From The Bat Cave -- Streaming NFL -- November 25, 2023

Locator: 46165STREAMING.

Earlier from the Bat Cave, I wrote, regarding Black Friday, Bob Iger, streaming, and football:

Sports: it’s official. Thanksgiving is a two-day holiday, four-day weekend, nine-day school break. Tipping point: Amazon’s Prime Video Thanksgiving Friday NFL game. Why did it take so long?

Black Friday: commercialism has jumped the shark. Macy’s Parade was one long Bob Iger production. How long has Al Roker been anchoring this parade? Too long. But the money must be incredibly good. Maybe $350 / hour. Plus expenses. Taxi fare from his home in Westchester County. You know, Snoop Dogg should host the parade. Would triple the viewership.

Now, this from Martin Peers:

If we learned anything over Thanksgiving, it’s how much of an opportunity there is for Disney chief Bob Iger to turn ESPN into a streaming hub for all sports.

If you tried to catch the three NFL games on Thanksgiving Day without the benefit of cable TV (or an online version of cable, like YouTube TV), you would have discovered—as my household did—that it’s not possible. [Or an online version of Amazon Prime, or Hulu. I don't think some folks realize that Hulu finds live streaming shows on any number of small regional stations and a lot of those small regional stations carry select NFL games.]

While two of Thursday’s three games were available to watch on streaming services, the third was not. Yes, we’re in the final stage of the transition from television to streaming, which includes moving live sports to the newish medium. It’s messy. And that messiness is magnified when you’re confronted with a house full of people keen to watch football all day. 

The game airing first, Green Bay Packers versus Detroit Lions, was on Fox, which doesn’t have a paid-subscription streaming service, so we couldn’t stream it without a cable-type service. Paramount Global’s Paramount+ had a game (Washington Commanders versus Dallas Cowboys), but that didn’t start until late afternoon. NBCUniversal’s Peacock aired the evening game, San Francisco 49ers playing the Seattle Seahawks.

Try explaining to family members why watching the NFL is so complicated without a cable package—which means getting into the high cost of NFL video rights—and you’ll meet glazed eyes and a request for more beer. (And yes, we could have checked the schedule beforehand).

Wow, that was painful. My eyes "glazed over" reading Martin's rant.

Apparently he had problems accessing the NFL football games Thursday and Friday.

Me? As mentioned earlier, all I need is Hulu, the Amazon Firestick, Amazon Prime, and that's it. What's so hard about that?

And I accessed every NFL game easily and no extra expenses.  

I don't know what he's talking about ... 

... it gets tedious.

And that part where Martin says his family is "in the final stage of the transition from television to streaming, which includes moving live sports to the newish medium. It’s messy. And that messiness is magnified when you’re confronted with a house full of people keen to watch football all day.'

Messy? Oh, give me a break.

Here's how you you do it.

• throw out all your television sets.
• subscribe to some cable company (or dish company) for basic cable. Basic cable. Nothing else. It's a utility for the 21st century.
• buy two or three monitors of some sort -- it doesn't matter -- smart Samsung monitors, or a big-screen Apple iMac ... and "link" them to your cable modem. Flat screen monitors are dirt cheap; the Apple iMac, not so much.
• subscribe to Amazon Prime -- one should have done this ten year ago, but that's a different story.
• buy a $25 Firestick for each smart flat screen monitor; it won't be needed for an iMac.
• have your wife, husband, teenage son, significant other, anyone buy you a Hulu subscription for a Christmas present ---

That's it: Hulu, Amazon Prime, Amazon Firestick. And no television sets.

If you need anything else -- Netflix, MAX, etc. -- it's ala carte...

... but with Amazon Prime, Amazon Prime Video and  Hulu ... if you can't access the NFL game you want to watch, go to a sports bar.

In 2013, we moved from San Antonio, TX, and Boston, MA, to the DFW, TX, area. In that move -- thjat was back in 2013, I threw out all our television sets and bought two big-screen flat smart monitors from Walmart, one for the entertainment room; one for the bedroom.

That's how long it's been. 

In 2020, or thereabouts, on a lark I bought a 27-inch iMac. I had no need for it and didn't know where I was going to place it. Turns out it was the best buy I had made in a long time. Apple doesn't make a 27-inch iMac any more. To get that size monitor, it's gonna be expensive -- and it's just a monitor -- no computer. 

The biggest iMac is 24 inches.

Wow, what a digression.

I finished reading Martin Peers' rant -- seems he wants all his NFL for free. Not gonna happen, but there are ways to make it easier. And not particularly expensive. When compared to a season ticket to attend in person.

If one had problem accessing the four games ayer y anteayer, I would call it what we called it in the military: piss-poor planning.

On another note, this points out a huge difference between Bob Iger and Jeff Bezos. The former starts out with a financial statement in front of him; the latter starts out with a strategic plan,  asking what he can do for his subscribers, to hell with the cost.

I've alluded to this before, about Amazon. As Adrian Monk would say, it's a curse, and a blessing.