Hulu drops Regional Sports channels

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

How far off are we from a streaming network like Netflix from signing a deal with a pro sports league? Are they still unable to compete with the cash of the major broadcasters? The platform could work advertising into games as well as charging a premium for a sports package.

I'm expecting the NHL to basically re-up with comcast, and comcast will have some games on Peacock, their Netflix competitor. But it won't be all games, and we won't have a true over the top media service for nhl fans without blackouts.

 

[Cotton McKnight]

A workaround for cordcutters would be to subscribe to a VPN service on top of NHL.TV which will change your location when connecting to NHL's servers and bypassing local blackouts. It would be easy if you just watched games on your PC but you'll run into problems with most Smart TV's and devices like Apple TV, Roku and Playstation/Xbox not natively supporting VPN connections.

It's not even so much the extra expense as much of the hassel and prohibitive that it's really not feasible for most people.

I run a script on my router's custom firmware so I can watch blacked out games via my VPN on my PS4. Just use my phone to login to the router to turn VPN on and off. I had to do this on the PS3 too. Come to think about it, it's been 5 years of having to do this. When will they stop blacking out games. Oh that's right, they'll stop blacking out games when we start paying PPV prices per games...

 

[TheOtherOne]

Basically encouraging piracy at this point. When it's more convenient for viewers to stream games illegally, there's a problem...

Once upon a time your options for music were to buy a single 30 minute CD for $16, or piracy. At some point some geniuses figured out how to make Pandora a profitable thing. You can get all the music in the world on demand, either for free in exchange for watching ads, or for a cheap monthly fee. Today I PREFER getting my music legally, because I like the business model and honestly want to be on the up-and-up.

Unfortunate that the ONLY reasonable option if I want to watch hockey is piracy.

 

[Satans Hockey]

Personally I would drop my cable company if it wasn't for live sports but I enjoy the pre and post shows for the Devils and Red Bulls (MLS) and the fact that I rarely ever watch anything live.

I attend almost every home game and for the road games I'll either start the game an hour after it starts to fast forward all the commercials or I'm out doing something else and I'll watch the game that night or the next day.

For the playoffs I'll watch every game but I dvr them and I'll fast forward any time the puck isn't in play so only takes 60 mins to finish a game.

I find that streaming services simply don't allow me fast forward as quickly as my dvr. If I didn't watch any sports though I'd drop cable asap.

 

[Holtbyisms]

Almost had a meltdown, saw it was FS only. Don't care lol, NBCSN Washington

 

[Price is Wright]

Absolutely stupid of Sinclair but it doesn't surprise me.

 

[Yeolo]

To the best of my knowledge, that's now every single streaming service that is no longer carrying the Fox RSNs, thus making it literally impossible to Do The Right Thing if you do cordcutting.


EDIT: On further review, AT&T TV Now still has them in their "MAX" package.

ATT TV. Basically cut the cord. Keep the high price. Keep the contract.

Good ole American capitalism is at fault here.

 

[Lt Dan]

To the best of my knowledge, that's now every single streaming service that is no longer carrying the Fox RSNs, thus making it literally impossible to Do The Right Thing if you do cordcutting.


EDIT: On further review, AT&T TV Now still has them in their "MAX" package.

The way this is going, Sinclair will ask AT&T for the first born male child in every household

 

[Hasbro]

This is extremely dangerous to our democracy.

 

[r0bert8841]

Can the major sports leagues do something about this? This is absolute garbage. Why even play this season if no one is watching

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

I've cancelled all TV streaming packages. I have decided that it's not worth it.

 

[Cleetus]

I've cancelled all TV streaming packages. I have decided that it's not worth it.

yup thought when streaming was coming into its own, it would have an affordable package, where the people would get to pick and chose a la carte for their sports, and have plenty of channels that would be affordable, nope every streaming service has jacked their prices to the same as cable, or offer garbage for their cheap packages, a total farce imo, these services should be cheap to the consumer not this garbage, oh well they will suffer when people stop paying for this nonsense, maybe then they will change their old and dated model..... greed will be their downfall

 

[Butch 19]

Can the major sports leagues do something about this? This is absolute garbage. Why even play this season if no one is watching

No one watching? They're talking about HULU. Who cares about HULU?

