The 2021 NFL Week 6 Roundup | Against the Stream

Unplugged and Unglued

RAISE your hand if you feel there just aren’t enough streaming options out there competing for your limited attention span. Raise your hand for heaps of mini-crowbars wrenching yet more access into your ever-dwindling discretionary monthly budget. Raise your hand if the math just doesn’t pencil out for you cord-cutters out there who have effectively unbundled from cable packages only to repurchase components of said bundles (including all-of-a-sudden pricey Internet access) individually and directly from content providers; and for the privilege paying more for less. Raise your hand if you give up. Pass the popcorn, raise it and toss it at your screen. Fear not, entertainment consumer! News in recent days that MLB is launching its own streaming service for in-market games was met with frustrated disbelief as just the latest in a conveyance of audacious money grabs. This new streaming option for 152 year old product , after all, will live alongside Baseball’s existing MLB.TV service that offers ALL out-of-market games for an additional spicy $106/year. Sorry Angelenos, no Dodgers or Angels for you on MLB.TV. You’re stuck with your cable RSN (Regional Sports Network), Spectrum’s SportsNet LA. Hence MLB’s earnest foray into in-market streaming. On paper, it rights a mess of wrongs yet leaves untouched THE most glaring grievance. All might not be lost. The clever possible inclusion of the NBA and NHL in the proposed service is inspired and sure to attract subscribers. But the whole locomotive might be derailed before its nervous departure from the train station. Thanks to the stranglehold that is the cable industry, colloquially known as Cabletown.

To understand the power of Cabletown is to understand how the industry (historically) mints money. In the early 1980s, breakneck technological improvements vastly expanded the pipeline of entertainment opportunities pulsing into American homes around the clock. Savvy media companies licked their chops at the opportunity to serve ads to in-home consumers cocooned within specialty-purpose cable network programming. CNN, ESPN, CNBC, MTV, HSN and Lifetime were among the network pioneers that boldly propagated this media revolution. But to cash their checks, media conglomerates had to get their programming in from of eyeballs. And that’s where the cable industry, then in its infancy, exploded. NO longer subject to the whims and feeble limited selection of over-the-air broadcast networks (ABC/NBC/CBS/PBS), Americans were ready for instant and infinite gratification. And regional cable companies were more than willing to sell it to them. FOMO-Demand soared and cable companies cashed in off of pricey bundled cable packages with sometimes hundreds upon hundreds of channels no one watched. NO matter. Balance sheets wrote themselves in GREEN ink. Media companies, in turn, were able to charge cable companies a premium for supplying content AND selling ads within the shows they produced. For a time, the industry frolicked and vacuumed up largess within that money machine. Cable subscriber growth pole-vaulted year-over-year for two decades before peaking in 2000 with 69 million subscribers. It pulled along with it the money train. HBO (Home Box Office) began as a premium option, devoid of ad placement, that showcased blockbuster movies. And where this a money well, you can be sure Sports is not far behind with its leaky bucket and frayed rope.

The NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB each approached this new Cabletown in slightly differing approaches. A popular avenue is the Regional Sports Network (RSN), employed by MLB, NHL and NBA. It’s essentially a cable channel that presents in-market sports programming to a local region. Spectrum’s SportsNet LA is an example, as is MASN and Bally Sports (formerly Fox Regional Sports Networks). Looking to the Cabletown playbook, sports Teams were eager to stick their hands into the deep cookie jar. Teams charged an outrageous license fee to the RSNs, cable companies were forced to pay these fees for access to highly sought-after sports programming, and YOU the cable customer received an itemized local RSN fee on your monthly statement ON TOP of the bundle fee, taxes, access charges and add-ons like internet and wireless router rental. It’s all really become a naked sham.

And here again, technological revolution to the rescue. The advent of internet everywhere and broadband in the air relegates the entire cable ecosystem exposed as rudimentary and an anachronism well past its expiration date. Cord cutters are now a routine dispiriting metric measured in the industry displacing net adds as the common denominator among cable companies. 5G can now seamlessly deliver content directly from producer to consumer without the bother for all that wired bloatsome machinery in between. Cable companies now race to offer Gigabit internet plans that boast of the ability to download an HD movie in 17 seconds, making passing mentions of the secondary labyrinthine linear tradition network infrastructure that slowly dies on the vine. Cabletown KNOWS the ship is sinking as its subscriber losses accelerate. And with them, the balance of power tilts evermore toward content producers, the Sports world included.

And this is precisely where MLB is attempting to step up to the plate. In 2021, Baseball is in the midst of its own existential dilemma with overall viewership plunging 12% versus 2019 levels. Worse still, attendance plummeted 34% to 45 million fans, the lowest number for a regular Season in nearly three decades. Numbers like these tell a terrible tale and work to erode clout with cable-operated RSNs. Who wants to pay more for a product that attracts a constantly shrinking audience. The MLB knows it, too. So they’ve devised a plan to shut them out — in a “nice” way. Yes, an MLB-sanctioned streaming App to beam previously committed RSN-relegated in-market games to consumers with little more than an internet connection and an open checkbook. You’d think that these RSNs might have a thing or two to say about a thing or two and might be resistant to such an aggrieved overreach, and you’d be exactly correct. RSNs, after all, pay a princely fee to the Baseball Teams they broadcast and ferociously maintain sole transmission rights, whatever the medium. Complicating factors mightily is Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair is a media powerhouse that is the second largest television operator in the United States. It also happens to own the digital broadcast rights to 14 of the MLB’s 30 teams, via its conglomerated Bally Sports RSN network. That’s 14 MLB teams, 16 NBA teams and 12 NHL teams all under one roof. Further, Sinclair is looking to monetize the in-market right to all these games via its OWN streaming service, Diamond Sports. That sound you hear? A stampede of salivating attorneys taking sides and rushing for a payday amid a paper forest of legal pleadings.

