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Comment by dfrey | Hacker News Reader

More and more people are dumping cable TV. The main reasons that I hear for people keeping it are sports and news. If live streaming sites like twitch can sign deals with sports leagues, then I think we will see even more people cancelling their cable.

The nice thing about streaming is that you aren't channel limited, so there is no reason why you can't follow some obscure minor league team on the other side of the planet.

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NFL rights alone will (my guess) cost around 5 billion USD per year when the next contracts are negotiated, maybe more.

There is no way an online service puts up that kind of money considering something like 1/3 of Americans simply don't have high-speed internet access.

The last time the rights were negotiated in 2013, they were $40B, with ESPN paying about double what NBC, CBS and Fox payed.

There is one company with the kind of money that might make sense -- Apple.

It would be a heck of a way for them to jumpstart a streaming service and make it only available on AppleTV.

Probably the biggest holdup would be the NFL itself, who makes sure those broadcast contracts reach the biggest number of people to keep their brand popular.

Apple really is the only option that makes sense, but mostly because it just doesn't make sense for anyone else. Would love to see it happen. I pay $50/month during the season for Sunday Ticket and the service is just OK. Would love to see a better take on it.

Live news broadcasts from individuals passionate about researching live events would be great, too. Anything like that that could replace MSM. From people compiling the current latest news from places like Twitter, to people actually out on the streets during events.

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