Nielsen data for April shows that Netflix is the second most-watched source for television viewing, accounting for 7.6% of all TV consumption behind YouTube’s 9.6%. When Netflix announced last month that it had acquired the rights to two NFL football games to stream on Christmas Day, TV news agents were buzzing.
Also, it would expand on what Netflix is doing with live broadcasts in other genres, such as the company’s star-studded “The Roast of Tom Brady” and the Netflix Slam tennis tournament. One reason is that news is not quite like sports. League media rights fees have escalated in recent years, because live game telecasts are the most reliable way to attract large audiences for appointment viewing. The buyers of those rights have some degree of certainty of what they are getting when they sign the deal. Not so with news.
Some legacy media executives likely have daydreams about exiting the news business as the path to profitability becomes more challenging. Last year, Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger publicly said the company’s linear TV networks, which includes ABC News, were not core to the company’s business and he could envision spinning them off.The stir caused by Iger’s remarks demonstrates how news is ingrained in the culture of the broadcast business.