Already reported to be caught off-guard by the recently announced joint streaming venture between Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, NFL Chief Business Officer Brian Rolapp is publicly questioning the platform's value proposition ... before a price point has even been officially announced.
"We were a little surprised by that -- the press has loved to talk about how surprised we were," Rolapp said Thursday, while speaking at the Washington Post's Futurist Summit in Washington D.C.
"I mean, we were a bit surprised. But I don't think it affects anything we do," Rolapp said. "They’re positioning it as the ultimate sports bundle, but it's missing more than half of NFL football, which we just got done saying is 93 of the top 100 telecasts. I don't understand how a sports fan is going to look at that and say, 'That's a better value than, say, for $20 more a month I could buy YouTube TV and have all of the NFL and then actually have access to Sunday Ticket, which is our out-of-market package on Sunday afternoons.
.@brianrolapp on Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery sports bundle: “I don’t think it affects anything we do. There positioning it as the ultimate sports bundle but it’s missing more than half of NFL football…. I’m a bit confused personally by the value proposition.” pic.twitter.com/ZbsxuwD0z6March 21, 2024
"So I'm a bit confused personally by the value proposition," Rolapp continued. "They clearly see something maybe that we don't at the time. But I do know our partners, which we do like, are leaning in and trying to figure out this new world, and you can't say that's not a bold step -- it certainly is -- that will probably have ramifications a bit to the pay TV world. But we'll have to see how it plays out."
Last week, the JV named former Apple and Hulu executive Pete Distad it's CEO, but the launch date, price and product name have still yet to be announced for a streaming service that will bundle the linear sports channels of its three owners.
Business media has taken to informally monikering the platform as "Spulu" (as in "Sports Hulu"), while a general consensus has emerged suggesting the price will be around $50 a month.
Addressing a number of topics beyond Spulu, Rolapp was also asked if the NFL is concerned about insolvency among any of its broadcast partners -- specifically, Paramount Global -- before it can reach the end of a $110 billion TV deal that ends in 2031.
"No. We're not worried about any insolvency risk, and even if you look at Paramount and dive into it there is no risk, in our view, of them being a going concern," Rolapp said. "I think they're dealing with what every content distribution company in the world is dealing with, including the digital players, of how to adjust to a much different world where the world is increasingly digital first.
"So I think it doesn't matter if it's Disney or Paramount or Google, for that matter, all partners of ours," he added. "I think they're all figuring out how to shift their business model in this new world. They're just coming at it from two very different places.
