Chris Fedor is one of the few media people here that's balanced on the whole Sexton situation. I may disagree with him on some stuff but he's not hateful like most people here.
www.cleveland.com
Since so many consumers have done away with cable subscriptions, what is the league’s responsibility when it comes to distributing your product to fans and streaming services?
“Our responsibility is to find formats and platforms that allow us to distribute the games to a maximum number of people who are interested. Right now, we have a mid-term problem, where we are locked into a current framework that provides exclusivity to traditional providers, largely cable and satellite. We know and they know that the model has to shift. But it’s complicated because of existing relationships they have with cable operators and the ultimate distributors. There are packages you can get now that are direct to consumer. For example, our League Pass out of market product that if you live in Cleveland and want to watch, for example, every Golden State Warriors game or Miami Heat game, other than the ones on national TV, you can buy that package of games. The model is going to need to change over the next few years. I think, if anything, the pandemic has accelerated those changes as more people have discovered quality programming on streaming services.
“Take ESPN for example. They are, of course, owned by Disney and Disney made that bold move to Disney Plus and took an enormous amount of their programming off traditional services. I think ESPN is undoubtedly looking at a similar transition over time. I do think there will be a hybrid. You can analogize it as a newspaper reporter and those people will continue to want to read a newspaper in print -- and I’m one of those people that likes to pick it up and feel the print edition of newspapers every morning -- but the growth we’re seeing in media companies is with the newspaper prints being presented digitally. I think it will be similar for sports -- a core base of fans wanting to watch games in traditional ways but also a growing segment that wants to watch direct to consumer. It’s critically important we accommodate them. The last thing we want is to disenfranchise fans who are not watching TV in a traditional manner and therefore can’t see our games.”
Shameful,that the NBA don't show local games on their website/app.....
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Q&A: Cleveland hosting the All-Star Game, the Cavaliers, competitive balance and state of the league
“My goal would be we get to the point where we never think of the league as small market vs. big market teams," Silver said in an exclusive interview. "I know we’re not there yet."
Since so many consumers have done away with cable subscriptions, what is the league’s responsibility when it comes to distributing your product to fans and streaming services?
“Our responsibility is to find formats and platforms that allow us to distribute the games to a maximum number of people who are interested. Right now, we have a mid-term problem, where we are locked into a current framework that provides exclusivity to traditional providers, largely cable and satellite. We know and they know that the model has to shift. But it’s complicated because of existing relationships they have with cable operators and the ultimate distributors. There are packages you can get now that are direct to consumer. For example, our League Pass out of market product that if you live in Cleveland and want to watch, for example, every Golden State Warriors game or Miami Heat game, other than the ones on national TV, you can buy that package of games. The model is going to need to change over the next few years. I think, if anything, the pandemic has accelerated those changes as more people have discovered quality programming on streaming services.
“Take ESPN for example. They are, of course, owned by Disney and Disney made that bold move to Disney Plus and took an enormous amount of their programming off traditional services. I think ESPN is undoubtedly looking at a similar transition over time. I do think there will be a hybrid. You can analogize it as a newspaper reporter and those people will continue to want to read a newspaper in print -- and I’m one of those people that likes to pick it up and feel the print edition of newspapers every morning -- but the growth we’re seeing in media companies is with the newspaper prints being presented digitally. I think it will be similar for sports -- a core base of fans wanting to watch games in traditional ways but also a growing segment that wants to watch direct to consumer. It’s critically important we accommodate them. The last thing we want is to disenfranchise fans who are not watching TV in a traditional manner and therefore can’t see our games.”
Shameful,that the NBA don't show local games on their website/app.....
