ESPN Is In Free-Fall

[Benny B]

So do any of you see the day where all live sports will be pay per view. By that I mean if you want to watch a game on any particular day you pay....and of course you will still be exposed to all the adds.

No.  Look at what PPV did to the popularity of boxing.  I remember watching boxing on basic cable back in the day.  Even when fights were moved to HBO, there was still a decent following.  But as soon as everything was moved to PPV, things went downhill.

None of the other sports - given current payrolls - could ever survive a drop to PPV.  What effect on NFL ratings decline has to do with the fact that TNF and MNF are no longer on basic cable.  Could the popularity of the NFL relative to MLB, NBA and NHL have something to do with the fact that the latter have virtually no games available outside a cable subscription while most NFL games are still OTA?

[Pakuni]

So do any of you see the day where all live sports will be pay per view. By that I mean if you want to watch a game on any particular day you pay....and of course you will still be exposed to all the adds.

The White Sox tried this in the early 80s with a subscription-based service called SportsVision, in which fans who wanted to see their games had to buy a box to descramble a signal
It was a disaster, and played a big role in balance of fandom in this city tilting so heavily toward the Cubs (along with WGN becoming a superstation and Harry Caray heading to the North Side). Up until then, the Sox regularly outdrew the Cubs.

[Tugg Speedman]

The White Sox tried this in the early 80s with a subscription-based service called SportsVision, in which fans who wanted to see their games had to buy a box to descramble a signal
It was a disaster, and played a big role in balance of fandom in this city tilting so heavily toward the Cubs (along with WGN becoming a superstation and Harry Caray heading to the North Side). Up until then, the Sox regularly outdrew the Cubs.

Exactly correct

Prior to 1984 the city was probably skewed toward the Soxs (Cubs manager Lee Elia famous rant that "85% of the city works for a living, the other 15% come out here and boo" was May 1983).  In the 1950s and 1960s the Soxs were dominate over the Cubs, the opposite of now.

Post 1984 it has been all Cubs and growing.

Listed above are all the reasons.  I would also add the conceptual idea that the early 1980s was rise of the urban Yuppie as their chose of places to live was the north-side of Chicago.

[MU82]

DIS up 3% today after upbeat guidance in yesterday's earnings call. Approaching $100 again.

Still haven't bought.