GRAPHIC: BLADIMIR LEMUS ’26/THE HAWK
Football fans everywhere took to social media this week to express frustration after two “unrelated” announcements from the NFL made headlines: a deal with ESPN, a subsidiary of Disney, and the addition of ads to a previously ad-free RedZone.
NFL RedZone is a channel on the NFL Network that offers live-coverage of Sunday NFL football games. The channel focuses on moments that happen within the red zone — between the 20-yard line and the goal line — or whichever team is closest to the end zone, offering an exciting alternative to regular game coverage.
The NFL announced ESPN would acquire the licensing and distribution rights to RedZone. The NFL, however, will continue to own and operate the channel. Meanwhile, RedZone’s host, Scott Hanson, alerted fans of an advertising change on a podcast, stating his introduction of the show will change from “seven hours of commercial-free football” to “seven hours of RedZone football.” This prompted RedZone fans to speculate the events were connected, blaming Disney for the change. While an NFL spokesperson said the announcements were a coincidence in timing, fans believe otherwise.
Regardless of where this decision originated, it points to a larger trend of streaming platforms utilizing ads. When it comes to advertising, streaming services like Disney are beginning to resemble what they once destroyed: cable. Early on, the major benefit of streaming was no commercial breaks, and this model quickly dominated over traditional cable TV. Despite this success, Disney and other streaming services began using various ad-supported tier plans, allowing them to increase revenue as if subscription fees weren’t enough. They market ad-supported tiers as a cost-sensitive alternative to ad-free tiers, but have essentially moved the goal post of affordability.
Given its track record, Disney will likely continue to make deals that increase revenue at the expense of the consumer experience as long as streaming remains dominant over alternative competitors of cable TV. Thus, the days of ad-free streaming are of the past, and overpriced ad-packed streaming is the future. Some may call this a transitional period for media toward a more innovative way to stream, but I call it a scam.