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Why would the Yankees, who own the YES Network, want to give up carriage revenue from that TV network? And it's not just the Yankees -- a surprising number of

Why would the Yankees, who own the YES Network, want to give up carriage revenue from that TV network? And it's not just the Yankees -- a surprising number of teams are tied up with regional sports networks, and they're more interested in maximizing that revenue than providing a good online product. And sports fandom is generally localized to the team's location ("we'll root, root, root for the home team/if they don't win its a shame"), so that local cable deal is generally one of the biggest sources of revenue (generally on par with ticket sales). The only reason why the MLB has a good app is because they can capture the thin slice of revenue teams miss out on from out-of-market fans with that app; there's generally not enough of those fans to drive a per-team standalone subscription service (although the MLB does offer one, it's not price-competitive with the full league option), so the league does it as a whole.

criddell 4y ago
If I would normally see Yankees games on the YES network and I watch a Yankees game on the MLB app, MLB should send a portion of my subscription money to YES.
- ascagnel_ 4y ago
  The issue is that MLB.tv is a lot, _lot_ less expensive than what the Yankees make by offering a cable channel (where they make a lot of money from people who never even tune the channel, because of carriage fees). So that $160/year you pay the MLB would have to outweigh all that money that YES makes because they have exclusive rights to carry games in their broadcast area. Are you willing to pay $300/year+ for MLBtv?
  - criddell 4y ago
    > Are you willing to pay $300/year+ for MLBtv? For every game? Absolutely. Sign me up. For me to get my local teams and the games on ESPN I have to subscribe to a mid-level cable package which costs something like $1000 / year. To get the Peacock games, it's another $5 / month.
  - corrral 4y ago
    > Are you willing to pay $300/year+ for MLBtv? Given how many people I know who pay $80+ a month for cable only for sports, I guarantee you'd get a lot of takers for a "stream any game, any time, anywhere, $350/yr" plan for any of several major sports, including baseball.

criddell 4y ago

If I would normally see Yankees games on the YES network and I watch a Yankees game on the MLB app, MLB should send a portion of my subscription money to YES.

ascagnel_ 4y ago
The issue is that MLB.tv is a lot, _lot_ less expensive than what the Yankees make by offering a cable channel (where they make a lot of money from people who never even tune the channel, because of carriage fees). So that $160/year you pay the MLB would have to outweigh all that money that YES makes because they have exclusive rights to carry games in their broadcast area. Are you willing to pay $300/year+ for MLBtv?
- criddell 4y ago
  > Are you willing to pay $300/year+ for MLBtv? For every game? Absolutely. Sign me up. For me to get my local teams and the games on ESPN I have to subscribe to a mid-level cable package which costs something like $1000 / year. To get the Peacock games, it's another $5 / month.
- corrral 4y ago
  > Are you willing to pay $300/year+ for MLBtv? Given how many people I know who pay $80+ a month for cable only for sports, I guarantee you'd get a lot of takers for a "stream any game, any time, anywhere, $350/yr" plan for any of several major sports, including baseball.