As someone who doesn't live in the "regional area" this doesn't change anything for me. But I'm happy for Stars fans that are in the regional areas bc they've been underserved for a long time.
The issue of cross-promotion and general awareness is a real issue. The solution is to get the Mavs and Rangers on the same platform. That's outside the control of the Stars but is certainly something APMC would want. You'd think that would be a natural synergy to have a one-stop platform where all local teams are available. Heck, add up and coming sports like cricket, minor league baseball, minor league hockey and you have the makings of a streaming replacement for the old regional sports network.
If I'm at APMC that's what my vision would be: become THE go-to place for televised coverage of all local sports. Heck, with college sports also undergoing transformation what's to say you couldn't also be broadcasting SMU basketball, Dallas Baptist baseball, etc.
I think Bob got it right. This move will either be seen as the first brick in a new "regional sports broadcast" wall or will be another of many failed broadcast efforts.
That's curious there's not a paid plan that allows you to avoid commercials. I probably won't watch games if I have to watch commercials. My go to method for watching sports (except for playoff games) is to start watching at least 1 hr after the start of the game and fast forward through commercials/half times. I reduce the amount of time it takes to watch games AND I don't have to watch commercials.
This is really interesting to me. People would rather pay subscription fees than have commercials that are placed in commercial timeouts? I can't imagine this, but I am only one person.
Think of subscriptions like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Paramount+, etc. Most have no commercials, or limited commercials. Sports are incredibly frustrating to watch when there are commercials. I subscribe to YouTube TV for Cowboys games, nationally televised & playoff games for Mavs/Stars/Rangers, and generally try to start watching an hour after the game starts so I can fast forward. Even watching regular series on YouTube TV, I can fast forward through commercials if I record the episodes. Also, watching golf is awesome when you can fast forward through commercials and boring interviews.
Bob, as a cord cutter, I’ve paid premium subscriptions for everything without commercials (still cheaper than the $250/mo. I was paying DirecTv for the sports package), and I’m not going back. Very happy for the economic tradeoff of more money for less time wasted for commercials. I feel like I’m still coming out ahead $ wise.
Yeah I don’t get that. It’s one thing on a sitcom or television show but for a sporting event that has structured breaks is it really that much of a burden? Use that time to scroll your phone or grab a drink
Pirate feeds, Bob. Pirate feeds. They can't stop them; they can only hope to contain them. When DirecTV fails me with stupid blackouts (THAT is a whole 'nother rant...) I have a few goto pirate feeds that thankfully have no commercials; just a mirror broadcast.
I still have DirecTV, and the sports package that goes with it. As a NYRangers, NYMets, NYKnicks fan, I can get games that way; with channels that Fios and Comcast do not support. Cowboys are always on national TV broadcasts, so not problems there. I just DVR what I can (post-game shows, as well as 2nd airing of games), FF through commercials, and/or completely ignore most commercials.
I would probably cut the cord, but then my access to MSG, SNY and such would be convoluted. That, plus my wife has stuff permanently saved on the DVR and refuses to learn a new set of controllers, is why I still have DirecTV. MSG has their own streaming service, but it requires you have a cable subscription to use it out of area, and its feed is very inconsistent.
Cutting the cord is a massive pain the ass when trying to watch different teams, sports, events, as every streamer is hosted differently, has different controls, different pricing plans, different video and audio quality and sync ...DirecTV still consolidates it all pretty well, with one single controller and command menu.
YES! I do this for every Cowboy game, and it works beautifully! It saves me about an hour per game, and I don’t miss anything. I’m usually caught up to live by the middle or end of the third quarter. The time I save to do something else of my choosing (not watching commercials) is worth the money I spend on the access and DVR.
I am a diehard of all the local DFW teams and also do this exact thing. The toughest part is staying unplugged from the phone during that hour or so while you are catching up, to ensure you don't accidently see the score (or most often for me, a wary text that either reveals it or gives away something major that's about to happen in the game) - other than that, if I can take 2h to watch a 3 hour sporting event and skip all the commercials, its a no-doubter for me.
I think one of the things that I use a lot instead of “channel surfing” is hitting up the sports section on Apple TV that aggregates everything that’s on. If they can get the app linked to there and things like it that would help tremendously.
