Is ESPN Doomed?

[Jockey]

January 2, 2024

Americans Are Canceling More of Their Streaming Services

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/americans-are-canceling-more-of-their-streaming-services-fb9284c8

Hulu, Netflix and other streamers are turning to bundles, discounts and ad-supported plans as customer defections rise
.......

Your copy and pastes are boring.

[lawdog77]

ESPN is doomed.

https://www.abc27.com/national/espn-returns-37-emmys-won-using-fake-names-report/#:~:text=(KTLA)%20%E2%80%94%20The%20National%20Academy,a%20report%20in%20The%20Athletic.

[Jockey]

Arrogance.

[WhiteTrash]

Arrogance.

Yes, and pathetic at the same time.

[MU82]

The Athletic reports: NFL in advanced talks with ESPN to acquire equity stake in network

https://theathletic.com/5199825/2024/01/13/nfl-espn-equity-stake-redzone-network/?source=pulsenewsletter&campaign=8740869

The partnership between the NFL and ESPN could soon grow more intertwined with the league in advanced talks with ESPN to acquire an equity stake in the sports network, sources briefed on the matter confirmed to The Athletic. The cable giant would gain control of NFL Media, including NFL Network in return, sources said.

News of the advanced talks between the NFL and ESPN was first reported by The New York Post. The report said discussions between the two entities are far enough along for the league to have notified owners and the Players Association.

[Pakuni]

The Athletic reports: NFL in advanced talks with ESPN to acquire equity stake in network

https://theathletic.com/5199825/2024/01/13/nfl-espn-equity-stake-redzone-network/?source=pulsenewsletter&campaign=8740869

The partnership between the NFL and ESPN could soon grow more intertwined with the league in advanced talks with ESPN to acquire an equity stake in the sports network, sources briefed on the matter confirmed to The Athletic. The cable giant would gain control of NFL Media, including NFL Network in return, sources said.

News of the advanced talks between the NFL and ESPN was first reported by The New York Post. The report said discussions between the two entities are far enough along for the league to have notified owners and the Players Association.

No conflicts of interest to see here. Please move along.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

ESPN would be producing the NFL network just like Fox produces the Big Ten Network. So of course there are conflicts. There always have been such conflicts.

[Pakuni]

ESPN would be producing the NFL network just like Fox produces the Big Ten Network. So of course there are conflicts. There always have been such conflicts.

Of course there are conflicts out of their longtime business relationships, but an actual ownership stake raises that to a different level.
An analogy of sorts:
When the big healthcare group in town is a major advertiser with the local newspaper, it creates a potential conflict.
When the healthcare group owns the local newspaper, it's a conflict on a much greater scale.

[Uncle Rico]

Of course there are conflicts out of their longtime business relationships, but an actual ownership stake raises that to a different level.
An analogy of sorts:
When the big healthcare group in town is a major advertiser with the local newspaper, it creates a potential conflict.
When the healthcare group owns the local newspaper, it's a conflict on a much greater scale.

I miss ESPN having access to NFL films. 

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Fox owns a majority of the Big Ten Network.

ESPN owns almost all of the SEC Network.

I guess my point is no one is denying conflicts of interest because this is simply a model that has existed for a long time. I just don't understand why those conflicts are problematic.

[Pakuni]

Fox owns a majority of the Big Ten Network.

ESPN owns almost all of the SEC Network.

I guess my point is no one is denying conflicts of interest because this is simply a model that has existed for a long time. I just don't understand why those conflicts are problematic.

It's different because everyone recognizes that the Big 10, SEC and NFL networks exist entirely to promote those leagues, and no one involved pretends otherwise. Nobody tunes into the NFL Network expecting a harsh critique of Roger Goodell  or the SEC Network for an investigation into academic fraud at Tennessee.

ESPN, at least at some level, still practices journalism, and certainly opinion journalism. Are they going to be able to produce an E60 segment critical of Jerry Jones or offer harsh opinions of Goodell once the NFL becomes the boss? That's a fair question, IMO.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I guess I don't really view ESPN as a journalistic organization.

[WhiteTrash]

It's different because everyone recognizes that the Big 10, SEC and NFL networks exist entirely to promote those leagues, and no one involved pretends otherwise. Nobody tunes into the NFL Network expecting a harsh critique of Roger Goodell  or the SEC Network for an investigation into academic fraud at Tennessee.

ESPN, at least at some level, still practices journalism, and certainly opinion journalism. Are they going to be able to produce an E60 segment critical of Jerry Jones or offer harsh opinions of Goodell once the NFL becomes the boss? That's a fair question, IMO.

I guess fair. I haven't viewed ESPN as a journalistic outlet for a long time. That's just me.

I'm okay with what ESPN does (or doesn't do). Sports is entertainment, no different than TV or movies. Not sure it needs journalistic standards.

[Pakuni]

Former ESPN sportscaster was nearly doomed.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/former-espn-sportscaster-ejected-rv-crash-busy-southern-106456121

[MU82]

From The Athletic:

The first “Game of Thrones” season cost HBO about $55 million to produce. Soon, ESPN could essentially be paying twice that for just a Utah vs. Ole Miss quarterfinal alone. Yesterday, The Athletic broke the news of the network’s anticipated $7.8 billion, six-year pact to broadcast six years of the 12-team College Football Playoff.

