Yeah, cable, we owe you one. We trashed you for years. Called you greedy, outdated, overpriced. We laughed when streaming came along like it was going to save us all. Turns out the joke’s on us. You might have been a pain, you might have gone out when it rained too hard, but at least the damn game was on. Every time. Can’t say that anymore.
The YouTube TV and ESPN Disaster
Right now, YouTube TV and Disney are having one of their classic corporate slap fights. ESPN, ABC, the whole Disney lineup could disappear any day because the two sides can’t agree on money. ESPN wants more. YouTube TV doesn’t want to pay it. Both of them are acting like we’re the problem. They keep saying they’re fighting for “the consumer.” Meanwhile, we’re the ones sitting there refreshing Twitter to see if Monday Night Football is still happening.
If they don’t figure it out, millions of people are about to lose ESPN and ABC. No Monday Night Football. No college football. No NBA games. No SportsCenter. Nothing. Gone because billion-dollar companies can’t split the check.
We Thought We Were Free
Remember when “cut the cord” sounded like freedom? Save eighty bucks a month, no more cable boxes, watch whatever you want. That was the dream. Back in 2010, cable had around 105 million subscribers. Now it’s down to about 65 million. Streaming “won.” But what we didn’t realize was we were signing up for chaos. Every channel broke off into their own little island. Every league wanted its own app. Every show wanted its own subscription. We thought we were getting a buffet. What we got was 12 different bills and still no access to half the games we want to watch.
Welcome to the Streaming Maze
Here’s what it looks like if you actually try to follow every major sport in 2025.
- YouTube TV – $83 a month for local channels and national feeds
- ESPN Unlimited or Disney bundle – $30 for full ESPN and ABC access
- NFL Sunday Ticket – about $35 a month, or $276 for the season
- Amazon Prime – $15 a month for Thursday Night Football
- Peacock – $11 for Sunday Night Football and random exclusives
- Paramount+ – $13 for CBS games
- Max – $11 for the NBA on TNT
- Apple TV+ – $10 for MLB and MLS games
- MLB.TV – $30 for out-of-market baseball
- NBA League Pass – $17 for out-of-market hoops
That’s the baseline. You still might need extra subscriptions for regional networks, college conference apps, or team-specific services. Most fans are juggling 15 to 18 subscriptions just to keep up. We were supposed to save money. Instead, we’re paying more than ever for worse access.
Do the Math
Let’s total it up.
YouTube TV $82.99
ESPN Unlimited $29.99
NFL Sunday Ticket $34.50
Amazon Prime $14.99
Peacock $10.99
Paramount+ $12.99
Max $10.99
Apple TV+ $9.99
MLB.TV $29.99
NBA League Pass $16.99
That’s about $254 a month. Over three grand a year. You used to pay half that for cable, and it included everything. Now you pay double for half the product and still get a blackout notice for your hometown team. Congratulations, we reinvented cable and made it worse.
Blackouts and Broken Promises
And don’t even start on the blackout rules. The whole point of streaming was that you could watch from anywhere. Except you can’t. MLB, NBA, NHL, they all still block you from watching your local team unless you jump through a dozen hoops or pay for another “exclusive” package. The Bally Sports mess, the bankrupt regional networks, the new direct-to-consumer stuff — it’s all a disaster. Half the time, you pay for a service just to find out it doesn’t carry your team anyway.
We Were Cocky and Wrong
We thought we were upgrading. We thought streaming meant progress. Instead, it’s the Wild West where every company is fighting for land and we’re paying the taxes. YouTube TV and Disney argue about who’s being “fair.” Leagues want their own money. Platforms want exclusives. The only people who lose are the fans. We’re the ones stuck juggling 17 passwords just to watch a game buffer at 720p.
The Apology
So here it is. Cable, we were wrong about you. Yeah, you were expensive. Yeah, your customer service sucked. But at least you worked. You gave us every channel in one spot, one remote, one bill. When there was a big game, it was on. No app crashes. No missing rights. No guessing which service owned what. You were simple. You were reliable. You were annoying sometimes, but you got the job done.
We wanted innovation and got a cluster of overpriced apps that barely talk to each other. We called you the villain. Turns out the villain was hiding behind a loading screen.
What Needs to Happen
Somebody’s got to fix this mess. The sports world needs to chill with the exclusives. The networks need to start working together again. Fans shouldn’t need ten apps and a calculator to watch their favorite team. If the YouTube TV and ESPN fight proves anything, it’s that this “streaming revolution” is just the same old cable wars with shinier graphics.
All we want is one place to watch sports without feeling like we’re building a damn puzzle every Sunday.
Sincerely, Every Sports Fan Who Cut the Cord
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