Enjoyed the article, couple of things, as far as promo's on other sports broadcast, they can always buy time, making work something out to cross promote? On the technical front, I use Google TV, it lists live TV streaming on all kinds of free channels (like PLEX), maybe Stars can get on that listing service.
Hope it works out for them, I'm sick of paying for a bunch of channels I don't watch.
Hi Bob. What about Radio and the Ticket tie-in? Do you guys keep the games? It seems like it’s in the Stars best interest because of the Stars segments you fill with Razor, etc. That would also help with keeping it top of mind.
Personally, I am REALLY curious to see how it goes. This seems like the old HBO model to me: You pay for content, no commercials. When we started paying for both content AND commercials, it’s really irritating.
Bob loved the interview today with the stars president. When talking about daytime programming, the ticket should throw cameras in the studio and stream as their daytime content kind of like the McAfee show on ESPN or really any of the talk shows on ESPN or FS1 which are really just streamed radio shows (although you guys are so much better). I stream the ticket all day including when sitting with the TV on with sports on the TV, I would much prefer to stream a video stream of you guys with a sports ticker at the bottom (many of the things you guys do would be better with the visual)
I don’t know what television ads run for but if we want to try and see if it’s viable it’s pretty basic math. Let’s say the Stars need to recoup $30M they were otherwise getting thru BSSW. You have 80 games per season to show on this Victory (let’s assume 2 national games for nice round numbers sake). That means you need to make $375k per game in ad revenue
Each game I think there are 11 “in game” commercial breaks. 3 each during periods and 1 each during intermissions meaning for each commercial break you need to make $34k.
If we assume 2:30 breaks that’s five 30 second ads that can be sold meaning a 30 second ad would cost $7k and there would be an inventory of 55 “ads” that can be sold per game
Now that doesn’t account for added production costs. For example if Josh and Razor had been paid by BSSW and now have to be paid by the Stars that’s an added expense. But just breaking down how it’s possible to get $30M in revenue from this venture I would think that’s very doable
Where I'm at in the Austin area we have access to only 1 cable company (optimum) and they're in a pissing contest with Diamond sports. Right now they removed Bally Sports from the their service. Leaves us without Ranger baseball now unless they on a national game. Don't know if Bally has a streaming deal or not. So at least for the time being no Ranger baseball for us. This would have blacked out the Stars too so this is a welcome action for us without Bally Sports.
Well, nothing is free. What fans will experience is advertising fatigue. All kinds of ads plastered everywhere during the broadcast. Hopefully a “full screen” setting is available while actual live game action is on. I’m assuming that the streaming provider is paying the Stars some coin, and they have the responsibility for broadcast production (announcers, social media bits, cameras/camera-persons, reporters, pre and post game show, etc.). That’s gonna be a cost, and they will need to sell a lot of ads to pay for all that, plus pay the Stars.
I think we’ll see variations of commercial banners, chyrons, crawls and pop-up windows all throughout and around their game video stream. Much like espnews or gambling channels.
Hockey is a pretty structured system. They have 3 commercial breaks per period and those are timed. I don’t expect we’re going to see an excess of commercials due to this
This was my exact concern. If you're have no sub revenue, then you're relying upon ads for 100% of your revenue. This means they will be hyper aggressive about advertising. I'm imagining logos plastered over the screen during gameplay; numerous "quick commercials" during puck stoppages. Intermission reports that are basically non-stop commercials.
If I had to crystal ball it...they end up with a hybrid, with a "free" version that is somehow limited (fewer games?) and a paid version that isn't.
But yeah....I imagine the onslaught of ads in various guises will annoying very fast.
And to be clear, I abhor commercials on TV, and click ads. I usually don't pay attention to commercials unless they are Super-Bowl-funny, I tend to DVR record and then FF through them, and I use various means of ad blocking to get around ads on my laptop and iPhone. Those that squeeze through I just scroll past, and I make it a firm habit never to buy anything that advertises on my computer or iPhone. My twitter account has over 400 blocked ad users; and now that blocking is limited on twitter I just 100% ignore and scroll past. Most of it is low-rent, low-brow, junk anyway; oddball specialty stuff one doesn't need.
As someone who doesn't live in the "regional area" this doesn't change anything for me. But I'm happy for Stars fans that are in the regional areas bc they've been underserved for a long time.