For $1.3 billion, the average price of just one tournament, you might be able to buy the Pittsburgh Pirates. (Same number of quality viewing hours per year, usually.)

How much of that $7.8 billion will be paid to players? Well, you see, the thing is … local car dealers are now allowed to pass the hat, so let’s call it even. Surely this labor setup will remain legal forever.

With various details still TBD (including the wrinkle that ESPN could choose to sublicense some of these games to other networks), we asked Andrew Marchand, who helped our college football crew report the story, one Q.

Biggest takeaway, and what don’t we know?

Marchand: ESPN will have control of college sports championships outside of the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament (CBS). Let’s be clear: The idea in recent years that ESPN is diminished also takes a blow with this pending agreement.

[dgies9156]

I guess I don't really view ESPN as a journalistic organization.

Nor do I.

It's a far cry from the days when Curt Gowdy would introduce the baseball Game of the Week as "NBC Sports, a Service of NBC News, presents...."

ESPN has certain elements that mimic journalism and, at times, actually practices Journalism. But there is a huge conflict when ESPN News attempts to cover institutions and organizations that are part of ESPN Entertainment. Look at the way the Big East has been treated by ESPN since our conference left ESPN for Fox. It's like we don't exist, except when we play ESPN teams on ESPN Networks.

[Uncle Rico]

Nor do I.

It's a far cry from the days when Curt Gowdy would introduce the baseball Game of the Week as "NBC Sports, a Service of NBC News, presents...."

ESPN has certain elements that mimic journalism and, at times, actually practices Journalism. But there is a huge conflict when ESPN News attempts to cover institutions and organizations that are part of ESPN Entertainment. Look at the way the Big East has been treated by ESPN since our conference left ESPN for Fox. It's like we don't exist, except when we play ESPN teams on ESPN Networks.

How does Fox Sports cover the Big East?  Are they critical?  How would they cover it if there were a scandal at a school?

Gus Johnson said when Penn State won the Big Ten title game in 2016, what a healing moment it was for them to overcome everything. 

[jesmu84]

ESPN and college football playoff agree to 6 year, $7 BILLION deal

[warriorfred]

Only care about streaming/television rights for the Big East.

[dgies9156]

How does Fox Sports cover the Big East?  Are they critical?  How would they cover it if there were a scandal at a school?

They don't and not really.

When we had our scandal during the Hillbilly regime, the only media outlet that I saw cover it was the Chicago Tribune. The Urinal may have covered it, but the Tribune was out front with it.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

They don't and not really.

When we had our scandal during the Hillbilly regime, the only media outlet that I saw cover it was the Chicago Tribune. The Urinal may have covered it, but the Tribune was out front with it.

Fox Sports didn’t hold the BE rights then and FS1 didn’t even exist at the time.

[Not A Serious Person]

CNBC released this documentary about ESPN last week.

Well done and worth a watch

-----

Disney’s Fight To Save ESPN From Cord Cutters | CNBC Documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0sTwRs8A_w

For more than 40 years, ESPN has reigned supreme as the king of sports media. Growing its business by consistently raising the price of its fee to cable TV providers, ESPN now generates more than $16 billion in annual revenue.

But the business of media is changing rapidly. In the past decade, about 40 million U.S. households have cut the cord on traditional cable TV. ESPN must adjust to find customers that aren’t subscribing to the cable bundle as new competitors including YouTube TV, Apple, Amazon, Peacock and perhaps Netflix bid on packages of live sports.

This CNBC documentary examines ESPN’s strategy to fend off larger streamers and questions its sustainability in a digital-first world.

Chapters:
00:00 – 02:25 Intro
02:26 – 08:59 ESPN’s streaming plan
09:00 – 16:14 Rising cost of sports
16:15 – 20:07 Mounting competition
20:08 – 24:20 ESPN’s future

[MU82]

I saw a preview of the documentary, Douchey, and agree it sounds interesting. I'll give it a look.

They probably didn't mention that Disney stock has experienced 42.5% total return since Sept. 8, the day you implied that only a moron would buy DIS.

For comparison's sake, SPY is up 18.3% since then. Oh, and the stock of Elon Musk's publicly traded company is down a mere 31.3%.

Cheers!

[Not A Serious Person]

I saw a preview of the documentary, Douchey, and agree it sounds interesting. I'll give it a look.

They probably didn't mention that Disney stock has experienced 42.5% total return since Sept. 8, the day you implied that only a moron would buy DIS.

For comparison's sake, SPY is up 18.3% since then. Oh, and the stock of Elon Musk's publicly traded company is down a mere 31.3%.

Cheers!

I've been crapping on DIS here since 2015. And back in September it had underperformed SPY going back to the early 1990s.

And the catalyst for the rally since September was the reports it was going to sell ESPN to the sports leagues (NFL, NBA and MLB).

Are you advising staying long DIS because they are going to finally unburden themself of ESPN?

[Uncle Rico]

I saw a preview of the documentary, Douchey, and agree it sounds interesting. I'll give it a look.

They probably didn't mention that Disney stock has experienced 42.5% total return since Sept. 8, the day you implied that only a moron would buy DIS.

For comparison's sake, SPY is up 18.3% since then. Oh, and the stock of Elon Musk's publicly traded company is down a mere 31.3%.

Cheers!

Good to see Elon Musk publicly traded company have issues.  Anti-semites have no place in society