From: don.p.del.grande@gmail.com   
      
   > NBC is gambling their $110 million investment to get a playoff game to be    
   > shown exclusively on their streaming service is going to payoff   
   spectacularly    
   > in new subscriptions. I hope they fail spectacularly. I'm a Chiefs fan but   
   I'm    
   > not going to pony up. Instead, I will record the game when it is replayed on   
   the    
   > NFL Network overnight. I'll watch it Sunday morning. I'll just have to stay   
   off    
   > the internet so I don't accidentally learn how the game turned out.    
      
   Somehow, I don't think having one wild card playoff game on Peacock is going   
   to result in that many new subscriptions. I have a feeling the real reason NBC   
   Universal is doing this is to gauge whether or not it would be worth it to air   
   some regular season    
   games as Peacock exclusives, the way Amazon Prime does.   
       
   > If NBC succeeds in getting a lot of new Peacock subscribers, we can count    
   > on more and more playoff games only being available on streamed subscription    
   > services. Maybe someday even the Super Bowl will be pay-per-view. Maybe    
   > the CFP playoffs will only be available on pay TV.    
      
   Except for the Super Bowl and maybe the CFP Championship, I would say, "You   
   can pretty much count on that happening already."   
   There would be too much backlash if the Super Bowl ended up PPV - especially   
   if the halftime show was PPV as well.   
   I can also hear all of the NBC affiliates screaming at 30 Rock right now if   
   NBC even thinks about airing the Super Bowl only on Peacock. The same applies   
   to West 57th Street and Paramount+, or wherever ABC is located nowadays and   
   any of Disney+ / Hulu /    
   ESPN+. At least Fox doesn't have any partner streaming service; remember, the   
   Fox network had to be left out of the Disney buyout as the FCC would not allow   
   Disney to own both the Fox and ABC networks.   
      
   What I can see happening is, if, say, Amazon Prime or Apple TV has the game,   
   it would air it for free - but with the usual expensive ads. The problem now   
   is, getting access to the network; unless your "smart TV" already has the   
   network, you need to run    
   out and buy something like a Roku box or Amazon Fire stick. Now there's   
   something I can see - Amazon airing the game for free, but on a dedicated   
   Super Bowl channel that can be accessed only on Amazon Fire.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)