The issue of cross-promotion and general awareness is a real issue. The solution is to get the Mavs and Rangers on the same platform. That's outside the control of the Stars but is certainly something APMC would want. You'd think that would be a natural synergy to have a one-stop platform where all local teams are available. Heck, add up and coming sports like cricket, minor league baseball, minor league hockey and you have the makings of a streaming replacement for the old regional sports network.
If I'm at APMC that's what my vision would be: become THE go-to place for televised coverage of all local sports. Heck, with college sports also undergoing transformation what's to say you couldn't also be broadcasting SMU basketball, Dallas Baptist baseball, etc.
I think Bob got it right. This move will either be seen as the first brick in a new "regional sports broadcast" wall or will be another of many failed broadcast efforts.
That's curious there's not a paid plan that allows you to avoid commercials. I probably won't watch games if I have to watch commercials. My go to method for watching sports (except for playoff games) is to start watching at least 1 hr after the start of the game and fast forward through commercials/half times. I reduce the amount of time it takes to watch games AND I don't have to watch commercials.
This is really interesting to me. People would rather pay subscription fees than have commercials that are placed in commercial timeouts? I can't imagine this, but I am only one person.
As someone who finds commercials to basically be an insult to one's intelligence I understand David's stance.
Think of subscriptions like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Paramount+, etc. Most have no commercials, or limited commercials. Sports are incredibly frustrating to watch when there are commercials. I subscribe to YouTube TV for Cowboys games, nationally televised & playoff games for Mavs/Stars/Rangers, and generally try to start watching an hour after the game starts so I can fast forward. Even watching regular series on YouTube TV, I can fast forward through commercials if I record the episodes. Also, watching golf is awesome when you can fast forward through commercials and boring interviews.
Bob, as a cord cutter, I’ve paid premium subscriptions for everything without commercials (still cheaper than the $250/mo. I was paying DirecTv for the sports package), and I’m not going back. Very happy for the economic tradeoff of more money for less time wasted for commercials. I feel like I’m still coming out ahead $ wise.
Yeah I don’t get that. It’s one thing on a sitcom or television show but for a sporting event that has structured breaks is it really that much of a burden? Use that time to scroll your phone or grab a drink
Pirate feeds, Bob. Pirate feeds. They can't stop them; they can only hope to contain them. When DirecTV fails me with stupid blackouts (THAT is a whole 'nother rant...) I have a few goto pirate feeds that thankfully have no commercials; just a mirror broadcast.
I still have DirecTV, and the sports package that goes with it. As a NYRangers, NYMets, NYKnicks fan, I can get games that way; with channels that Fios and Comcast do not support. Cowboys are always on national TV broadcasts, so not problems there. I just DVR what I can (post-game shows, as well as 2nd airing of games), FF through commercials, and/or completely ignore most commercials.
I would probably cut the cord, but then my access to MSG, SNY and such would be convoluted. That, plus my wife has stuff permanently saved on the DVR and refuses to learn a new set of controllers, is why I still have DirecTV. MSG has their own streaming service, but it requires you have a cable subscription to use it out of area, and its feed is very inconsistent.
Cutting the cord is a massive pain the ass when trying to watch different teams, sports, events, as every streamer is hosted differently, has different controls, different pricing plans, different video and audio quality and sync ...DirecTV still consolidates it all pretty well, with one single controller and command menu.
YES! I do this for every Cowboy game, and it works beautifully! It saves me about an hour per game, and I don’t miss anything. I’m usually caught up to live by the middle or end of the third quarter. The time I save to do something else of my choosing (not watching commercials) is worth the money I spend on the access and DVR.
I am a diehard of all the local DFW teams and also do this exact thing. The toughest part is staying unplugged from the phone during that hour or so while you are catching up, to ensure you don't accidently see the score (or most often for me, a wary text that either reveals it or gives away something major that's about to happen in the game) - other than that, if I can take 2h to watch a 3 hour sporting event and skip all the commercials, its a no-doubter for me.
I think one of the things that I use a lot instead of “channel surfing” is hitting up the sports section on Apple TV that aggregates everything that’s on. If they can get the app linked to there and things like it that would help tremendously.
Really good suggestion.
Enjoyed the article, couple of things, as far as promo's on other sports broadcast, they can always buy time, making work something out to cross promote? On the technical front, I use Google TV, it lists live TV streaming on all kinds of free channels (like PLEX), maybe Stars can get on that listing service.
