NBC's Mike Florio blames CBS and FOX for YouTube TV’s sky-high $449 price tag

YouTube TV's Sunday Ticket price is set to hit as high as $449 if it copies last year's pricing model. However, many place the program separate from NBC, CBS and FOX as competitors, with the three channels available on an antenna and via cable with similar programming.

However, when it comes to Lamar Jackson's era of the NFL viewing experience, YouTube TV's Sunday Ticket is a service that could make the networks obsolete on the platform if priced low enough. At least, that is what NBC-affiliated NFL analyst Mike Florio claimed on Monday morning's edition of Pro Football Talk.

"If Sunday Ticket is cheap," Florio said. "You're going to have more people turning away from CBS and FOX on their local affiliates, and you can have the value of those packages decrease." [00:01:35] [57.8] PFT.

According to Florio, YouTube TV's Sunday Ticket charges more to convince some fans to stick with the old-school networks to watch their local teams, whether it be the New York Jets or the Minnesota Vikings.

Of course, missing from his claims is NBC. Florio, a regular member of Sunday Night Football's pregame, postgame, and halftime shows, did not lump his network into the claims.

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With the need to increase profit margins, the league has continued to employ practices to water down, reduce, or remove games from cheaper or simpler packages.

This year, the NFL put the Christmas slate of games behind a paywall via their deal with Netflix. In past years, the league has taken Thursday Night Football games from FOX and put those behind the Amazon Prime paywall.

Of course, the practice is not unique to Josh Allen's sport. Most companies go through periods of investment to build a foundation and then flip a switch to increase profits. At one point, the NFL app offered certain game broadcasts for free. Now, those games are placed behind a paywall.

Meanwhile, YouTube used to play only a few seconds of advertisements at a time. Now, some videos have 60 seconds of unskippable advertisements in a single section.

With a massive gulf between watching Patrick Mahomes play in February and again in September, there is plenty of opportunity for the NFL. The league can make a change or a tweak when fewer are focused on the league to minimize blowback or, better yet, allow fans to forget that they had previously paid less or not at all for a certain service.

The practice is not unique to the NFL. As older players like Aaron Rodgers may recall, Netflix used to be under $10 per month for the entire service with zero advertisements and unlimited sharing.

Now, one can spend more than $30 per month while sharing the service with one person outside of the home, according to the company's pricing FAQ.

If any of the above quotes are used, credit "Pro Football Talk" and H/T Sportskeeda.