreds of games per year. It's having access to hundreds so that you can catch the few you actually care about. It's actually the same issue as the rest of TV programming. You pay for a whole bunch of channels just to get the few you want or you pay for a streaming service that advertises all of this exclusive content just so you can watch the one show that everyone is talking about.

 

[upperdeck]

yup and streaming $50 a yr to watch even 2-3 games a yr is a good deal. but more likely you will watch 10-20 if something like soccer is your thing.

i would pay for more if some were offered. things like league one/two and others are really hard to watch over here.

 

[JDubbin]

Thoughts on the Henry ownership group freeze on spending this January window for Liverpool?

I think FSG & Liverpool has been really strong in wise decision making & funding transfers over the last few years, throwing new players in is not always the answer. As a fan of course I'd love to see another Center Back picked up & used to fill the gap of the Van Dijk & Gomez long term injuries (also re-balance the midfield!), but I'm not up in arms if they don't. Been a really bad stretch the last 4-5 games though, it sucks. That's where the Jota injury hurts, he was was in top form before getting injured (in a game he shouldn't have been playing in). Yet, hope springs eternal!

In light of this previous conversation, Alsacs, some pretty amazing moves & financial gymnastics from Michael Edwards & Liverpool on Deadline day. 2 Center Backs, Ben Davies from Preston North End (good safe, solid, trustworthy, cheap, move - been in great form & an amazing opportunity for the player) combined with Ozan Kabak from Schalke. 20 year old Turkish CB, a highly sought after young player with glowing recommendations & analysis (even though Shalke has been terrible this year). Signed on loan for the next 5-6 months for 1-2 mil., with an OPTION (not obligation) to buy in the summer... essentially Liverpool can see if he's Premier League worthy over the 2nd half of the season, if he fits the bill they can move forward with signing him long term, if not he's rental & they move on. Could not have asked for a better combo of cover for injuries, financials & potential longer term dividends dependent on performance. Michael Edwards is that dude, he's been amazing over the last 2-3 years of transfer windows.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Fox and ESPN will be all over the EPL rights. The NBC rights end after 2021-2022 season.

Fox was terrible when they covered EPL. I will miss Rebecca Lowe.

 

[cusefan88]

Fox was terrible when they covered EPL. I will miss Rebecca Lowe.

The PL really wants games on cable TV. They were not happy about the Peacock volume. The issue with ESPN is that during football season their inventory will always go to that first. ESPN can show the early 7:30 a.m. and then ESPN2 maybe takes a 10am. anything after that is CFB and I'm not sure PL will be keen to get pushed onto streaming (unless the money is huge)

 

[orangemass]

The PL really wants games on cable TV. They were not happy about the Peacock volume. The issue with ESPN is that during football season their inventory will always go to that first. ESPN can show the early 7:30 a.m. and then ESPN2 maybe takes a 10am. anything after that is CFB and I'm not sure PL will be keen to get pushed onto streaming (unless the money is huge)

Pea c**k out

 

[IthacaMatt]

The PL really wants games on cable TV. They were not happy about the Peacock volume. The issue with ESPN is that during football season their inventory will always go to that first. ESPN can show the early 7:30 a.m. and then ESPN2 maybe takes a 10am. anything after that is CFB and I'm not sure PL will be keen to get pushed onto streaming (unless the money is huge)

Yeah, I totally get that. The year before they launched Peacock, every game was on TV on one of their affiliated networks. I understand how they wanted to launch their streaming service, and I didn't mind a fair number of their games being on streaming, but opening weekend, I think every game but one was on Peacock. They put most of the attractive games on Peacock for the first month or so to drive subscriptions. From a business perspective for NBC, I get it. And from a rights holder perspective, I get their point, too.

 

[cusefan88]

Yeah, I totally get that. The year before they launched Peacock, every game was on TV on one of their affiliated networks. I understand how they wanted to launch their streaming service, and I didn't mind a fair number of their games being on streaming, but opening weekend, I think every game but one was on Peacock. They put most of the attractive games on Peacock for the first month or so to drive subscriptions. From a business perspective for NBC, I get it. And from a rights holder perspective, I get their point, too.

