BPI

[mu03eng]

I think ESPN is going to be in for a rude awakening one of these days.  Someone will launch a competitor and right now there are definitely cracks in the armor:
-NFL hosed them on the tv rights deal for Monday night as well as killing PrimeTime.  There is some weakness someone like NBC could exploit.
-If you add up the shadiness in the following stories:  Penn State, Syracuse, Ryan Braun, and Mike Leach/Craig James.....there is some serious judgement issues on display.
-They've become a screaming head network who are much more interested in ridiculous story angles then they are about reporting sports news.

I don't think they will go down in flames, but I definitely now is the time for a competitor to strike and see if they can't get a chuck by presenting an alternative to the bloated empire that is ESPN.

[Skatastrophy]

I think ESPN is going to be in for a rude awakening one of these days.  Someone will launch a competitor and right now there are definitely cracks in the armor:
-NFL hosed them on the tv rights deal for Monday night as well as killing PrimeTime.  There is some weakness someone like NBC could exploit.
-If you add up the shadiness in the following stories:  Penn State, Syracuse, Ryan Braun, and Mike Leach/Craig James.....there is some serious judgement issues on display.
-They've become a screaming head network who are much more interested in ridiculous story angles then they are about reporting sports news.

I don't think they will go down in flames, but I definitely now is the time for a competitor to strike and see if they can't get a chuck by presenting an alternative to the bloated empire that is ESPN.

Especially since ESPN is the most expensive network, by far, for cable companies to carry.  I would think that cable companies would welcome a little competition.  The one thing that would be tough to compete on is live sports.  Disney/ESPN spend asstons of money to lock down a lot of games.  Nobody doesn't want ESPN in their cable package.

[frozena pizza]

For those that haven't seen it, Newsweek recently had an interesting article on the ESPN empire.  Reprinted here:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/15/espn-is-bigger-than-ever-and-that-might-not-be-a-good-thing.html

As much as I find them an annoying ego-driven hype machine, I admit to watching a lot of ESPN.  Hard for me to hate them as they've done wonders for college basketball and have played a major role in making Marquette University a nationally recognized brand.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I think ESPN is going to be in for a rude awakening one of these days.  Someone will launch a competitor and right now there are definitely cracks in the armor:
-NFL hosed them on the tv rights deal for Monday night as well as killing PrimeTime.  There is some weakness someone like NBC could exploit.
-If you add up the shadiness in the following stories:  Penn State, Syracuse, Ryan Braun, and Mike Leach/Craig James.....there is some serious judgement issues on display.
-They've become a screaming head network who are much more interested in ridiculous story angles then they are about reporting sports news.

I don't think they will go down in flames, but I definitely now is the time for a competitor to strike and see if they can't get a chuck by presenting an alternative to the bloated empire that is ESPN.

I agree, but the problem is content. Remember when ESPN used to carry women's billiards weekday afternoons? Or trick shot pool? or bowling?

Now the day is filled with "sports news" programs and opinions from EVERYBODY. Why do I care about Tim Hasselback's opinions in Feb? I don't. He shouldn't be on TV at this time of year.

Apparently, those type of programs get better ratings than billiards, so ESPN does a TON of them.

If you start another network, are you going to cover women's billiards again? Are you going to have skip bayless on 6 hours a day?

This is the same problem facing the "news" networks. They are fantastic when there is a real global story (9/11, kim jong ill, Gaddafi, etc.)
(Like ESPN during the Big East tournament)

They are awful when news is slow. It becomes less about news coverage and more about "creating content" to fill 24 hrs of programing.

[Hoopaloop]

I agree, but the problem is content. Remember when ESPN used to carry women's billiards weekday afternoons? Or trick shot pool? or bowling?

Now the day is filled with "sports news" programs and opinions from EVERYBODY. Why do I care about Tim Hasselback's opinions in Feb? I don't. He shouldn't be on TV at this time of year.

Apparently, those type of programs get better ratings than billiards, so ESPN does a TON of them.

If you start another network, are you going to cover women's billiards again? Are you going to have skip bayless on 6 hours a day?

This is the same problem facing the "news" networks. They are fantastic when there is a real global story (9/11, kim jong ill, Gaddafi, etc.)
(Like ESPN during the Big East tournament)

They are awful when news is slow. It becomes less about news coverage and more about "creating content" to fill 24 hrs of programing.

This is where I miss Chicos opinions because of his sports and television background.  My sense is you are dead on right.  ESPN is not in for any rude awakening as mu03eng suggests because no one can match the content they control.  It's all about the content and NBC, CBS, FOX Sports are so far behind in terms programming multiple channels 24 hours a day that ESPN is going to remain the king.