The Cost of Cancelation

As much as the sports fans' collective appetite for watching live sports continues to be strong, the growth on what it takes out of our wallets is also on the increase. Now comes word that Comcast, which is the nation's largest cable provider, is preparing still another round of price hikes for subscribers to start in January 2022. The big reason, according to sources in the know, is due to the increase in the costs for Comcast to carry channels, especially the sports channels.

Of course, these rising costs for cable and satellite are leading to cord-cutting, which is on the increase. A recent report by Leichtman Research Group which covers all of the larger cable/satellite groups around the country, there was a loss of approximately 650,000 subscribers during the 3rd quarter of 2021 alone. For comparison, the 3rd quarter subscriber losses for Q3 of 2020 (same length of time) was around 90,000.

You would think that the loss of this many subscribers would be cause for concern among the networks increasing their fees as well as for the providers. Instead, they all seem content with increasing the costs for the millions of us that keep paying up. It means that they have those of us that continue to spend the bigger bucks to watch these games are paying back the difference those who want to send a message by canceling are trying to send.

The ratings don't lie, however. This past Saturday's (11/27) Big Ten showdown between Ohio State and Michigan drew nearly 16 million viewers, making it the largest audience Fox Sports has ever had for a college football telecast. Keep in mind this game was at Noon ET and not in prime time. Adding to that was the more than 3,000,000 viewers reported for their morning pregame show. 

Even this past Monday Night Football game (11/29) drew nearly 11 million viewers for ESPN. What makes this viewing number significant is that the Seattle vs. Washington matchup was between two teams entering the game under .500. 

 

 If you are still wondering why so many of the TV sports networks are running so many more betting shows than ever before, the answer is in the opening paragraph above. It's more than the revenue generated for airing these shows. The more people are betting on these games, the higher the interest and the more than fans will want to watch them. At the rate things are going, some bettors may have the goal of trying to cover their cost for the next month of cable or satellite.

College football fans get a tough break for the coming Championship Saturday. Casual fans are not as familiar with the University of Cincinnati, which continues to contend for the final four and the championship games. This Saturday (12/4) has the Big 12 Championship at Noon ET (Baylor and OK State) on ABC, which leads in to the much anticipated Alabama vs. Georgia clash in the SEC Championship game on CBS at 4 PM ET. The Big 10 Championship battle between Michigan and Iowa follows at 8 PM ET on Fox.

Meanwhile, U. of Cincinnati's game vs. Houston for the American Conference Championship (also on ABC) also happens to get underway just after 4 PM ET. This puts it up against the Georgia vs. Alabama telecast. Put that together with the expected blowout by Cinci and it probably means that they could be the "least known" team to compete for a national championship.