09-25-2022, 10:00 PM
(09-25-2022, 02:18 AM)kevin Wrote: I grew up with NFL on CBS and AFL on NBC. NFL has been on CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX for free since 1950's. The NFL makes a ton of money on commercials. I was never happy about The NFL on things like ESPN or NFL Network. I am even more against Thursday Night Football now controlled by Amazon or as you call it Prime. If they ever take The NFL off stations like CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, I will stop watching NFL. I grew up with all you had to do was plug in a TV and watch the games for free. I am almost 70, and I do not go for this Future World where everything is turning Pay Per View. There is very little NBA or MLB on Free TV and if NFL goes the same route, American Sports will have gone in the wrong direction for me in my lifetime. I use to like The Dayton Flyers college basketball, but it use to be on Free on WHIO TV in Dayton, but that was ruined by Pay TV. This may be the new and accepted sports of everything PAY TV, but I don't have to accept it. So I don't watch Dayton Flyers as I use to. If I ever have to pay to watch Bengals, I probably won't, and many seasons Bengals weren't worth paying to watch. I would have thought Sports was making enough money on TV Commercials who wanted their products advertised on regular free TV to reach a larger consumer base.
There's no such thing as making "enough" money. Even if people love your product and you're making a shitload of money, there is always more to be made. And if you have to squeeze blood out of a stone and push many of the average fans out of the picture to grab one more dollar, so be it.
I empathize with your opinion. The situation with the NHL sounds similar to the NBA/MLB. There are damn few games on free tv until the playoffs start, so we have Bally's so I can see most Blue Jackets games. But now hockey is migrating to ESPN+ and there are less Blue Jackets games on cable than there used to be.
Fortunately, my wife subscribed to Prime some years back or I'd never have seen it. She was actually debating getting rid of it a few months back, but I asked her to keep it since the NFL (and Bengals for one week) would be on it. We can't get Cincinnati stations, so without Prime I would be out of luck this Thursday or searching for some shitty stream to watch. In addition to the newly acquired NFL, they do have some decent, buzzworthy shows. But, it's our only streaming service and we continue to have cable.
I anticipate the NFL will remain on free tv for some time. It was easier to move the other leagues to cable/streaming because they don't have the eyeballs the NFL has, so you have to soak the few who do show up. It's not a good trend, to be sure.
