It's all about the contracts...
ESPN and Sling negotiated their slim bundle deal.
Verizon probably violated their existing contract with ESPN, which gives ESPN
grounds to sue.
The "news" here is that Verizon is willing to go to court to change the
licensing landscape.
I believe we both view this as a positive development, even if it is just one
monopolist challenging another in markets where they overlap.
Regards
Craig
On Apr 29, 2015, at 8:58 PM, Manfredi, Albert E
<albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
With the prospect of moving from the big, expensive extended basic
bundle, to a variety of customized OTT services, the MVPD/ISP
services could still play a major role by handling the billing for
the OTT services. Perhaps this is the future Cablevision is
preparing for.
Yes, exactly, and this is the result you'd expect from competition with
unassociated OTT sites. And only because of said competition.
I thought it was telling in that article you posted yesterday, where ESPN got
POed about Verizon selling the slimmed down package. Even though ESPN did
exactly the same thing, with Sling, they don't want MVPDs from using that
same formula on their own accord. ESPN likes the subsidies they get from the
non-sports-fans, and evidently "do as I say and not as I do" applies here.
Bert
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