Trending Assets
Top investors this month
Trending Assets
Top investors this month
Are the current NFL rights deals actually going to kill the broadcasters?
This is an excerpt from our Sunday Finds newsletter at Chit Chat Money:


"With two of the largest TV events of the year (the NFL conference championships) last week and the Super Bowl on deck, I have been thinking about how sports — mainly American football — will impact the streaming wars in the years to come.

There’s also the new Acquired podcast on the NFL, which was great and is linked to later in this post.

The NFL just signed a decade-long deal with its traditional broadcast partners (ESPN/ABC, Fox, CBS, NBC). Amazon was included for the Thursday night game. The deals will likely stem subscriber losses for the traditional cable bundle, at least if you include virtual providers like Hulu Live and YouTube TV.

But at what cost? The contracts are clearly not profitable for the broadcasters. They also take capital away that should be invested in streaming video platforms, all of which are destined for failure except for the Disney bundle.

Eventually, whether it is five, ten, or 15 years down the road, the majority of sports content will be streamed over the internet. This will mean the death of cable/traditional TV. So what are these broadcasters’ plans? Again, excluding Disney as it should be able to transition content over to ESPN+.

I have high conviction in saying this latest NFL deal won’t be the savior for the broadcasters, but what kills them. It allows streamers (Netflix, Amazon, Apple, HBO, Hulu) to go full steam ahead and win all of the non-sports eyeballs, which they are doing with ease.

Then, when sports deals steadily come up for renewal in the next 15 - 20 years, these broadcasters will be on their last breath, all thanks to these current unsustainable sports rights contracts. Who will be there to scoop up the rights? The streamers, of course.

This blatant misjudgment by the legacy entertainment companies is playing right into the long-term strategies of Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and Apple. Disney will probably be fine given its success with ESPN+ but needs to walk a fine tightrope. Fox Sports will be a wildcard but seems outmatched financially.

Whatever happens, it will be exciting to follow through a business/investing lens."
chitchatmoney.substack.com
Sunday Finds (on Monday) + 3 Thoughts From Last Week
Podcasts on Meta and Big Lots last week

Related
Already have an account?