Your favorite show might be on the chopping block thanks to this live TV trend

Christmas day NFL games, WWE’s flagship show Monday Night RAW, and a live Mike Tyson fight are just some of the examples of how Netflix is moving more and more into the world of live streaming. As it turns out, Netflix isn’t the only streamer looking for a piece of the live sports pie.

Peacock is the home to all WWE Premium Live Events, it hosted the 2024 Olympics, and there’s a wide range of soccer coverage on the platform. Amazon Prime Video carries its own NFL games, and come next season, it’ll have NBA games airing on the platform.

Sports are here to stay, and streamers are investing more in them. In a vacuum, it’s not a big deal that streamers are adding new services to attract new fans, but it’s not as simple as that. The addition of live sports is coming at the cost of original programming. If you’re not a sports fan, the future of these services could give you pause.

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Sports are coming at a cost

This might be bad in the future

Pocket-Lint, Dall-E

Even if you’re a diehard sports fan, you might want to give yourself some time to think about what these moves mean for the future. Sports rights aren’t cheap by any means, and the NBA rights deal that landed the league on Prime Video cost a reported $76 billion, according to Forbes. Amazon’s portion of the bill is $1.8 billion annually for 66 regular season games.

With streaming platforms already struggling to turn a profit, spending like that means costs have to be cut elsewhere. Amazon’s CEO has plans to make Prime Video profitable in 2025, and the focus on live sports is one of the ways he plans to make that happen. According to a report by The Information, via Reuters, Amazon cut back on spending on original shows for the shift. The report cites eight producers who say Amazon has been commissioning fewer film and TV projects since 2022. This doesn’t mean original programming will just dry up overnight, but it does mean you’ll see fewer original shows than you did in the past.

Sports rights aren’t cheap, and these platforms don’t have infinite money to spend. The logical thing to happen is that costs have to be cut elsewhere, and it’s reportedly coming from original programming. While sports fans are reaping the immediate rewards, it might not stay that way for long. Non-sports fans could easily come to the conclusion that Prime Video isn’t worth it if this trend continues.

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It’ll take time for you to notice

It’s not an immediate shift

freestocks / Pocket-lint

The shows and movies that are already in the pipeline are too late to stop, so it might not feel like anything has changed in the immediate future. What you might end up noticing down the line, however, is fewer original shows and movies being made. With Netflix already having a reputation for canceling things before they have a chance to build an audience, things could get much worse on that platform.

Prime Video has hit shows like The Boys, Invincible, Reacher, and Rings of Power, but what happens when those shows reach their ending point? More shows will obviously show up on the service, but it won’t be as often as it used to be. Streaming services are already struggling to hold their value for a lot of people, and as the amount of original programming drops and the prices continue to rise, it seems like there could be a tipping point sometime soon.

As more sports deals are signed, expect more price hikes. We’re just a few weeks into 2025 and Netflix has already announced a price increase. Judging by how things have been going for the past few years, it seems safe to assume Netflix won’t be the only service jumping in price this year.

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Rising prices and less content is a bad combo

I’m ready to abandon ship

Pocket-lint / Netflix

I set a goal for myself to spend less on streaming services in 2025, so I’ve been looking to cut costs and unsubscribe where I can. In some cases, it has been easy to do, but it’s hard to change your habits completely. I’ve been so used to having access to everything that it’d be weird to hit the Netflix app and not have it open on the home page. However, a Premium subscription that costs $25 a month is outrageous, and I’m having a very tough time justifying it.

Netflix might actually be on board with my line of thinking, and that’s why the ad-supported plan comes in much cheaper. You can drop the price all the way down to $8 a month if you go that route. Interestingly enough, that would still result in the same experience for the live content as it comes with commercials anyway. Watching RAW or the NFL works just about the same way as it would on TV, so it doesn’t matter if you’re paying for an expensive tier or not. Sadly, the ad-supported plan affects all other aspects of the service, so it’s a costly tradeoff if you don’t like ads showing up during your shows and movies.

Prime Video isn’t as costly as Netflix when it comes to dropping ads. To do that on Prime Video, you just have to pay an extra $3 a month, but that gap could continue to grow as the company invests more into its sports library. People have been talking for years about a streaming bubble and how it could burst at any moment. Bursting might not be the right word as it seems like it keeps on growing, but it’s becoming harder and harder for the average person to justify paying for services.

Surely there’s a limit to how far streaming can go, but with live sports and shows moving to these platforms, it seems like the boundaries keep being pushed. As long as people continue to pay, things like this will keep happening. Admittedly, it’s nice to see the jump in quality that RAW made when it moved to Netflix from network TV. I just don’t like that I’m being squeezed for a monthly price that can jump up in price whenever it wants. I hope this live TV push doesn’t hurt original programming too much, but I won’t keep my fingers crossed.

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