What Will Become of the Fragmented Future of Football Viewership?
Once the ink was dry on the NFL's new three-year deal with Netflix, the streaming giant became the sixth platform to join the NFL. That's not including various streaming services and mobile-specific viewing.
Sounds simple enough, right? Not really. While there are ways to congregate most of the games under one banner, like YouTube TV, you'll have to fork over a good chunk of money to cover everything.
In the meantime, YouTube TV, FuboTV, DirecTV Stream, and Hulu Live will continue battling it out over things like NFL Sunday Ticket, Redzone, and other intriguing nuggets of football entertainment that come along.
If you want to maximize your viewing options as a consumer and a football fan, you'll have to navigate multiple streaming platforms and live streaming services or cable packages, HDTV antennas, and satellite packages.
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It doesn't sound like a lot of fun because it won't be. The NFL and college football have entered a new era of streaming, broadcasting, and advertising power, leaving the customer somewhere in the dust.
Watching Football is Expensive, and the Price is Climbing
That said, there is always the handy HDTV antenna. The NFL isn't likely to ditch broadcast TV anytime soon (the NFL made $11 billion from broadcasting partners in 2023, while college football is a multi-billion dollar industry in its own right).
You can always catch whatever happens to come on the locals at any given time, barring any interference from rainstorms or installation issues.
But the days of catching most games on regular broadcasts are over, and you're looking at a hefty price if you want to watch most of what the NFL and college football have to offer each season.
- Average Cost of Standalone TV Plan: $83/mo
- Average Cost of Standalone Internet: $67/mo
- DISH: $85 to $115/mo
- DirecTV: $70 to $160/mo
- Netflix: $7 to $15.50/mo
- Hulu: $8 to $18/mo
- Prime Video: $15/mo
- Paramount+: $6 to $12/mo
- NFL+: $7 to $23/mo
- Peacock: $6 to $12/mo
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- DirecTV Stream: $80/mo
- YouTube TV: $73/mo
- Fubo: $75/mo
- Hulu + Live TV: $77 to $90/mo
- Sling TV: $40+
It's an extensive list, and it does not include some of the other live-streaming services out there or the streaming platforms that might or might not sign a deal with the NFL or a college football conference in the future.
The worst part is that you can't choose any single platform and watch all the games you want. You'll have to have several, and the monthly costs add up quickly.
You can't even escape the advertisements if you choose one of the ad-free tiers some major streaming platforms offer. Watching live games means you will have to endure commercials.
Expensive Also Means Confusing
Most college and pro football fans used to have a loose idea of where each game would be broadcast. Unfortunately, it's not always that easy anymore.
In college, a single network has dibs on the best matchups and timeslots in a given conference. But that doesn't mean the same network will cover all of that conference's games. Specific networks have deals with specific conferences.
The NFL's map is all over the place, with over a decade to go before the various deals the NFL signed are up.
It doesn't help that college football and the NFL (especially the NFL) are the most valuable commodities among all of the available programs on any network.
Streaming platforms were dying to get their hands in that cookie jar, and it was only a matter of time before they finally did.
Of course, in business, the customer is always right -- at least, that's how it's supposed to work.
The thing is, how long will the customer put up with so many networks and streaming services that it turns into an act of Congress to find the right game on the right network on the right platform?
The Future of Live Sports Programming
At the college level, money is pouring in, facilitating the rise and fall of certain conferences. It's not difficult to see why.
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Massive broadcast deals have solidified a smaller subset of conferences, taking college football from a Power 5 to a Power 4 setup: SEC, Big Ten, ACC, and the Big 12.
While Netflix and Prime have yet to entertain college football, most of the various conferences' broadcasting partners also have streaming platforms that will stream live games.
But, despite the relative confusion all of the different networks, streaming platforms, and live streaming services have created, there is a lone bright spot for both the NFL and college football.
Early in 2024, ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros Discovery announced a consolidation project that will bring together the NFL, the NBA, college football (and college sports in general), the PGA, FIFA, WNBA, MLB, and more.
Fox and ESPN are owned by Disney, so the world's most famous mouse will obviously have a say in how this conglomeration goes down. The streaming platform has no name yet, though some names have been floating around for a while.
The app will be released sometime in the fall after college football and the NFL seasons are well underway.
Since no single streaming platform or cable/satellite provider has ever been able to broadcast every single game, it's hard to imagine this mysterious app will suddenly change that.
The app should include all of the ESPNs, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, the Big Ten Network, the ACC Network, the SEC Network, TNT, TBS, and TruTV.
Since NBC and CBS aren't part of this aggregation of networks, fans will have to use their respective streaming platforms or channels.
Where Do Football Fans Go From Here?
Well, there is always the option to pay for everything, which would run you north of $90 per month, possibly much higher (NFL Sunday Ticket, Redzone, etc.).
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The free trial option is dying fast, mostly because streaming platforms and live streaming services recognize the fact that consumers are jumping on free trials to see their favorite games and canceling before the trial ends.
That's not to mention the consumers who keep a set of emails and debit cards on standby for multiple free trial run-throughs.
The only other option, for now, is to settle for what you can afford and what you want to watch. With the yet-unnamed streaming platform conglomeration on the way, we can revisit the formula again soon enough.
For now, it's bound to get worse.
Competition will often create chaos until things begin to settle, and the streaming era of the NFL and college football is still in its infancy.
In the meantime, there's nothing to do but wait and see. Oh, and prepare your wallets and bank accounts.