I'm seen alot of insighful comments from posters speculating on the future of DAZN in the wake of the game changing Canelo news yesterday. So, which direction will DAZN ultimately take? I've put some options in a poll. These options are ordered roughly from "best" to "worst"; i.e. best for viewers/consumers to worst. Obviously the best end result will be a multiplatform sports streaming service at a Netflix level low monthly price. The worst would be a $20+ per month price for boxing heavy but other fluff trash thrown in as an excuse to raise prices. The former would eventually kill the PPV model, increase boxing's popularity, allow greater freedom of sports focused consumers to cut the cable cord, and generally be a a great, consumer friendly evolution that would provide a net savings to boxing/sports fans and help the sport. The latter would probably simply be yet another expensive service boxing fans would need to add on to their existent budget to get basically the same content. Which would obviously make it a net negative for fans. Of course, there are scales in between as well. Personally, I'm inclined to think this will be a solid net positive for boxing fans.
I've selected the top option. It's the closest description to the netflix model which is the easiest way of thinking about what they're about. They are aiming very high. In the US they're starting with boxing and MMA but that's mainly because it's one of the easiest entry points into the market. These figures may seem high, but compared to the most desirable sports rights numbers they're actually low. They can build up a subscriber base and infrastructure now however so that when other options become available they're a credible bidder with an existing audience. Note they may never get the most desirable rights, NBA, MLB, NFL etc as they're big enough to justify direct streaming platforms of their own. They will be in for them though and there's other rights that could make it appeal to a wider section of sports fans. The model only works if the cost to subscribe is relatively low, both as a barrier to new sign ups and to ensure retention. It's essential to try and keep hold of your subscribers as its cheaper to keep them than to acquire new ones.