My personal opinion is that sports rights is a huge bubble. France's top league is collapsing. PL may be last to burst but it will happen.

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

My personal opinion is that sports rights is a huge bubble. France's top league is collapsing. PL may be last to burst but it will happen.

No it won't because its the NFL of soccer.

The gap isn't as wide between the EPL and other leagues as the NFL and whatever semi pro stuff is out there but the comparison is completely relevant.

NBC just gave people a reason to not pay for cable. Stupid. They had 2 great products in NHL and EPL which didn't have to compete with the more mainstream American sports for TV slots. Noone wants to watch stuff on their phone. Most sports fans have televisoins, pay for cable, and would like to use their television not their tablet.

But USA can handle the leftover crap games noone cares about that aren't on the .

 

[IthacaMatt]

No it won't because its the NFL of soccer.

The gap isn't as wide between the EPL and other leagues as the NFL and whatever semi pro stuff is out there but the comparison is completely relevant.

NBC just gave people a reason to not pay for cable. Stupid. They had 2 great products in NHL and EPL which didn't have to compete with the more mainstream American sports for TV slots. Noone wants to watch stuff on their phone. Most sports fans have televisoins, pay for cable, and would like to use their television not their tablet.

But USA can handle the leftover crap games noone cares about that aren't on the .

You know, you can buy a cheap mini computer and use your big screen TV as its monitor.
I have that in every room in my house.

 

[Moontan]

NBC just gave people a reason to not pay for cable. Stupid. They had 2 great products in NHL and EPL which didn't have to compete with the more mainstream American sports for TV slots. Noone wants to watch stuff on their phone. Most sports fans have televisoins, pay for cable, and would like to use their television not their tablet.

Some of us would argue that it’s more than two. Add the Tour de France and some golf...

 

[FRANKIEFAN]

You know, you can buy a cheap mini computer and use your big screen TV as its monitor.
I have that in every room in my house.

Thats a pain. Unless you specifically don't have cable in which case fine. But if you are used to cable who wants to plug a computer into their TV to watch sports?

 

[nd1973]

Going bye-bye


So Notre Dame...you getting nervous?

I wonder if some of this live sports content will be rolled into the Peacock channel?

No

 

[upperdeck]

Thats a pain. Unless you specifically don't have cable in which case fine. But if you are used to cable who wants to plug a computer into their TV to watch sports?

yup.. Streaming is a huge pain.. I want to watch this game.. turn on hulu app, wait whats happening in this game.. close it open Peacock.. oh wait theres an upset over here.. close that app open ESPN.. Did you see that wild play.. hold on close that app open youtube.. Dang I forgot Su is on, close that app open fox sports..

so much easier to just change a channel and if you have directv or dish its all buffered and ready to go live.

rain fade happens a few hours a yr.. losing the internet a couple hundred..

but i can watch it on my phone... if that is so great why do people want 75" Tvs then.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Thats a pain. Unless you specifically don't have cable in which case fine. But if you are used to cable who wants to plug a computer into their TV to watch sports?

You don't do it WHEN you want to watch; you have it plugged in all the time. You just take your remote and switch from HDMI 1 to HDMI 2, and then you're watching your computer on your TV monitor.

I have cable, but I also watch YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, ESPN+, ESPN Watch, Disney+, HBO Max, Looney Tunes, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and about half a dozen more channels or networks online, on demand.

And of course we can play DVDs and music through the computer, where I have a collection of over 30,000 songs.

I can also watch home movies, look at photos, work on documents, read my email, etc.

I can't imagine how I lived without it, to be honest. My DVR failed the other day, but we just switched it over to the computer and didn't miss a beat while we waited a couple days for the new box to arrive.

 

[Dinkyspond]

I hope they somehow keep the skiing and sliding winter sports (bobsled, luge, skeleton) on TV during the non-Olympic years, I like all of all those and watch them a lot