Disney bought out Comcast to take full ownership of Hulu, so I thought I would take a look at who we’ll be paying in a couple of years when the dust settles on all the new streaming services that have been announced in 2019 so far.

What I think is interesting to keep an eye on is the ability of these conglomerates to provide discounts or exclusive packages to customers on other platforms. AT&T could provide free access to ESPN+ or NFL Sunday Ticket to their cell phone customers. Comcast could provide free or discounted streaming of Friends and The Office to their wired internet customers. It should be interesting.

Standalone Services

Netflix
Amazon (packaged with Prime currently)
Apple

Facebook – no subscriptions, ads only

Traditional Providers Moving to Streaming… and what they own

These traditional media companies already have streaming services or have announced plans to create them. Most of this category is in flux, with Disney’s acquisition of FOX and Hulu, plans for Disney+, etc.

AT&T is also a work in progress with successful services like HBO Go, but with the acquisition of WarnerMedia and the shutdown of services like Filmstruck, I’m assuming we’ll see some consolidation in the near future.

CBS -> Viacom, Showtime, BET, MTV, Comedy Central, CW

Disney -> ABC, FOX, Hulu, ESPN+, Disney+, FX, NatGeo, History, A&E, Lifetime, Disney Animation, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars/Lucasfilm

Comcast (Xfinity) -> NBC, Universal Studios, USA, SyFy, MSNBC, Dreamworks, Telemundo

AT&T -> WarnerMedia, CNN, Warner Bros and DC Film, HBO, Cinemax, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, TNT, TBS, TCM (Filmstruck), DirecTV, NFL Sunday Ticket (through 2022)

Sports Leagues

Another large piece of the pie will be streaming of sports leagues. Most charge around $200 – $300 per season for a full access package to all games online.

MLB -> Created BAMTech which is now owned by Disney, will probably power Disney+, backbone of HBO Go for the last couple of years

NFL -> Sunday Ticket rights owned by AT&T through 2022, Comcast, CBS, Amazon, and others involved in smaller streaming packages

NBA -> Disney and AT&T as well as NBA.com

NHL -> Comcast/NBC through 2021

Premier League -> Comcast/NBC

Additional Players – Cell Providers and Cable Providers

At this point these companies don’t have properties worth paying additional fees to access, but like AT&T they could potentially reach into media properties further via acquisitions in the future.

Verizon -> no networks, Yahoo, AOL, HuffPost
Sprint/TMobile