SAN DIEGO — How do you watch TV? Over the air with an antenna? A traditional cable subscription? Through an app on your phone? Or maybe streamed with one of the dozens of online platforms.
But no matter how you watch your news, latest shows and movies, you've probably noticed that it's getting very expensive.
Before the days of internet streaming, cable was pretty much the only way you could watch everything you wanted to watch. Back in 2013, there were over 100 million cable subscribers in the United States and the average cost for a year’s subscription was around $400.
The innovations in the 2010s transformed how we consume media. Netflix, Hulu, HBO and others completely disrupted the traditional television model. On top of this, cable companies are now competing with services like YouTube TV or Sling that stream live television. In the beginning, these streaming plans were relatively cheap.
Back in 2012 Netflix was $8 a month for a subscription but as time went on, other players started getting into the game. As of this year, Netflix now costs $15.49 a month.
The increased cost of cable is even more astronomic. In 2012 the average price of a yearly cable subscription was around $400, today it’s around $530- a 33% jump. Subscriptions are also significantly down, there are only 68 million cable subscribers in 2022. But if there’s one thing that keeps people from cutting the cord it's sports.
The broadcasting rights for Major League Baseball are much different than the traditional sports market. A fan of an out-of-market team could buy MLBTV for $140 a year and watch the Minnesota Twins while living in San Diego. But tune into a Padres game, and I’ll be blacked out.
Here in San Diego, the only way you can watch most of the Padres games legally is on Bally Sports San Diego, but there are a few other streaming services that are also broadcasting Padres games this year.
We wanted to know how much it would cost if you wanted to watch every single San Diego Padres game live on TV this year.
In the San Diego television market, you have a few choices when it comes to getting access to Bally Sports. To watch it on Cox cable you need Countour TV Preferred, which will run you $98 a month. A cheaper option is Direct TV, which goes for $90 a month, so let's go with that plan.
The Padres also have games that will be broadcast on Apple TV and Peacock, so we’ll need to subscribe to those too, but those are only $5 a month.
So what would it cost?
So if you wanted to watch every Padres game in a 7-month baseball season, it would end up costing you around $700. That is Paradise at a Price; and the cost of watching our beloved Padres.
WATCH: Padres introduce Bob Melvin as their new manager (Nov 2021):