OT: Thinking about dropping Comcast cable TV, where can I watch W's online?

[danbanger]

I'll take the risk too but subscribe to league pass again is something i'll never do.

[turk3d]

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I'll gladly run the risk of the NBA somehow figuring out how to shut them down (they've been up for years) then forking over twice the money for the inferior product they provide you with League Pass.

BTW, their disclaimer doesn't (and won't stop_ anyone from taking legal action against them if appropriate. However, having said that, I agree it's probably worth the risk considering the amount of success they've had over a substantial period of time and the reviews they've gotten (I don't think I've heard anthing negative about them from anyone who's used them).

Can't be any worse than the risk I took when I signed up for the League Pass Trial" offer a few years back for $149.00 and when I tried to cancel, I found out that it was only for 7 days and it was totally non-refundable even though it was only a couple of weeks after I had signed up (missed the fine print) and although I was able to cancel, was uanble to get any of my money refunded.

And BTW, their customer service was terrible. When you called the number they gave you, it would just hang up on you and you couldn't even talk to anyone about it. Needless to say, I'll never do business with them again. Imo, they're worse than Comcast (who sucks too).

[Twinkie defense]

Hey I'm not trying to stick up for League Pass - again, it's worthless to me because they don't show Warriors games in Bay Area markets. I would say there's a decent chance they get shut down, especially as more people learn about and use the service (I never heard of it until now), and that TNT and ESPN are paying billions for broadcast and streaming rights.

I work around intellectual property so I just don't do piracy (imagine if, whatever your work produces, people could just take it for free on the internet instead - or buy a knockoff). It is probably very unlikely but there have also been more and more instances these days of copyright owners going after not just the business that is in violation, but customers as well - Google these cases for some examples: "Movie Studio Targets Consumers For Illegal Downloads," "Jury orders student to pay $675,000 for illegally downloading music," "Supreme Court approves $222k fine for 24 illegally downloaded songs," etc. If/when Ballstream gets sued, are they going to hand over their "subscriber" list to the DOJ?

The main problem is legacy businesses have been slow to change their business models to address the new ways people are consuming content (a big part of this is they don't want to cannibalize their existing, profitable business for high-investment, lower revenue models). Just this year we have seen stand-alone subscription options for HBO and other content providers, we're just not all the way there yet. I for one would love to buy individual, live-streamed games on Amazon to watch through my Roku device, like I can rent individual episodes of TV shows. Maybe by the time the new NBA TV deal kicks in we will have better options.

In the meantime it shouldn't be too hard to watch Warriors since most if not all of their playoff games or going to be nationally broadcast right? So you can get the signal over the air or pay $20/month for SlingTV (which includes ESPN and TNT).

[KevinMcreynolds]

I'm in the same boat. If there were a better option for Dubs action I would cancel it as well. I only watch a few nature/science shows (which come out on netflix eventually anyways) and sports...and I watch baseball on MLBTV and I can watch my football club for free on NBC Live Extra. So really the only thing holding me back is the Warriors. The blackouts on League Pass are a deal breakers for me though.

[turk3d]

Hey I'm not trying to stick up for League Pass - again, it's worthless to me because they don't show Warriors games in Bay Area markets. I would say there's a decent chance they get shut down, especially as more people learn about and use the service (I never heard of it until now), and that TNT and ESPN are paying billions for broadcast and streaming rights.

I work around intellectual property so I just don't do piracy (imagine if, whatever your work produces, people could just take it for free on the internet instead - or buy a knockoff). It is probably very unlikely but there have also been more and more instances these days of copyright owners going after not just the business that is in violation, but customers as well - Google these cases for some examples: "Movie Studio Targets Consumers For Illegal Downloads," "Jury orders student to pay $675,000 for illegally downloading music," "Supreme Court approves $222k fine for 24 illegally downloaded songs," etc. If/when Ballstream gets sued, are they going to hand over their "subscriber" list to the DOJ?

The main problem is legacy businesses have been slow to change their business models to address the new ways people are consuming content (a big part of this is they don't want to cannibalize their existing, profitable business for high-investment, lower revenue models). Just this year we have seen stand-alone subscription options for HBO and other content providers, we're just not all the way there yet. I for one would love to buy individual, live-streamed games on Amazon to watch through my Roku device, like I can rent individual episodes of TV shows. Maybe by the time the new NBA TV deal kicks in we will have better options.

In the meantime it shouldn't be too hard to watch Warriors since most if not all of their playoff games or going to be nationally broadcast right? So you can get the signal over the air or pay $20/month for SlingTV (which includes ESPN and TNT).

All your points are valid Twinkie. One thing I'd mention though is that when companies get greedy (as most have) it basically will serve to bring about a lot of the "pirating" that you're referring to (there's always two sides to every coin). I remember back when it was so expensive to buy a released movie (VCR back then) that pirated movies were not uncommon.

There were (and still is) a number of people who could afford to pay what they were charging. Now that one can go over to Redbox and pick up a first run movie for a dollar or so, it's pretty much taken a lot of the pirated movies out the market. And for those who want to have a Digital Library there's services Amazon and for those who wish to be able to order movies online at home they have on demand which although still expensive is certainly not cost prohibitive for those who prefer to go that route. I

n addition, there's Redbox who for a very reasonable price, you can get quite a few movies every month delivered to your home for a very reasonable price. As for software pirating, that's still a real problem, one of the reasons I believe is the exorbitant prices that a number of big software houses are charging which probably has something to do with it.

[Xplatformer]

League pass is worth it here in Los Angeles. (Warriors) Blackouts are BS though. I wanted the Lakers to be one of my 5 teams but I wasn't going to pay to see zero games live.

[HiRez]

League pass is worth it here in Los Angeles. (Warriors) Blackouts are BS though. I wanted the Lakers to be one of my 5 teams but I wasn't going to pay to see zero games live.

When I was living in AZ, being able to watch Warriors games on LP, in HD and live or archived, was a pretty good deal. The national blackouts still suck, but still good. Now I'm back in the Bay, I can not watch any Warrior games whatsoever and it's completely useless. So yeah, if you live outside of your team's broadcasting area, LP can be a good thing.

[Twinkie defense]

Turk, yeah, cable is expensive. That - and because there wasn't a lot I wanted to watch - is why I cut the cord. But of course, who do you think is paying for that $90 mil salary cap? Where does that money come from?

[and1GS]

I did the illegal stream thing for a while and honestly...it's stressful and the quality is frustrating. I do feel you though. I pay $100 to comcast for a basic sports package+basic internet.....