Wednesday night, YouTube TV crashed late in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics. The moment was worth noting because streaming services such as YouTube and Netflix have crashed during live broadcasts of high-profile events. (Netflix crashed one month ago during the airing of a live reality TV dating show called “Love Is Blind.) The failure of streaming services to deliver smooth broadcasts the way cable and over-the-air television networks regularly offer is something which will limit consumer demand and therefore reduce the price point the Pac-12 is likely to achieve in a media rights deal.
Now we have news that ESPN will sell its main channel directly to consumers as part of a subscription streaming service. This is a way to reach out to cord-cutters in a changed market. The Wall Street Journal broke the story. We’ll offer a few relevant questions and observations below: