WASHINGTON (AP) — For many dedicated sports fans, keeping up with their favorite teams has become a juggling act.
Activate an NFL package in August, unsubscribe after the Super Bowl and before the NBA playoffs get underway, then subscribe to the NBA’s service. Grudgingly keep paying the cable bill because it’s the only way to get the local baseball team. Throw in a subscription to ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer streaming service for college football.
This patchwork of expensive subscriptions, cable packages and password shares is common for many sports fans, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, and it leaves them beholden to multiple platforms at a cost no one seems to like.
About 4 in 10 people who follow sports “extremely” or “very” closely use cable or satellite TV and a sports-only streaming platform, according to the poll, compared with about 2 in 10 people who follow sports “somewhat” closely.
For many fans — particularly those who want to watch out-of-market teams or follow regular-season play closely — there’s no other option. Creating a more seamless form of live sports distribution means essentially rebuilding the cable bundles many have ditched over the last few years.
New services are emerging — most recently, ESPN’s latest direct-to-consumer streaming service, which debuted in August — but for the most part, sports fans stick to multiple platforms and subscriptions. Sometimes, they choose instead to stop regularly watching a favorite sport or team.
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