CBSSPORTS Renewal

[Forte]

They want 350.00 for Sunday Ticket. I always got it for free with Direct TV. Not willing to spend that kind of money for football.

Free?! lol ... Look at what you pay for satellite tv and compare it to what people pay for youtube tv with an internet subscription. For fiber internet and full 4k streaming on youtube tv with out NFL Sunday ticket, it's 100 a month total. If you add a Sunday ticket and spread it out for the season it's 50$ a month extra so 150$. Direct TV excluding internet after they rope you in with a contract is around 200$ a month. Throw the internet in and you're paying around 300 a month. They just build the NFL Sunday ticket into everyone's price along with the 800 other channels no one wants to watch and scroll through.

 

[HuskyHawk]

NFL Thursday Night Football on Prime Video was available in >300k sports bars, restaurants, casinos, etc. last year through DirectTV for Business. I watched a couple TNF games in a sports bar last year.

OK. One game a week, with no competition, in the most popular sport and league in the country. Still they had to have a partner to make it happen. Now tell me how that do that when 12 college football games are on at the same time and they want to show one of them. I'm not saying it can't get there, but it isn't there now.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Maybe the 10+ million viewers who watched NFL Thursday night football on Prime Video last season? Although viewership was down on PV from the season before Thursday Night Football, they had the youngest average viewer age in 10 years.

If UConn football wants to stand out, maybe they need to take some risks.

Literally none of this addresses what I said.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Also nobody uses Prime Video, outside of the NFL games, which is big enough to force fans into using it. I have PV included with my package as well. I’ve watched maybe one show on it in many years. I know I skipped the bad football games on PV because it felt inconvenient to be stuck on that “channel.”

With all that being said. If Amazon wants to offer us 5 mil per year to stream our football, take the money and run. But if it’s the same offer as CBS, you take CBS without thinking.

 

[auggie22]

I think Nelson is right. Our chance to stand out comes from our ability to mobilize the state of CT and our fan base to subscribe and download. Show those conferences that we are not a risk in the streaming world. Our chances in this paradigm are better than those that value cable footprints. If we start now, it gives us time to recondition our base to live in a streaming world. High risk high reward.

 

[UConnJim]

Also nobody uses Prime Video, outside of the NFL games, which is big enough to force fans into using it. I have PV included with my package as well. I’ve watched maybe one show on it in many years. I know I skipped the bad football games on PV because it felt inconvenient to be stuck on that “channel.”

With all that being said. If Amazon wants to offer us 5 mil per year to stream our football, take the money and run. But if it’s the same offer as CBS, you take CBS without thinking.

Prime Video is the 2nd most watch streaming service behind Netflix, but nobody is watching it.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Largest Streamers (excludes Chinese companies):

1) Netflix 238 million subs
2) Prime Video 205 million subs
3) Disney+ 146 million subs
4) Youtube Premium 80 million subs
5) Max 77 million subs
6) Paramount + 61 million subsidy
7) Apple TV 50 million subs
8) Hulu 48 million subs
9) ESPN+ 25.2 million subs
10)Peacock 24 million subs
Discovery+ 24 million subs

Netflix/Prime Video/Disney+ have more subs than the US cable TV market.

I have 9 of 10 of those services. I pay $54 a month for all of them. No cable for the summer. Sports comes on, watch the game I will do YouTubetv.

 

[CL82]

I have 9 of 10 of those services. I pay $54 a month for all of them. No cable for the summer. Sports comes on, watch the game I will do YouTubetv.

What service are you on? That seems like a decent rate for everything. (actually, I just did the math and that's about the norm for everything)

For what it's worth, if you watch women's basketball, keep in mind that YouTube TV lost SNY. I'll be switching over to Hulu plus in a week. I do the same thing you do in toggle it off for the summer months.

 

[JeepCSC]

I just looked at my rates the other day. Not sure what deals yall are getting, but I'm paying multiples of that.

 

[UConnJim]

Anyone else notice tonight's Red Sox/Yankees game is only streaming on Apple TV+?

 

[CL82]

I read a post on The Boneyard that said that the renewed CBS SN deal is for $1 million a year, rather than just $500,000. I've never seen it anywhere else. Can anyone confirm that CBS SN doubled our football deal and is now paying us $1 million a year?

 

[superjohn]

I think Nelson is right. Our chance to stand out comes from our ability to mobilize the state of CT and our fan base to subscribe and download. Show those conferences that we are not a risk in the streaming world. Our chances in this paradigm are better than those that value cable footprints. If we start now, it gives us time to recondition our base to live in a streaming world. High risk high reward.

The much easier thing would be for our politicians to flex their muscle?

Again, why are they a hindrance instead of an asset?

 

[pepband99]

Yes. It’s far more crappy. We would get less exposure.

CBS sports is streaming. You can watch the games on Paramount + and CBSSN is on YouTube and Hulu etc.

Did you fall out of the stupid tree and hit every branch?

