Brendon Bacon
Sports streams is a broad term, but the streams in question are illegally produced by a third party group that does not represent the broadcasting partner or the league. These streams have become a normal part of a fan’s viewing experience in the age of cost cutting. You can find such streams for just about any league you can think of and even sports you haven’t heard of. Before you start googling to find tonight’s Cubs game you should know that they aren’t legal and could cause harm to your connecting device.
While researching for the topic it became clear that the majority of these sites have loosely connected communities that use social media platforms like reddit and discord. The money that can be made according to a successful site provider can range between $500-$5000 a month depending on donations and ad revenue. The site provider stated “it is not really about the money as much as it is about allowing others to watch what they want”.
Streams are not only used as a way to watch cable tv, but are also used to watch PPV events that are priced upwards of $50 for one event. According to a Yahoo Entertainment article during the Wilder-Fury boxing rematch an estimated 10-20 million illegal views were caused by the streaming community. The article goes on to state that people want to watch, but have no interest in paying for the content. There were also reports of bars using streams to circumvent having to pay for multiple PPV’s to be on separate TV’s.
UFC also uses the PPV method for their larger events that happen at least once a month and cost $69.99 to purchase. On top of that you must have a ESPN + account which is a $9.99 fee a month. So if you were to purchase 12 PPV’s in one year and have the ESPN+ subscription you are looking at paying close to $960 a year. Prices like these make it somewhat obvious that people are going to go out of their way to find other ways to view the fight.
There however is one entertainment organization that has taken steps to limit the amount of piracy committed and that is the WWE. They for years have used the PPV model for their large scale events. This changed with the launch of their WWE network that is a $9.99 a month subscription that includes all their PPV’s and other content that they produce. This model makes fans more likely to subscribe and stop searching for those online streams.
All in all, unlicensed streaming has become part of the media landscape. This is unlikely to change until a government punishes those who use it or sports become cheaper to watch.