It IS completely different. Movies and tv shows don’t need to be viewed live
how is that different? Live events are behind paywalls all the time
it’s for profit entertainment. The fact that it’s live has nothing to do with anything.
I cant watch the Red Sox without paying for NESN. I cant watch the live NFL draft without paying for ESPN (although they broadcast some of it for the first time on network TV). I cant watch any big wrestling or MMA events without Pay Per View, cant watch the World Series of poker live without a subscription service, half the college football games are on exclusive channels you can only get through pricey sports packages (SEC network etc)
the “pay for exclusive live sports content“ has been a thing for a very long time. Paying for NESN through a package of channels with Comcast isn’t any different than paying for Peacock except you’re isolating the charge to one channel instead of “sports premium channels”
The only difference is it’s a major network doing this and not a regional one. But the message is clear, you want to watch every game, you need to have subscriptions to every service that owns a piece of the NFL pie. And that was always going to be the natural evolution from cord cutting. Instead of paying Comcast $100 and watch every game, you can pay Peacock 10, Hulu 10, NFL+ 10, NESN 30 and so forth.
The NFL is late to the party honestly. But the major networks will likely continue to do this as they lose more and more eyeballs from cord cutters