Brace for the Amazon effect on live sport
The last redoubt of the pay-TV bundle is under siege
IN 1993FOX, a nascent network owned by Rupert Murdoch, an Australian-born tycoon, paid a fortune to scoop the rights to National Football League (NFL) games from under the nose ofCBS, a veteran broadcaster. It caused a tremor in American television history. As oneCBS reporter put it, “TheNFL was ingrained in the walls ofCBS like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite.” The cost of sports rights took off. So did the cash cow of modern broadcasting—theTV “bundle” of sports and other stuff, most of it barely watchable. At the peak in 2012, almost 90% of American homes subscribed to one pay-TV bundle or another.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Unbundling sport”
Business
April 10th 2021
From the April 10th 2021 edition
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