No, you can't, unless CBS Sports Network recently got added to Paramount Plus - it's been a notable holdout.

This agreement is going to be almost exactly on the dividing line between streaming and linear. CBSSports, on some linear providers, even needs an upsold tier. It's a fringe channel on a dying product, but it's still "better," but probably not for very much longer.

What worries me - production value. We saw bottom-of-the-barrel linear on CBSSN last year, with terrible announcing. We also saw bottom-of-the-barrel streaming for the FIU game. It's easy to see which one ended up better. Would UConn have the capital to make this a good product?

 

[noeynox]

No, you can't, unless CBS Sports Network recently got added to Paramount Plus - it's been a notable holdout.

This agreement is going to be almost exactly on the dividing line between streaming and linear. CBSSports, on some linear providers, even needs an upsold tier. It's a fringe channel on a dying product, but it's still "better," but probably not for very much longer.

What worries me - production value. We saw bottom-of-the-barrel linear on CBSSN last year, with terrible announcing. We also saw bottom-of-the-barrel streaming for the FIU game. It's easy to see which one ended up better. Would UConn have the capital to make this a good product?

The production on CBSSN was light years better than the crap on ESPN+ or even ESPNU.

 

[Luna]

I think with the CBSSN contract expiring uconn will be moving in the direction of producing their own content..(uconn+)..and selling it to either a network or streaming service.. wouldn’t be surprised if it’s SNY or maybe even something more local

 

[huskymedic]

I think with the CBSSN contract expiring uconn will be moving in the direction of producing their own content..(uconn+)..and selling it to either a network or streaming service.. wouldn’t be surprised if it’s SNY or maybe even something more local

From earlier in the thread:

Iirc they have a two year extension option, so we might not hit the market just yet.

They have two two year extension options, through ‘26 and through ‘28

 

[WestCoastHusky]

I think with the CBSSN contract expiring uconn will be moving in the direction of producing their own content..(uconn+)..and selling it to either a network or streaming service.. wouldn’t be surprised if it’s SNY or maybe even something more local

They have to make the games national so people across the country can watch it. Amazon prime is where UConn should focus. UConn needs to get paid more.

 

[ZooCougar]

No, you can't, unless CBS Sports Network recently got added to Paramount Plus - it's been a notable holdout.

This agreement is going to be almost exactly on the dividing line between streaming and linear. CBSSports, on some linear providers, even needs an upsold tier. It's a fringe channel on a dying product, but it's still "better," but probably not for very much longer.

What worries me - production value. We saw bottom-of-the-barrel linear on CBSSN last year, with terrible announcing. We also saw bottom-of-the-barrel streaming for the FIU game. It's easy to see which one ended up better. Would UConn have the capital to make this a good product?

What are you talking about Willis?

 

[ZooCougar]

I think with the CBSSN contract expiring uconn will be moving in the direction of producing their own content..(uconn+)..and selling it to either a network or streaming service.. wouldn’t be surprised if it’s SNY or maybe even something more local

I hope not.

 

[ZooCougar]

They have to make the games national so people across the country can watch it. Amazon prime is where UConn should focus. UConn needs to get paid more.

We’re lucky to be getting a million a year.

Amazon Prime!! I thought we already this idea to bits.

We need EXPOSURE more than extra money. We would be a forgotten entity hidden away on Prime.

 

[CL82]

The production on CBSSN was light years better than the crap on ESPN+ or even ESPNU.

Most, if not all, ESPN+ content is school produced, so the quality varies quite a bit. I have to say that Connecticut does a good job on its self produced content that we see on UCONN+.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

We’re lucky to be getting a million a year.

Amazon Prime!! I thought we already this idea to bits.

We need EXPOSURE more than extra money. We would be a forgotten entity hidden away on Prime.

Do you think CBS Sports Network is freely available everywhere? They are not even on basic tier for many providers.

 

[ZooCougar]

Do you think CBS Sports Network is freely available everywhere? They are not even on basic tier for many providers.

I have had them with every provider.

Most people don’t even know they have Prime or if it exists.

 

[UConnJim]

Do you think CBS Sports Network is freely available everywhere? They are not even on basic tier for many providers.

I've seen estimates that CBS Sports Network has around 50 million subscribers (ESPN has ~74 million) which is in line with the ACCN and SECN. Similar to ESPN, CBS Sports Network subscribers have been in a decline due to cord cutting. ESPN lost ~1.2% of the subscribers in Q1 2023 (~5% per year), so I would estimate CBSSN is on the same decline curve.

 

[UConnJim]

I have had them with every provider.

Most people don’t even know they have Prime or if it exists.

I just don't understand your point on Prime Video as I've been watching Prime Video since 2015. Estimates are that Netflix has 8% of all US TV viewing, Prime Video has 3%, and Disney+ has 1.8%. That would mean the average US TV viewer would watch about 40 to 50 hours of Prime Video per year (and growing). Last year, PV spent $16.6 billion on content so somebody must be watching PV.