Are you sick of blackouts preventing you from watching your favorite show? Earlier this week YouTube TV didn’t renew its contract with MLB Network. Sadly 2023 may be a year full of them as cable companies cut back on huge price hikes demanded by content owners.
In the past, it has not been unusual for network owners to demand a 300% increase in what cable providers paid. Now as cord cutting grows and many of the most popular TV shows are not aired on cable but on streaming services, we are seeing cable networks push back.
DISH has long been a leader in this fight and currently has an ongoing blackout with some local TV stations. No other cable networks have increasingly been taking a more rigid stance against high demands from content owners.
One of the main complaints cable TV companies have is content companies, including Comcast’s own NBCUniversal, has moved content off of NBC to put it behind a paywall on Peacock. Many cable companies are left to wonder why they should pay an even higher price for channels that no longer air as many new shows as they once did.
This storm of higher demands from content companies and cord cutting hitting cable companies is the perfect storm to set the stage for more blackouts.
As more contracts come up for renewal, look for blackouts to become more common.