1. It’s a summer Friday, so you probably want some good news or something light and fun to send off into the weekend.
I would like to do that, too, but I just can’t, thanks to my favorite topic: Bitching about the cost of streaming for sports fans.
With NBC/Peacock now paying $2.5 billion for its new NBA deal, someone has to pay for that (as well as the rights to Roundball Rock).
As is always the case in the sports world, the person who will pay is YOU.
Peacock, which will carry NBA games on Mondays, Tuesdays and select Sundays, announced on Thursday that they are jacking up their monthly prices next week. The streamer doesn’t even have the courtesy to wait until the NBA season. They want to take advantage of you now.
Starting July 23, the price for Peacock Premium (which includes ads) will increase by $3 to $10.99/month and Premium Plus (which has limited ads in live programming) by $3 to $16.99 per month. Peacock’s annual price will be $109.99/year for Premium and $169.99/year for Premium Plus.
Keep in mind, if you’re an NBA fan, you also need a subscription to Amazon (I know, I know, everyone has Prime), some sort of cable plan for ESPN, a way to access NBC and ABC and, of course, some sort of plan to access your local RSN.
Again, someone explain to me how cord cutting for a sports fan who likes more than a couple of sports is cheaper than cable?
2. The whole “do ratings matter if something goes viral” conundrum seems to be on full display with this year’s ESPY awards.
Clips of Shane Gillis’s monologue were all over social media, until the Coldplay concert scandal took over, and there were debates and hot takes and think pieces off of Gillis’s jokes.
You’d think that’s a win for ESPN.
However, in the cord cutting era, the show hosted by Gillis flopped.
Just 2.1 million viewers watched the ESPNYs, which aired on ABC. That number is down 17% from last year. It was also the least-watched ESPYs ever outside of the the 2020 and 2021 Covid-19 years.
3. The low ESPYs rating isn’t nearly as devastating to ESPN as the absence of Caitlin Clark from the WNBA All-Star Game this weekend. The amount of people who will not tune in now that Clark is out with an injury will be significant.
Clark being sidelines for the All-Star Game is also a huge hit to bookmakers. This is a solid piece about Clark’s impact on the betting world. A couple of nuggets:
• Fever games draw nearly 30% more bets than other WNBA games
• More than 18% of bets on Fever games are Clark-related props
• A whopping 88% of her props are bet to the over.
4. An endorsement deal for the ages right here for the man known as “Big Dumper,” Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh.
TEAM UP WITH CAL RALEIGH!
— Honey Bucket (@honeybucket) July 16, 2025
Honey Bucket, a leader in portable sanitation services, is proud to announce a new partnership with Seattle’s powerhouse catcher and fan favorite, All-Star Cal Raleigh—affectionately known as Big Dumper.https://t.co/72Ps25Rz6g pic.twitter.com/jvevw00liu
5. Thursday night was a rough one for sports bettors with a nearly non-existent slate of games to wager on. But as we saw for years on Seinfeld, as highlighted here, Kramer would’ve found something to bet on.
6. This week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with the host of NFL RedZone, Scott Hanson
Hanson talks about his recent contract negotiations with the NFL and how he thought he was done with RedZone before eventually signing a new four-year contract that will give him 20 years as the host.
Hanson also discusses RedZone’s wild popularity and things fans have done to show their love for Hanson, including naming their dogs Ocotbox and putting references to RedZone in their wedding vows.
Hanson also shares his thoughts on how the 2025 NFL schedule impacts RedZone, returning to NBC to host its Olympics Gold Zone channel and much more.
Following Hanson, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss the MLB All-Star Game, Netflix's Quarterback, a new Live Aid docuseries on CNN, the price of car washes, Sal having a snake in his backyard and Sal missing out on a chance to see Jerry Seinfeld for free.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: News broke Thursday night that CBS was cancelling, not just the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, but the entire Late Show franchise, meaning there will be no new host.
I was shocked to see that. Colbert has hosted for 10 years. It feels like David Letterman only left a couple of years ago.
Anyway, whenever I hear “Stephen Colbert,” the first thing I always think of is the Empire State of Mind duet that he did with Alicia Keys on his old Comedy Central show. The quality of the video below is terrible, and you need to jack the volume way up, but I still enjoy it every time I watch it.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Streaming Strikes Again! With NBA Now in the Fold, Peacock Raises Prices.