So there’s really nothing to see here but EVERYTHING. Sinclair thinks it’s on solid legal ground and intends to defend the terms of its supposed iron-clad contracts. The MLB for its part sees a path through the thicket via negotiation, shared compensation and common purpose. It also intends to press Sinclair to the mat, which had to take on a Balance Sheet-busting $8B loan to fund the purchase of Fox Regional Sports Networks (rebranded Bally Sports). Sinclair has so little liquidity that it had to ask MLB for permission to raise $250M loan to fund its Diamond Sports initiative this past June. Suffice it to say that the parties are currently at a standstill, cursed with the byproducts of a broken business model and beholden to strictures written with cash flow from a simpler, lucrative time long ago. Naturally, beyond the MLB and Sinclair, there are considerations to be fielded from the MLBPA, the MLB’s umpteen other broadcast partners and US, the people supposedly funding this latest fanciful money wheel. There are fewer of us willing to fork over yet another Andrew Jackson for yet another service that sits unused. Especially for a highly specialized end-product consisting of ONLY in-market games. Even with the tantalizing prospect of in-market NBA and NHL action, at what point will a FREE peek at ESPN.com highlights or a Google alert suffice. To the MLB, perish that thought. In their eyes, it’s for the Love of the Game. And tellingly, the pursuit of YOUR money. Just another day at the ballpark.

And just another week at the stock yards as we look to Week 6 NFL action. More of the same, good, bad and surprising. Perhaps one of the most interesting matchups was the one between two AFC powerhouses: Chargers at Baltimore. The hot-to-trot Chargers skipped into town with its blistering offense led by QB sensation Justin Herbert and were quickly handed the bill for hair and makeup in a bruising 6–34 loss. LAC’s Defense was flustered at every turn flummoxed by BAL’s air and ground offensive attack, much credit to yet another Lamar Jackson renaissance. That left Justin Herbert with the unenviable and impossible task of winning a gun fight with a fusillade of pocket knives. The Ravens fly to 5–1, LAC deflate ever so slightly to 4–2. Over at Gillette Stadium, the Cowboys sunk Coach Belichick’s battleship — for the first time in 25 years, 35–29. It was a tough game that seesawed back and forth late in the 4th, but it was yet another star outing from Dak Prescott that powered the WIN. Paired with WR CeeDee Lamb, the duo have fans of America’s Team casually looking at flight options for LAX come February. And for good reason: the Cowboys are LEGIT this Season, much to the surprise of everyone BUT DAL fans. Good on them! AS for the Pats, Mac Jones had a great game with one of his most productive outings yet. Too bad the final score didn’t reflect it. And too bad as the one-time dynasty sinks further to 2–4.

Over in London, Urban Meyer had to literally leave the country to be afforded his first ever big league victory. Urban has had a crummy go of it so far in his first 6 weeks, in addition to his pre-season antics, all of it his own doing. Despite the obvious internal discord, the Jags treasured rookie QB Trever Lawrence powered the way with a much-needed 23–20 squeaker over Miami. The big news for the Dolphins was the return of Tua, his ribs fracture thingy now fully healed. He turned in an OK re-entry exam but one that won’t merit the team’s admittance to the post-Season. MIA is in good company with JAX as both stink up the AFC at 1–5. Also eeking out a WIN were the Steelers who had the Hawks pounding dirt, 23–20 OT. SEA QB Geno Smith, in for an injured Russell Wilson, kept the lights on but nearly had his lights knocked OUT with his Offense’s egregious allowance of 5 sacks. SEA’s lights might still be on, but they flicker nervously with a 2–4 record so far. Big Ben turned it up and escapes with the W. Meanwhile over in Cleveland, the shot-callers of the NFL — the Cards — continue in their successful way. ARI QB Kyler Murray put up yet more headline numbers against one of the NFL’s most hardy Defenses. The 37–14 result burnishes Arizona’s unblemished 6–0 record. As for the Brownies, possible injuries with Baker Mayfield and OBJ have CLE fans clutching their Rosary beads.

In our Round Robin, the Raiders lost HC Jon Guden in a distracting, scandalous sideshow while QB Derek Carr rightly refocused attention to the Field of Play. Derek offered a forceful and sublime answer to Denver’s wicked Defense. A Las Vegas victory resulted, 34–24. Maybe Lady Luck has changed her mind on her hometown brothers. At Fedex Field, KC took the crown from WAS, 31–13, but jeez was it an UGLY grab. The Chiefs were behind for the better part of the game before Patrick Mahomes propelled the Team to victory. That Patrick has to pull the Team along in the absence of discipline on both sides of that ball is playing out to be more and more untenable as the weeks flip by. Patrick is no longer playing with MVP-level caliber and threw 2 uncharacteristic picks alone on Sunday. All these symptoms of quiet chaos on demand. NO Bueno for the defending AFC champs from just last year. Aaron Rodgers and his Packers turned in another excellent outcome against the Bears (24–14) as did Matt Stafford’s Rams at Giants, 38–11. The Bengals did their part to keep Lions 0–6 winless streak fresh and illuminated while Carson Wentz has Indy fans remaking about their diamond in the rough roughing up the lowly Texans, 31–3.Kirk Cousins turned it ON at Panthers, 34–28 OT, where he put an exclamation point on Christian McCaffrey’s substantial absence at CAR RB. And last night, a tough last second ending for BUF superstar Josh Allen and the Bills where the Titans were able to tiptoe away with the W.