So you're saying someone else is going to run a coax (or other internet delivery capable cable) to my house? Comcast is the only provider that's even available to me for internet - other than satellite, which is still way off for being able to provide enough bandwidth for the average home.
Satellite has the opportunity to get where we want but it's fiber optics (or possibly something we aren't aware of yet that will turn this on its ear).
Here's the thing: ESPN lost 3.2 Million subscribers last year and 7.2% of their subscribers since 2011. We (us here in forums like these) tend to say that sports and ESPN is what keeps the provider bundles afloat. There is pretty good evidence to show that its; truly our wives and kids that do, as polls have shown its the Discovery, HGTV, E!, mass that outranks ESPN), but for the sake of what WE believe, let's say it's ESPN.
So, ESPN is the "big bad" in this and ESPN is in it with Sling for one reason: it is financially beneficial to them to offer this al a carte product with Sling IF the buyers are people who are new entrants and it is not financially beneficial to them IF people are simply trading higher price cable packages for Sling. That's not opinion, that is straight from ESPN president's John Skipper's mouth. Dish (bless their number pushers) is doing a fantastic job of showing ESPN the numbers that suggest that the "significant" business coming into Sling is being drive by new entrants. Thus, ESPN is "content". However, it should be noted that ESPN has an out in their contract that they can kill the deal if they lose more than 3 Million subscribers as of May 2014, which they did. So they can do what they want.
Roku, meanwhile is not backing today's news because, honestly, ROKU is in bed with TWC and Comcast right now selling them a ####-ton of streamers so that those two can explore their own streaming options (which they are doing in NEW York and a few places).
ESPN and Apple are talking but haven't gotten anywhere in what I imagine is a spectacular pissing contest marking territory.
So, here we are as everyone is fighting over the EXISTING pie with the tech we have currently. Meanwhile, down in Atlanta, Google fiber is rolling in and making pee trickle down Comcast's legs. If they have it their way, Comcast will be the poster child for the true WALKING DEAD in Atlanta because Conmcast has the market by the throat and offers either cheap, crappy 5mbps service OR really fast service (like 1GBPS for $1000.00/mo) Yep, that's a thousand dollars. Google is down there trying to use existing fiber optics already wired into buildings trying to set up a 1 GBPS (giga) system for $120/mo.
We (you and I) are the pioneers here. Our choices are blazing trails. But we are talking the hard road because we are doing what ESPN doesn't want. We aren't NEW entrants. We are the cord cutters who are trading down, saving bucks. ESPN don't like that. We aren't going to be the ones that win this war. Instead, it is going to be army behind us, the "CORD NEVERS" who come in and kick this door down because they have none of the "programming" we are hardwired with to work around. They just see it as "the tech is there to watch what I want, NOT watch what I don't want (and not pay for it), watch it WHEN I want, and get it on FAST speeds. THe cord nevers are going to be the ones that push all these new options to the point where competition brings the price down for all us..just in time to be able to afford it on our retirement plans!