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Think this might get embarrassing for Google’s YouTube TV service when the price gets unveiled. It’s going to be $64.99 per month plus whatever they decide the add on is going to be charged. I think it’s going to make DirectTV look like a bargain bin. Don’t think this is an embarrassing loss for Apple as it’s going to be painful to football fans.
What's embarrassing is YouTube TV's $65 a month!! I thought it was something like $20;talk about cable 2.0!
 
I have F1’s monthly service for $9.99 per month. It’s not a bad deal really.
It's a good value, and the service itself works more reliably than NFL's apps. It probably won't last as F1's popularity continues to grow though, especially in the US.
 
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Too many Apple-fans believing this would have been a free addition. There is no way they'd have plopped down $2 billion per year and not added a big additional price to get it. Normally Sunday Ticket has been about $400 per year.
You don’t get it, do you? It’s called a loss leader. Apple is trying to normalize ATV+, and get people in the habit of using it, trying to play major catch up to YouTube, Hulu, Prime, Netflix, and cable, so dropping a few hundo to acquire new customers that will be worth 10’s of thousands over a lifetime is a drop in the bucket.

It very likely would have been no additional charge to ATV+ subscribers. 90/10.
 
YouTubeTV is what AppleTV should have been all along.
Um, why? What evidence do you have that it makes any money at or is is remotely sustainable?

Most streaming models aren’t, and it sucks for viewers, because when the majority of them eventually collapse, after killing off their broadcast predecessors, we could be left with fewer choices that are less motivated to provide quality content than before streaming was introduced.
 
NFL has plenty of coverage in the US, but has very little interest outside the US.

Actually it’s exactly the opposite.

Due to the stupid contracts in the USA it is actually quite difficult to watch the NFL, but it is usually very easy outside of the USA.

The NFL games are blacked out all over the USA except what one of the two networks wants you to see - so unless you want to watch the 2 or 3 most popular teams of the day - you have to have Sunday Ticket or go to a sports bar.

The same blackouts don’t really exist internationally. We had a much easier time watching NFL games in Europe than we do here in the US.
 
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I have had Sunday Ticket for 5 years or so, and never had Direct TV or their subscription. It was already a stand alone service and has been if you wanted it.

This is barely true, only because you fell into a grey area somehow.

DirecTV absolutely would not sell anyone SundayTicket without their satellite service *unless* you were *legally* unable to get satellite service.

They were required to make it available to people who could not get a satellite subscription (like apartment buildings or dorm rooms or similar).

But if their computer listed your residence as eligible for satellite - you couldn’t get stand-alone SundayTicket.

Two separate addresses for me, neither with a clear southern exposure - but both listed in their computer as eligible for satellite. So we could not get it. No amount of proof that satellite doesn’t work on our homes would work - their computer said our houses were eligible and that was that. (We are pretty far north so you have to have nearly nothing to the south of your home to get satellite and both our places had large buildings to our south that blocked the sky).

DirectTV is terrible.
 
Its too niche to spend 2 billion year. Soccer is different since thats a world wide sport.

I’m not sure what your definition of niche is, the NFL is the most watched thing of any kind in the US. Sure it’s not international, but it’s certainly not niche…
 
This is barely true, only because you fell into a grey area somehow.

DirecTV absolutely would not sell anyone SundayTicket without their satellite service *unless* you were *legally* unable to get satellite service.

They were required to make it available to people who could not get a satellite subscription (like apartment buildings or dorm rooms or similar).

But if their computer listed your residence as eligible for satellite - you couldn’t get stand-alone SundayTicket.

Two separate addresses for me, neither with a clear southern exposure - but both listed in their computer as eligible for satellite. So we could not get it. No amount of proof that satellite doesn’t work on our homes would work - their computer said our houses were eligible and that was that. (We are pretty far north so you have to have nearly nothing to the south of your home to get satellite and both our places had large buildings to our south that blocked the sky).

DirectTV is terrible.
Hilarious you have to fight with a company so they can take your money and they say no
 
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I wish they would ignore NFL which is primarily in the US, and go for global sports.

NFL has plenty of coverage in the US, but has very little interest outside the US.

They should focus on F1 (which has a 300% higher TV viewership than NFL), or major league football (aka soccer in the US).

They would get a ton more subscribers if they were able to stream those services. Not that I have any interest in football, I would love to see better streaming support for motorsports.

F1 represents 1/15th the revenue of NFL. And stating that NFL has little interest outside the US is a bit disingenuous. There are 10s of millions of fans in Mexico and South America. It might not be as big as association but it’s not small either.
 
Hilarious you have to fight with a company so they can take your money and they say no

Exactly this.

I had the same problem with SiriusXM.

Like I (and many people) have a price I am willing to pay, so you can give it to me for that price or get zero dollars.

If they had allowed us to buy games or teams aka-cart - we would have gladly given them money. But I don’t want to pay $500-$600 for all the teams.

So instead of $100 - $200 that we would have paid - they get nothing.

If I’m going to have to pay $600 I will instead just go to sports bars, at least there I get food and beverage as well as the game…
 
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F1 represents 1/15th the revenue of NFL. And stating that NFL has little interest outside the US is a bit disingenuous. There are 10s of millions of fans in Mexico and South America. It might not be as big as association but it’s not small either.
Off-line, yes. But TV viewership is much higher with F1, and this is what makes sense for Apple TV.
 
What's embarrassing is YouTube TV's $65 a month!! I thought it was something like $20;talk about cable 2.0!

It's been basically cable 2.0 for years now, but it is exactly that. The nice thing is you can access it anywhere without the need for cable boxes or limited content. For example, if I go to someone's house that does not have cable, I can just login to my YTTV account and watch my library or live sports. It's not cheap, but better than traditional cable.
 
I’m not sure what your definition of niche is, the NFL is the most watched thing of any kind in the US. Sure it’s not international, but it’s certainly not niche…
NFL generated more revenue than any other sport in the world last year, about 2 billion euros more than all association football leagues combined and its audience is mainly one continent but growing.
 
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That’s a good argument. However the F1 audience was shrinking until COVID in many markets. I’m guessing apple is looking for sure things for investors when it comes to sports.
That is very true. Liberty Media however have been focusing on the US market, hence two races in the US, Drive to Survive and the very Americanisation of the sport. The branding, marketing and presentation of the sport is very much catered to a US audience to boost numbers, and while it’s frustrated us European oldies, it’s definitely worked outside of Europe.
 
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