Remember not long ago when Grant & Danny just had to rant about streaming services, specifically how there's just too many?
Grant, who ranted about this before, is about to cut DirecTV now that Nationals season is over, and is sticking with YouTube TV…which has Monumental Sports & Entertainment, so he'll be a linear user.
But if you cut the cord completely, you can get the Caps, Wizards, Mystics, and Go-Go (and of course, The Sports Junkies every morning) for one low price via the app…which leaves Grant wondering when MASN will do the same and allow all of DC's locally-covered teams to be seen that way?
Oh, but wait, here comes the rant again…
"Now, I wouldn't have ESPN or all the other stuff, so tht's where you have to start building," he said. "I have ESPN Plus, I have Disney Plus and Netflix…but the question is, what is the reaction for you guys as consumers to the trend here?"
"This individual step is a good step, I think; it is helpful for people that don't want to pay for cable because they feel like it's a big waste every month, but you still like these teams," Danny said. "You don't have to do anything illegal, right? You don't have to make any of those violations they warn you about before every program, or go to one of those weird sites – you can just watch the game on your television."
The guys disagree on who the exact clientele is for those, um, less than legal ways to watch things, with Danny thinking it's those damn kids and Grant and Darris, mid-30s men of leisure, thinking folks their age who are savvy are the ones doing most of it.
"I just don't understand the lack of fear of doing something that is illegal," Grant said. "Like, you know you're on a computer, there are footprints, but people don't seem to care!"
"IP addresses and all sorts of things, yeah that's you right there!" Danny laughed back. "But to me, the larger picture is not a good one. I think for consumers and for fans, it's fewer options; basically, as you said, it's state-controlled media – whether the state does a good job or not in certain cases or otherwise, the perception isn't great."
It's hard to have one discussion without the other in Grant's eyes, as he doesn't think it's generally good if all of one team's content comes from the team itself.
"Right now, MSE, who has the Wizards and the Capitals and all the shoulder programming around those teams….it's owned by the club, and that is potentially a bad thing," Grant said. "I guess where we disagree is, I think it can be fine if the owner of the team says, 'I want you to cover the team like you're working for the Washington Post or The Athletic, we're just owning this thing because we're gonna make some money off of it. But you won't hear from me, act like you are covering this team not for us."
If that's the case, it's fine, but that's traditionally not the case…and as more and more teams look to DTC methods of delivery, will it get better or worse?
