RSN Balloon has gotta pop sometime... right?

[Lintyfresh85]

Dodgers likely to get 7 BILLION dollars from local RSN for TV rights over the next 25 years.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/11/exclusive-fox-closing-deal-for-dodgers-tv-rights-paying-new-owner-6b-7b-for-25-years-were-out-if-not-done-by-nov-30/#utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

[Vega]

Gotta pay for Carl Crawford somehow.

[The Chief]

Meanwhile the Nats still get peanuts...

[Kevrock]

All these deals are good news while we're at the negotiating table with MASN, right?

[comish4lif]

All these deals are good news while we're at the negotiating table with MASN, right?

Agreed. As much as I would like this settled, as long as these deals keep getting bigger, it gets better for the Nats and worse for Angelos.

[nfotiu]

Yeah, there is no way this is sustainable.  I give it 5 years before this all comes crashing down.  Way too much of this money is coming from charging carriage fees to customers who don't even watch these channels, and instead of enjoying the good thing they have, the networks keep pushing for higher rates.  I give it 5 years.  Cord cutters or the fcc will force a la carte cable or Internet delivery.  I wonder if these contracts have clauses in them that void them if cable goes a la carte.

It is why I am hoping for just a modest increase in tv rights for the Nats.  A bunch of teams are going to fall hard when this free ride is over.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Taking a step back, isn't the history of the information era one where technologies get sequentially overwhelmed?  Music has had at least two delivery systems swamped in about 25 years (Vinyl by the CD which was obliterated by internet-based delivery systems), IBM -> Microsoft -> google . . .  I'm not a tech geek, but it would seem that eventually there will be a delivery system for baseball or other entertainment that will obliterate cable channels unless they drop fees as a barrier to entry.  A 25 year contract for cable rights has to fail. 

What happens when you can take a radio transmission or satellite feed, run it through a device, and have holograms enact games?  Sounds strange, but we have Tupac shows now.

[HalfSmokes]

Taking a step back, isn't the history of the information era one where technologies get sequentially overwhelmed?  Music has had at least two delivery systems swamped in about 25 years (Vinyl by the CD which was obliterated by internet-based delivery systems), IBM -> Microsoft -> google . . .  I'm not a tech geek, but it would seem that eventually there will be a delivery system for baseball or other entertainment that will obliterate cable channels unless they drop fees as a barrier to entry.  A 25 year contract for cable rights has to fail. 

What happens when you can take a radio transmission or satellite feed, run it through a device, and have holograms enact games?  Sounds strange, but we have Tupac shows now.

cable does have a trump card that none of the other obsolete technologies has ever had- for the most part the companies selling you cable are also selling you internet- prices or speed caps on the later can make up for lost revenue in the former (especially since there isn't much competition and the barrier to entry is enormous)

[nfotiu]

Definitely a factor.  I know when I recently went to cancel the tv portion of my fios, the standalone Internet fee was so high, and coupled with a thirty dollar a month retention discount, it made the tv portion seem to cheap to bother canceling. 

Comcast is an even nastier case in that they own sports networks, provid cable and provide Internet.

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

There is one wild card out there though, although still pretty much pie in the sky, and that is google.  If all this nonsense continues as it has been, they could really disrupt things by taking their fiber pilot national.

[nfotiu]

Looking into it a little further, it seems the dodgers have amongst the lowest ratings in baseball and average only about 57,000 viewers per game.  So essentially 5 to 10 million people are going to be paying close to 100 dollars a year so 57,000 can watch the dodgers.  Yeah, this model is going to last...

When this deal is announced, it may just bring enough attention to take down this whole house of cards.

[comish4lif]

Taking a step back, isn't the history of the information era one where technologies get sequentially overwhelmed?  Music has had at least two delivery systems swamped in about 25 years (Vinyl by the CD which was obliterated by internet-based delivery systems), IBM -> Microsoft -> google . . .  I'm not a tech geek, but it would seem that eventually there will be a delivery system for baseball or other entertainment that will obliterate cable channels unless they drop fees as a barrier to entry.  A 25 year contract for cable rights has to fail. 

What happens when you can take a radio transmission or satellite feed, run it through a device, and have holograms enact games?  Sounds strange, but we have Tupac shows now.

Regardless of delivery, the Nats have a contract with MASN to deliver the baseball content. If cable tv diappears, MASN will still own the rights to "broadcast" the Nats games, whatever emthod of delivery that means.

And more likely, it'll happen over time, the same way that it did for vinyl and CDs. For a while, some folks bought vinyl; others bough CDs. Then, there was a tipping point and vinyl got less popular, then less profitable, then extinct.

Baseball broadcasts will happen the same way, MASN will have games on Cable, FIOS and Satellite. Someone will propose a different "delivery" method and will license the content from MASN and there'll be an overlap in time of delivery methods. And then TV may get phased out over time...

[HalfSmokes]

Regardless of delivery, the Nats have a contract with MASN to deliver the baseball content. If cable tv diappears, MASN will still own the rights to "broadcast" the Nats games, whatever emthod of delivery that means.

And more likely, it'll happen over time, the same way that it did for vinyl and CDs. For a while, some folks bought vinyl; others bough CDs. Then, there was a tipping point and vinyl got less popular, then less profitable, then extinct.

Baseball broadcasts will happen the same way, MASN will have games on Cable, FIOS and Satellite. Someone will propose a different "delivery" method and will license the content from MASN and there'll be an overlap in time of delivery methods. And then TV may get phased out over time...

I think MLB, not the individual team, retains digital broadcast rights

[nfotiu]

Regardless of delivery, the Nats have a contract with MASN to deliver the baseball content. If cable tv diappears, MASN will still own the rights to "broadcast" the Nats games, whatever emthod of delivery that means.

And more likely, it'll happen over time, the same way that it did for vinyl and CDs. For a while, some folks bought vinyl; others bough CDs. Then, there was a tipping point and vinyl got less popular, then less profitable, then extinct.

Baseball broadcasts will happen the same way, MASN will have games on Cable, FIOS and Satellite. Someone will propose a different "delivery" method and will license the content from MASN and there'll be an overlap in time of delivery methods. And then TV may get phased out over time...

Tech changes quickly these days.  Five short years ago, blackberry dominated the smart phone market,and MySpace ruled social networking.

Anyway, the key change will not be the delivery mechanism, but the move to a la carte.  If the dodgers had to only sell their channel to the people watching their games, they'd have to charge Them $5,000 per year to replace the revenue they are getting now.

This will come crashing down hard on some sports teams some day, and I'm guessing it all starts falling apart inside five years.