Here’s an example of enshittification: streaming NFL games. I am a Carolina Panthers fan, but I live in Massachusetts. My wife and I watch virtually no TV, but we inherited a smart TV a few years ago. We decided to buy NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube to watch a single game a week – expensive, but about the cheapest solution. Of course, if they play on Thursday night, or Sunday night, or Monday night, well, those games aren’t included because those are on other streaming services. Or, like this weekend, when the Panthers got flexed to Saturday and my very expensive Sunday Ticket, where I previously would have watched the game when it was being played on Sunday is now useless. In other words, the product that i bought for a 17-game season is gradually chipped away by nationally broadcast games and flex games. (If i were a Chiefs fan, Sunday Ticket would be almost worthless: they played a total of 10 games at times that were not covered by Sunday Ticket!) And We won’t even talk about playoff games, which also aren’t included in Sunday Ticket, either.
In other words, the NFL made it hard for the non-local fan to watch their team play 17 games without paying well over $500 a year. They did this by distributing games over multiple platforms: Amazon, ESPN, Paramount +, and NFL Sunday Ticket, which raised their revenue while making the experience shitty.
Well, I’ll just stream the radio broadcast, and spend the off-season deciding whether I want to continue spending my money that way.
Doubtful.