FSW and FS broadcast west coast NHL, and NHLHD (and NFL RedZone) was just added with 9 other sports channels to Spectrum options. - for $5 / month

We're good over here.

 

[Maple Leaf]

Sports are pretty much done once the next virus hits

 

[IU Hawks fan]

Who cares right now? There's nothing on these channels until at least February in all likelihood.

 

[Bondurant]

yup thought when streaming was coming into its own, it would have an affordable package, where the people would get to pick and chose a la carte for their sports, and have plenty of channels that would be affordable, nope every streaming service has jacked their prices to the same as cable, or offer garbage for their cheap packages, a total farce imo, these services should be cheap to the consumer not this garbage, oh well they will suffer when people stop paying for this nonsense, maybe then they will change their old and dated model..... greed will be their downfall

One hope I have for the post COVID world is that NHL and NFL are forced to re-think their broadcasting models. How many fans are shut out because their is no option to watch games? I am out of market. I would pay to watch my teams but there is no option unless I want to buy DirectTV.

 

[Ryuji Yamazaki]

Thanks OP. Went ahead and cancelled my live tv service with them.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

Sinclair is a garbage company. Just research them

 

[BLNY]

Can the major sports leagues do something about this? This is absolute garbage. Why even play this season if no one is watching

It would be an interesting concept if the various league commissioners got together and discussed what an all encompassing sports streaming service would look like.

 

[ShootIt]

Well shit. Went to Hulu after AT&T streaming(terrible) didn't provide me with FS even though it was supposed to be offered to me in my zip code.

On the flipside, may not be worth watching the Panthers this year anyways.

 

[ted2019]

Good. Seriously, f*** Sinclair Broadcast Group.

One silver lining of the pandemic is if it bankrupts Sinclair and the stranglehold they've got on local sports stations. Painful in the short term but hopefully will ultimately be better for those who stream television.

Sinclair has more money then God. They won't go bankrupt anytime this century.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Sinclair has more money then God. They won't go bankrupt anytime this century.

Don't they also have something like $8 billion in debt?

I don't honestly see them going bankrupt but hopefully the situation will become untenable for them and they'll give up the stranglehold they have on local sports. Losing Hulu and Youtube isn't just a loss for Sinclair, it's a big loss for those who bought advertising on the local sports channels.

Hopefully the audience decreases enough that advertises revolt. Their business has already got to be taking a huge hit from the pandemic.

 

[BlueOil]

disney is nerfing hulu pretty hard. i know this isn't disney's direct influence, but i would expect hulu to continue to fade like this unless something changes. disney is going to replace it with disney+ in the end and the less hulu is worth, the less disney owes comcast for buying it.

 

[Lt Dan]

disney is nerfing hulu pretty hard. i know this isn't disney's direct influence, but i would expect hulu to continue to fade like this unless something changes. disney is going to replace it with disney+ in the end and the less hulu is worth, the less disney owes comcast for buying it.

One shouldn't be able to blame Disney at all for this.

So far
Dish, Fubo, YTTV, Sling, Frontier (Verizon Fios) have all had all problems with Sinclair

I think Disney is going to keep Hulu running. It is an established brand. Hulu live is doing well and it's a place for them to make money off of most of the Fox properties like King of the Hill

 

[BlueOil]

One shouldn't be able to blame Disney at all for this.

So far
Dish, Fubo, YTTV, Sling, Frontier (Verizon Fios) have all had all problems with Sinclair

I think Disney is going to keep Hulu running. It is an established brand. Hulu live is doing well and it's a place for them to make money off of most of the Fox properties like King of the Hill

as i said, i realize disney isn't to blame for the sports falling off, but have a look here:
Disney Apparently Has No Idea What to Do With Hulu—For Now

makes too much sense for them to abandon hulu, even as an established brand, to build up their own service