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Posted on 03/27/2026 7:53:41 AM PDT by WhiteHatBobby0701
As subscription streaming services grab more and more games from (broadcast television) and basic cable, many fans are crying foul.
A new Fox News national survey of registered voters finds that majorities of both sports fans (72%) and non-fans (60%) think major sporting events should be required to stay on free broadcast television, not behind streaming paywalls. Only 27% of fans and 38% of non-fans say leagues should be allowed to shift games to paid streaming services.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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The rule is used in the UK and Australia.
Last night's Fox article noted, "What’s more, the streaming experience lags behind traditional broadcasters. As baseball fans noted during the Yankees-Giants opening night game, you can’t fast-forward or rewind past the automatic ads, which often run six at a time. Further, streamers like Netflix and YouTube have turned broadcasts into hours-long infomercials for their other products, often treating the game as a mere marketing tool."
"Note: baseball fans hardly care about the latest season of (whatever streaming series is next they want you to watch ten episodes at a time)."
An infomercial for the latest X-rated show is a no-no.
https://www.outkick.com/analysis/watching-live-sports-shouldnt-hard-confusing-expensive
And as Mike Joy artfully said least year on Kevin Harvick's podcast, it forces sponsors of teams to change from marketing to the consumer to a "business-to-business" model. Yes, race fans criticise him, but he is a thinking man's broadcaster. Look at his 2008 MLB one-off, it's now immortalised in the Tampa Bay Rays' history as the game that put them in the postseason for the first time. He sees how B2B replaces consumer-oriented marketing in sport when it's premium pay.
INDYCAR is Exhibit A in the switch. Leaving the two premium streaming races behind, they found ratings were a disaster and never counted them in annual viewership. They learned network only is the best ticket.
If it’s not “free” over-the-air, there should be no taxpayer subsidies for stadium property, stadium access roads, police protection, etc.
If you are paying for cable (which charges you anyway for 90% of the stations you never watch), the sports channels should be included by the cable company without being charged even more.
We taxpayers pay for stadiums and get screwed.
“major sporting events should be required to stay on free broadcast television, not behind streaming paywalls”
For the majority of viewers they are actually paying for so called “free broadcast television” because they are getting it in cable package. Only a small percentage of viewers get those channels free via an antenna.
Of course right there you can see why the streamers are interested. Fast-forwarding through costs the broadcasters money. Ads pay the bills. And if they weren’t fast-forwarding they’d know all the sports casts have a ton of “self” ads, yes it absolutely is a marketing tool.
As for them lagging behind, yeah that’s actually pretty typical when any network is just getting into sports broadcasting. Broadcasting sports is a lot harder than the networks make it look. I remember when VS first got the NHL, it took them half a season to really figure it out, and they cheated by hiring half of ESPN’s staff. And for the streamers this is often their first foray into live TV at all.
I’m not really sure the UK is a good model. I’ve talked to expats, they all say it’s much easier to follow UK sports here than there. Here we’ve got these streaming deals that show almost all the games. Over there they actually get very limited TV presence. Sports fans will be very disappointed if they get reduced to 3 or 4 televised games a week.
That would force people who don't pay for sports to subsidize those who do.
"Basic" cable is really meant to be that.
If billionaire leagues and billionaire owners want to build an arena for their millionaire employees to play stupid games in, they should do it themselves.
Socialize the costs, but privatize the profit? They can go piss up a rope.
“you can’t fast-forward or rewind past the automatic ads”
If you are watching a sports event live you can’t fast forward no matter what way you are watching it.
Good point, but we are already subsidizing those 90% of the channels we never, ever watch. I think cable should offer “cafeteria” services, where you are only charged for the channels you want and watch.
The problem is because the big 4 leagues have a closed shop (no promotion or relegation like many foreign leagues) the teams are able to threaten a city that if you don’t pay up we will move to a different city.
Any politician that is the cause of your local team with a decades long history in a city, leaving to go somewhere else will not be popular.
you think this sucks just wait until your automobile requires a monthly subscription to start!
I am more concerned with my tax dollars going to pay for it. If you want to have a private sports business with no freebies, that’s your issue. Don’t be surprised that in ten years you don’t have any new fans. But that’s a business decision, not the government’s business.
I remember when the streaming advocates claimed that streaming would allow one to watch anything, at anytime, for no cost.
On Wednesday evening I tried to find the "opening day" MLB game on TV and couldn't find it--was it pay only? Finally caught part of the Dodgers vs. Diamondbacks game last night...but the Texas vs. Oklahoma game was on a the same time. Lately it seems there could be a dozen sports events on at the same time and none for a sport I wanted to watch.
The greed of the league, teams, and networks is out of control. Combine that with the insult of taxpayer funded subsidies… it’s disturbing.
The cost to watch an out of town game on TV is insane, and I refuse to pay it. Might be time to just be done with the NFL, and coming from a lifelong fan that should mean something.
It costs a fortune to personally attend a professional game (tickets, food, souvenirs, parking) and now they want us to pay to watch it on television. The owners are eroding their fan base, especially the youngsters. The NBA has seen their fan numbers dropping and the NFL and MLB are not far behind. I see good baseball played by local AAU and high school teams - a good alternative if you love the game.
The streaming services function like a cafeteria.
Streaming has become an even bigger rip off than cable.
You come in late, and you review previous plays, the ads pop up and you cannot skip them when the game is live and you want to return to live action.
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