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Sports Streaming Needs an Overhaul

Sports Streaming Needs an Overhaul

July 5, 2022

Watching sports on TV has been a tradition among sports fans worldwide for decades. Yet sports streaming seems to be getting worse by the year. With the advent of cord-cutting, access to sports has been broken up, resulting in a piecemeal approach that's at times more expensive for sports fans than traditional cable. Is there any alternative?

Sports Is Still the Thorn in Cord-Cutting's Side

In 2017,

McKinsey

released a report that stated, "We Are Wrong About Millennials and Sports". According to the report, "Millennials enjoy sports as much as other generations. It's the way they consume sports that matters." According to the report, Millennials still enjoy sports, but they're more likely to click away from long sporting events that are lopsided. They're also more likely to access their sports from streaming services and, interestingly, are more likely to admit that they access illegal streaming options for their sports.

This has some interesting implications.

1. Sports Has Become Too Expensive For Average Users

There's no getting around the biggest issue with sports streaming. It's simply more expensive than most fans, and especially Millennials, want to pay for. Cord-cutting has been a boon for accessing entertainment content, but it also makes it more difficult for cord-cutting sports fans. Traditional cable TV is still the best way to access most sports in one space, but the costs have risen. Millennials and other generations aren't keen on paying those kinds of costs.

Meanwhile, cord-cutting live TV services continually struggle to offer the same type of sports packages that traditional cable offers. Those services don't want to pay the carriage fees sports networks demand, as that would result in costs to customers that are too much like traditional cable TV.

2. More People Are Turning to Illegal Streaming for Sports

People aren't willing to give up their sports streaming. Instead of paying, many are turning instead to illegal streaming options. Those options aren't difficult to find, and the end-user doesn't feel any threat on their end even if they're caught. That's a problem for sports networks, which have increased their prosecution of illegal streamers over the years, most notably through the Alliance for Creativity in Entertainment (ACE).

To their credit, ACE has been very successful at rooting out many illegal streaming options. In fact,

investigative reporting from Flixed

even helped lead to the closure of one major illegal streamer, Set TV. But those options still exist and tend to proliferate in places like Reddit and Facebook.

3. Sports Broadcasters Need a Better Option

Simply put here, sports networks are in trouble. They need a better solution to streaming access than they have no beyond just raising prices on existing customers to account for the decreasing numbers of users they're getting.

This Week's Streaming Guide

1. Hulu Comedy Drama "Maggie" Premieres Today

Starring Rebecca Rittenhouse, this comedy-drama features a psychic who regularly sees the future of friends and family --- and now herself. Streaming today (July 5) on Hulu. -

Watch on Hulu