Content is Lebron ["the" King] James
I used to work in the CMS world (now I just work with a CMS) and we always talked about “Content is King”. That statement “Content is King” reigns over many aspects of our lives. For me its felt hardest in my decision to not use traditional cable or satellite for my daily viewing entertainment.
Instead, I use a combination of Free content (YouTube, ESPN3), Paid content (Netflix, NBA League Pass) and “borrowed” content (HBO Go, ESPN). I also have some avenues for retrieving content but lets not review that currently (*cough* say no to SOPA).
On December 22nd I purchased NBA League Pass Broadband Premium for $169.00 which would allow me to “Watch my favorite team – at home, on the road or anywhere”. In fact, the features listed on the website state that I could “Watch Every Team”. For me, the first statement is true – I am a Knicks fan so that means I do get to watch my favorite team play. However, the second statement is FALSE. I CAN NOT “Watch Every Team”. I CAN NOT watch a Celtics game. This is complete false advertising.
Even though I am a Knicks fan, I enjoy watching the Celtics. I also enjoy watching the Lakers, and the Heat and the Clippers and the Mavericks and all the other great NBA teams. And while I am an NBA fan I am not all that interested in watching are two 2-25 teams go at it. And what I can’t do is put my head around the “Blackout” terms for the NBA League Pass service which reads:
Local and national market blackout rules apply based on your location. Nationally and locally televised games are subject to blackouts and are therefore not available via NBA LEAGUE PASS BROADBAND (regardless of home or away).
It goes on to state that the service doesn’t work through VPN, accelerators or proxies which means that “Watch Every Team” really means that if you live in the LA area you can never watch either of those teams unless you are traveling and watching the games outside of California.
What you get with NBA League Pass
Here was the schedule for the 24 games I got to watch via League Pass for 1/15 – 1/9 (with their records on the date of the game in parenthesis)
1/15 Golden State (3-8) @ Detriot (3-9)
1/15 Utah (7-4) @ Denver (8-4)
1/16 Orlando (9-3) @ New York (6-6)
1/16 Milwaukee (4-7) @ Philadelphia (9-3)
1/16 Houston (5-7) @ Washington (1-11)
1/16 Cleveland (5-6) @ Charlotte (3-10)
1/16 Portland (7-3) @ New Orleans (3-7)
1/16 New Jersey (2-9) @ LA Clippers (5-3)
1/16 Sacramento (4-7) @ Minnesota (3-7)
1/17 Charlotte (3-11) @ Orlando (9-3)
1/17 Golden State (4-8) @ Cleveland (3-10)
1/17 Phoenix (4-8) @ Chicago (12-3)
1/17 Denver (8-5) @ Milwaukee (4-8)
1/17 Detroit (3-10) @ Houston (6-7)
1/17 LA Clippers (7-3) @ Utah (8-4)
1/18 Denver (9-5) @ Philadelphia (10-3)
1/18 Oklahoma City (12-2) @ Washington (1-12)
1/18 San Antonio (9-5) @ Orlando (10-3)
1/18 Golden State (5-8) @ New Jersey (3-11)
1/18 Phoenix (4-9) @ New York (6-7)
1/18 Detroit (3-11) @ Minnesota (5-8)
1/18 Memphis (6-6) @ New Orleans (3-10)
1/18 Indiana (9-3) @ Sacramento (4-10)
1/19 New Orleans (3-11) @ Houston (7-7)
Only 4 of the 24 games listed from Sunday to Thursday have a matchup featuring two teams with a winning record. Yes! only 17% of the games listed for these days had a descent matchup.
- Missing from this list: Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Portland Trailblazers, Boston *
- Only listed once: San Antonio, Oklahoma City
* I don’t actually get to see the Boston Celtics play – because they are in my local area.
What you miss with NBA League Pass
Meanwhile here were the games that were shown on TNT, ESPN and the NBATV network during this same time period:
1/15 Phoenix (4-7) @ San Antonio (8-4)
1/16 Chicago (12-3) @ Memphis (6-6)
1/16 Oklahoma City (11-2) @ Boston (4-7)
1/16 Dallas (8-5) @ LA Lakers (9-5)
1/17 San Antonio (9-4) @ Miami (8-4)
1/18 Toronto (4-10) @ Boston (4-8)
1/18 Portland (8-5) @ Atlanta (10-4)
1/18 Dallas (8-6) @ LA Clippers (7-4)
1/19 LA Lakers (10-5) @ Miami (9-4)
1/19 Dallas (8-7) @ Utah (9-4)
With the normal cable package I could have watched 10 more games 8 of them where both teams had an even or winning record. 80%. Additionally, there were 2 Lakers games, 2 Miami games, 2 Boston games, 3 Dallas games, 2 San Antonio games.
Add to the fact that the Celtics at 4-7 and 4-8 (and now 4-9) is completely crazy and you can see the picture I am drawing:
NBA League Pass is a sham
Why?
I can only speculate that the decision to restrict the games that are televised locally and nationally on popular cable/satellite stations is based solely on money. The NBA doesn’t want to share revenue with NBA and TNT and they really want you to subscribe to cable and buy packages that include NBATV. NBA owns the content. And content is King.