Hope it works out for them, I'm sick of paying for a bunch of channels I don't watch.
I hope this works and something similar occurs with the Rangers and Mavs. Having Bally Sports is the only reason I still have AT&T U-verse.
Hi Bob. What about Radio and the Ticket tie-in? Do you guys keep the games? It seems like it’s in the Stars best interest because of the Stars segments you fill with Razor, etc. That would also help with keeping it top of mind.
Personally, I am REALLY curious to see how it goes. This seems like the old HBO model to me: You pay for content, no commercials. When we started paying for both content AND commercials, it’s really irritating.
Bob loved the interview today with the stars president. When talking about daytime programming, the ticket should throw cameras in the studio and stream as their daytime content kind of like the McAfee show on ESPN or really any of the talk shows on ESPN or FS1 which are really just streamed radio shows (although you guys are so much better). I stream the ticket all day including when sitting with the TV on with sports on the TV, I would much prefer to stream a video stream of you guys with a sports ticker at the bottom (many of the things you guys do would be better with the visual)
I don’t know what television ads run for but if we want to try and see if it’s viable it’s pretty basic math. Let’s say the Stars need to recoup $30M they were otherwise getting thru BSSW. You have 80 games per season to show on this Victory (let’s assume 2 national games for nice round numbers sake). That means you need to make $375k per game in ad revenue
Each game I think there are 11 “in game” commercial breaks. 3 each during periods and 1 each during intermissions meaning for each commercial break you need to make $34k.
If we assume 2:30 breaks that’s five 30 second ads that can be sold meaning a 30 second ad would cost $7k and there would be an inventory of 55 “ads” that can be sold per game
Now that doesn’t account for added production costs. For example if Josh and Razor had been paid by BSSW and now have to be paid by the Stars that’s an added expense. But just breaking down how it’s possible to get $30M in revenue from this venture I would think that’s very doable
I love this idea! Great potential. So, who will be doing the play-by-play broadcast now, Bob Sturm?
Where I'm at in the Austin area we have access to only 1 cable company (optimum) and they're in a pissing contest with Diamond sports. Right now they removed Bally Sports from the their service. Leaves us without Ranger baseball now unless they on a national game. Don't know if Bally has a streaming deal or not. So at least for the time being no Ranger baseball for us. This would have blacked out the Stars too so this is a welcome action for us without Bally Sports.
FuboTV has Bally
Well, nothing is free. What fans will experience is advertising fatigue. All kinds of ads plastered everywhere during the broadcast. Hopefully a “full screen” setting is available while actual live game action is on. I’m assuming that the streaming provider is paying the Stars some coin, and they have the responsibility for broadcast production (announcers, social media bits, cameras/camera-persons, reporters, pre and post game show, etc.). That’s gonna be a cost, and they will need to sell a lot of ads to pay for all that, plus pay the Stars.
Good luck.
I think we’ll see variations of commercial banners, chyrons, crawls and pop-up windows all throughout and around their game video stream. Much like espnews or gambling channels.
Hockey is a pretty structured system. They have 3 commercial breaks per period and those are timed. I don’t expect we’re going to see an excess of commercials due to this
This was my exact concern. If you're have no sub revenue, then you're relying upon ads for 100% of your revenue. This means they will be hyper aggressive about advertising. I'm imagining logos plastered over the screen during gameplay; numerous "quick commercials" during puck stoppages. Intermission reports that are basically non-stop commercials.
If I had to crystal ball it...they end up with a hybrid, with a "free" version that is somehow limited (fewer games?) and a paid version that isn't.
But yeah....I imagine the onslaught of ads in various guises will annoying very fast.
And to be clear, I abhor commercials on TV, and click ads. I usually don't pay attention to commercials unless they are Super-Bowl-funny, I tend to DVR record and then FF through them, and I use various means of ad blocking to get around ads on my laptop and iPhone. Those that squeeze through I just scroll past, and I make it a firm habit never to buy anything that advertises on my computer or iPhone. My twitter account has over 400 blocked ad users; and now that blocking is limited on twitter I just 100% ignore and scroll past. Most of it is low-rent, low-brow, junk anyway; oddball specialty stuff one doesn't need.
Twitter has become so bad since that guy took over...I shut my primary account down. Have a 2nd account but rarely look at it now.