This week on TechHive: A local sports streaming rant

Jared Newman
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September 3, 2021
Bally Sports network map

If you’re wondering why you still can’t stream local sports without cable at a reasonable price, just picture a child who’s afraid of ripping off their own Band-Aid.

Members of the sports TV industry—including the leagues, the networks, and TV bundle providers—have been deathly afraid of changing the way they distribute local team coverage. They’ve stuck with the status quo despite quarter after quarter in which more people flee their traditional pay TV bundles, leaving behind fewer non-sports fans to help pay for expensive sports rights.

That’s why a new report this week by John Ourand at Sports Business Journal was so illuminating, painting a picture of an industry that has only now realized its little cord-cutting boo-boo isn’t going away. In recent weeks, executives from all sides have been regularly meeting to discuss how they finally can build a bridge to streaming without destroying what’s left of the old system.

But there is no gap to be bridged here. Either the leagues, networks, and TV providers make local sports available on reasonable terms—that is, outside of big TV bundles—or they don’t. No half-measure exists that will ensure a smooth transition, and all parties involved will experience pain regardless of which action they take. The time has come to rip off the Band-Aid and address the deepening wound underneath. Read the full column on TechHive.

Weekly rewind

Locast goes off-air: After nearly three years of streaming local broadcast channels on the cheap, Locast suspended its service indefinitely on Thursday, having lost a crucial court battle with major TV networks.

Locast had argued that as a non-profit, it was allowed under U.S. copyright law to retransmit local channels over the internet, setting its own antennas and servers in each market where it offered service. Those streams were available for free, but users had to donate $5 per month to keep their videos from stopping every 15 minutes.

That approach didn’t sit well with a federal judge, who denied Locast’s request for summary judgment on Wednesday. The judge ruled that Locast was effectively charging for a service, not merely soliciting charitable gifts, and he noted that Locast was using those donations to fund expansions into new markets—something copyright law doesn’t explicitly allow.

Locast initially responded by disabling video interruptions, but then decided to stop service altogether. While it may continue to fight with networks in court, sources told Matthew Keys that the group wants to limit its financial liability in case it loses. Even if Locast prevails, it’s clearly not coming back anytime soon

That leaves some cord cutters in a tough spot right as football season gets underway. Major network channels remain largely tied to expensive TV bundles, so unless you can get them with an antenna—or are willing to mess with password sharing, VPN-related trickery, or outright piracy—your options for affordable network TV access will be limited. I rounded up some of the alternative options over at Fast Company, but here’s a quick summary:

Otherwise, that leaves the aforementioned big bundles, which start at $65 per month for YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, or Fubo TV on the streaming side. And with that, you can see why the TV networks were so eager to squash Locast in the first place.

Streaming TV snooping: A new report by Common Sense Media gave poor marks on privacy to practically every major streaming device and services, with the exception of those from Apple. The group scrutinized the privacy policies of devices such as the Roku Streaming Stick+ and services such as Netflix to see if they target users with ads, sell their data to third parties, or track them across the internet. Apple and Google don’t sell data to third parties—Google, of course, would prefer to keep that data for its own targeted ad empire—but most devices and services do all three.

These aren’t new revelations, but it’s nice to see them all in one place. (Here’s a PDF of the full report.) If you’re wondering what to do about it, I’ve previously compiled a list of ways to limit data collection for major streaming devices and services in this column. (Note that the Common Sense report does get one thing wrong: You do have to opt out of targeted advertising on Apple TV devices as well.)

More catch-up

Save more money

Apple TV 4K (2017)

Other World Computing is currently selling the previous-generation Apple TV 4K for $109, which is $70 off the original price and the lowest price I’ve seen since Black Friday. In my tests, it’s not noticeably slower than the latest Apple TV, so the main difference is that it ships with the old touchpad-based Siri remote. If you can tolerate the remote, this is a solid deal on an extremely fast and feature-packed streaming player.

Meanwhile, the Roku Streaming Stick+ is on sale for $36, and Best Buy has a nice deal on a 55-inch TCL Roku TV, on sale for $430. TechRadar also put together a helpful roundup of other Labor Day TV deals if you’re looking to upgrade your screen alongside your streaming setup.

One other notable deal: Amazon Prime subscribers can get two months of Starz for $0.99 per month, down from the usual $9 per month.

Thanks for reading!

I always hate being the bearer of bad cord cutting news, and this week’s news was a doozy for anyone who was depending on Locast for local channel access. I’m looking forward to more exciting cord-cutting developments to discuss in the weeks ahead, but in the meantime, send me an email if you want to commiserate.

Otherwise, I will once again unearth the immortal words of my old high school secretary, and wish you a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend.

Until next week,

Jared