Until 1999, music was a physical goods business with high prices and limited choices. Few songs were released as “singles.” The products themselves, vinyl and compact discs, required dedicated playback devices. Napster upended everything — leveraging the internet, high-speed file sharing and ease of use. By 2001, it had exploded to 80 million “free” users. Internet media disruptions started with music, but that same customer liberation quickly spread to newspapers, magazines, advertising, and then to on-demand entertainment and linear TV, via streaming.

For the first 50 years of electronic media, content was free. First, device manufacturers subsidized programming to encourage consumers to buy radios and later TVs (ABC and NBC were owned by RCA, the Radio Corporation of America). Then, advertisers provided the subsidy, but content remained free. Until the 70s with cable and pay TV … regional and national prime-time sports, plus John Malone’s promise of 500 channels, lured us to start paying for video content.

Just 15 years ago, the halcyon days of pay TV and the zenith of the programming bundle, sports content seemed free. Since everyone had cable (90% penetration), games were basically free-ish, delivered via a fixed-cost “utility”… virtually no added cost to watch. Economists would call that “marginal cost” zero, because the bundle was a big fat package — channels, shows and events were rarely available a la carte. Regardless of interests, everyone bought essentially the same bundle. Even better for sports fans: Their viewing “birthright” was subsidized.........

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