an interesting "follow the money" question.
i wonder if the tv contracts address such a situation as covid at all.
that said, do Disney/ESPN or Fox/BTN even want it addressed.
much of your cable/satellite bill is sports programming based, and you notice your bill hasn't gone down one cent even without sports, other than reruns and now some golf.
at first glance, one might reason that Disney/ABC/ESPN and Fox and CBS and NBC/Comcast and TBS/TNT might fight to not have to pay out contracts to the Big 10, SEC, ACC, Big 12, PAC, NBA, MLB, PGA, NFL, as we're talking huge money being paid out here for what's currently, the past 5 months, and for the foreseeable future, absolutely nothing in return for all that money paid out.
but "not so fast my friend".
if Disney/ABC/ESPN, CBS, FOX/BTN, TBS/TNT, NBC, don't have to pay all those huge bucks for zero in return, then arguably they can't as easily turn around and charge Comcast, AT&T/Directv, Spectrum/Charter, Dish Net, Altice USA, etc, and now You Tube TV and all the other streaming cable options carrying those networks, even bigger bucks after their markup is also figured in, for absolutely nothing either.
and if Comcast, AT&T/Directv, Spectrum/Charter, Dish Net, You Tube TV, etc, fought paying the networks the even bigger bucks for the now non existent sports programming, then Comcast, AT&T/Directv, etc, arguably couldn't turn around, mark up, and charge cable/satellite/streaming customers for the non existent sports programming they are currently charging them a huge chunk of their overall monthly bill for.
again, notice your cable/satellite bill hasn't gone down one cent, even though a good percentage of what you are paying for is no longer being provided.
and your cable/satellite provider is also your home/business internet provider, so they've really got you by the balls.
therefore, even without a season at all in college football or bball, not inconceivable that the Big 10, SEC, Big 12, ACC, PAC, still get their gigantic tv payouts.
and if the conferences, thus the major schools, are still getting their tv money even absent any games being played, then not unreasonable to think the smaller schools who have game contracts with the big schools will argue for and come after their share of the game contracts, for which the major schools they contracted with are still getting paid for the tv rights to if they still are.
and while i suppose some consumer group could sue the big telecom guys for charging subscribers big bucks for programing they are no longer getting, big telecom could drag it out forever in the courts, and SCOTUS just like the legislature, hasn't backed the consumer vs big business in over 50 yr, so good luck with that.
anyway, just some middle of the night ramblings from an old guy in lock down with no sports to watch, but still being charged big bucks for them..
i wonder if the tv contracts address such a situation as covid at all.
that said, do Disney/ESPN or Fox/BTN even want it addressed.
much of your cable/satellite bill is sports programming based, and you notice your bill hasn't gone down one cent even without sports, other than reruns and now some golf.
at first glance, one might reason that Disney/ABC/ESPN and Fox and CBS and NBC/Comcast and TBS/TNT might fight to not have to pay out contracts to the Big 10, SEC, ACC, Big 12, PAC, NBA, MLB, PGA, NFL, as we're talking huge money being paid out here for what's currently, the past 5 months, and for the foreseeable future, absolutely nothing in return for all that money paid out.
but "not so fast my friend".
if Disney/ABC/ESPN, CBS, FOX/BTN, TBS/TNT, NBC, don't have to pay all those huge bucks for zero in return, then arguably they can't as easily turn around and charge Comcast, AT&T/Directv, Spectrum/Charter, Dish Net, Altice USA, etc, and now You Tube TV and all the other streaming cable options carrying those networks, even bigger bucks after their markup is also figured in, for absolutely nothing either.
and if Comcast, AT&T/Directv, Spectrum/Charter, Dish Net, You Tube TV, etc, fought paying the networks the even bigger bucks for the now non existent sports programming, then Comcast, AT&T/Directv, etc, arguably couldn't turn around, mark up, and charge cable/satellite/streaming customers for the non existent sports programming they are currently charging them a huge chunk of their overall monthly bill for.
again, notice your cable/satellite bill hasn't gone down one cent, even though a good percentage of what you are paying for is no longer being provided.
and your cable/satellite provider is also your home/business internet provider, so they've really got you by the balls.
therefore, even without a season at all in college football or bball, not inconceivable that the Big 10, SEC, Big 12, ACC, PAC, still get their gigantic tv payouts.
and if the conferences, thus the major schools, are still getting their tv money even absent any games being played, then not unreasonable to think the smaller schools who have game contracts with the big schools will argue for and come after their share of the game contracts, for which the major schools they contracted with are still getting paid for the tv rights to if they still are.
and while i suppose some consumer group could sue the big telecom guys for charging subscribers big bucks for programing they are no longer getting, big telecom could drag it out forever in the courts, and SCOTUS just like the legislature, hasn't backed the consumer vs big business in over 50 yr, so good luck with that.
anyway, just some middle of the night ramblings from an old guy in lock down with no sports to watch, but still being charged big bucks for them..
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