TV sports packages, streaming, ESPN+

[Beeeej]

A reminder that the subscription rates for the Disney family (which includes ESPN+) are all increasing this Thursday, Oct. 12.

Monthly increases from $9.99 to $10.99. If you subscribe today through Wednesday, you get the 2 exhibitions, UMD(2), @Yale, @Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard games at the lower rate. Save a buck.

The annual rate increases from $99.99 to $109.99. I checked my credit card "offers" and found a 15% off discount for ESPN+. I don't watch sports as much as I used to, but I decided it's worth $7-$8 a month to take me through lax season and some MLB.

It looks like the only CU hockey games not on ESPN+ this year are the ones @ASU in early Jan. The Lake Placid tournament before New Years has the ESPN+ logo on the Athletics website.

You sir are a national treasure.

[upprdeck]

So ESPN+ is going to start locking down password sharing like Netflix.. That is fine.

My question is the same one that Netflix cant answer..

I have 2 ISPs.. I cant even watch the service within my own house because they dont have a system that handles multiple ISPs yet the policy they use to enforce the rules clearly states a household..

Its like they made up a rule and don't know how to define a household so they decided to use another service like ISP to define it..  What happens if your ISP does not give you a dedicated IP address?  There is no real reason an ISP needs to dedicate one unless you require it and ask for one.

[RichH]

I was thinking today about my choices for re-upping for the new hockey season. The Mouse just raised the subscription fees again this month, but I still see 15% off coupons on various credit cards.

Then I happened to catch this news story:

https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/siriusxm-espn-plus-free-6-months-special-offer-1236185260/

Bundle-city for the win. I already happen to have SiriusXM on a $5/month special and that will apparently get me 6 months of free ESPN+. That takes me to almost April, which is all I need. Those of you who have ESPN+ already should be able to get free SiriusXM (fwiw).

[marty]

I was thinking today about my choices for re-upping for the new hockey season. The Mouse just raised the subscription fees again this month, but I still see 15% off coupons on various credit cards.

Then I happened to catch this news story:

https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/siriusxm-espn-plus-free-6-months-special-offer-1236185260/

Bundle-city for the win. I already happen to have SiriusXM on a $5/month special and that will apparently get me 6 months of free ESPN+. That takes me to almost April, which is all I need. Those of you who have ESPN+ already should be able to get free SiriusXM (fwiw).

Also consider the Hulu, ESPN+ and Disney bundle that Verizon offers.  I had been lucky that the Verizon lines i give my family included such a package as part of a hot spot.  But when that perk was lost to me last month I was still able to add the 3 streaming services for what looks like less than $10 on my current bill.

And so far we have been able to share the streaming in at least 2 households.

[upprdeck]

you can share it all you want but they already started cracking on down on Disney+.  Hulu you can share if you are not using the live tv part and ESPN+ they have not started a lock down yet.

[marty]

One of their biggest income streams for local channels is the payments they collect from cable.  The Youtube guys who are worried here think that everything will be scrambled so that all viewers will have to pay the equivalent of the cable fee to see the channels. My crystal ball is cloudy here, but if enough antenna users bitch this will be unlikely to occur.

Channels that originate as over-the-air broadcasts, I believe that can't be broadcast as scrambled or encrypted channels. Something that lives only as a cable channel, say the Paranormal Channel (when in the seventies cable TV proponents said everyone would get 500 channels of diverse programming, is this what they meant?) could be encrypted.

Apparently in some markets - not mine as my Tablo and my daughter's Silicon Dust gadget are not blocked - TV signals are now blocked on some channels.

[RichH]

With the Four-Letter announcing their new standalone streaming service at something like $30/month, and the NFL taking 10% ownership, I'm on alert. It could mean nothing. But ESPN may not have a need to produce some ECA-whatever hockey content as they move even further down the "football/basketball are all that matter" road.

In the meantime, the new service includes ESPN+.

Fubo also announced that their packages (with ESPN also now include ESPN+ with no additional cost.

[jtwcornell91]

With the Four-Letter announcing their new standalone streaming service at something like $30/month, and the NFL taking 10% ownership, I'm on alert. It could mean nothing. But ESPN may not have a need to produce some ECA-whatever hockey content as they move even further down the "football/basketball are all that matter" road.

In the meantime, the new service includes ESPN+.

Fubo also announced that their packages (with ESPN also now include ESPN+ with no additional cost.

Has anyone read the fine print on this?  Does it mean we'll go back to not getting all the NCAA tournament games if we just have the regular ESPN+ bundle?

[marty]

With the Four-Letter announcing their new standalone streaming service at something like $30/month, and the NFL taking 10% ownership, I'm on alert. It could mean nothing. But ESPN may not have a need to produce some ECA-whatever hockey content as they move even further down the "football/basketball are all that matter" road.

In the meantime, the new service includes ESPN+.

Fubo also announced that their packages (with ESPN also now include ESPN+ with no additional cost.

Has anyone read the fine print on this?  Does it mean we'll go back to not getting all the NCAA tournament games if we just have the regular ESPN+ bundle?

This is truly in an interesting mess.  Sling is being sued(?) by Disney for offering low cost day and weekend passes.  "You will buy a month and you will like it!"

[Trotsky]

Vampire Mouse has expensive lawyers.

[jtwcornell91]

With the Four-Letter announcing their new standalone streaming service at something like $30/month, and the NFL taking 10% ownership, I'm on alert. It could mean nothing. But ESPN may not have a need to produce some ECA-whatever hockey content as they move even further down the "football/basketball are all that matter" road.

In the meantime, the new service includes ESPN+.

Fubo also announced that their packages (with ESPN also now include ESPN+ with no additional cost.

Has anyone read the fine print on this?  Does it mean we'll go back to not getting all the NCAA tournament games if we just have the regular ESPN+ bundle?

This is truly in an interesting mess.  Sling is being sued(?) by Disney for offering low cost day and weekend passes.  "You will buy a month and you will like it!"

Sling has to go up there with Napster as a company that went corporate and began offering a completely different product under the same name.  (Netflix as well, but they were always corporate.)

[Trotsky]

With the Four-Letter announcing their new standalone streaming service at something like $30/month, and the NFL taking 10% ownership, I'm on alert. It could mean nothing. But ESPN may not have a need to produce some ECA-whatever hockey content as they move even further down the "football/basketball are all that matter" road.

In the meantime, the new service includes ESPN+.

Fubo also announced that their packages (with ESPN also now include ESPN+ with no additional cost.

Has anyone read the fine print on this?  Does it mean we'll go back to not getting all the NCAA tournament games if we just have the regular ESPN+ bundle?

This is truly in an interesting mess.  Sling is being sued(?) by Disney for offering low cost day and weekend passes.  "You will buy a month and you will like it!"

Sling has to go up there with Napster as a company that went corporate and began offering a completely different product under the same name.  (Netflix as well, but they were always corporate.)

The https://www.reddit.com/r/trees/ / https://www.reddit.com/r/marijuanaenthusiasts/ award.