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The Rise and Fall of ESPN (1 Viewer)

They were vastly overpaying for broadcast fees like 10-15 years ago. Those contracts were just massive. Then it was followed by layoff after layoff. And now (let's keep it non-political) the stuff going on with Disney & DeSantis.

Still a shocking announcement, but paying attention to the company over the last decade or so, it's not entirely surprising.
 
They were vastly overpaying for broadcast fees like 10-15 years ago. Those contracts were just massive. Then it was followed by layoff after layoff. And now (let's keep it non-political) the stuff going on with Disney & DeSantis.

Still a shocking announcement, but paying attention to the company over the last decade or so, it's not entirely surprising.
Unless I didn't understand the article - I didn't read that it won't be on cable - just the main channels will now also be available to stream stand alone
 
They were vastly overpaying for broadcast fees like 10-15 years ago. Those contracts were just massive. Then it was followed by layoff after layoff. And now (let's keep it non-political) the stuff going on with Disney & DeSantis.

Still a shocking announcement, but paying attention to the company over the last decade or so, it's not entirely surprising.
Unless I didn't understand the article - I didn't read that it won't be on cable - just the main channels will now also be available to stream stand alone
Nothing formal, but it seems like this is the plan. To take it off cable, and go streaming only.

They have all the live sports! People pay for streaming services with no live content, and ESPN has sports. It’ll be an easy sell.
 
They were vastly overpaying for broadcast fees like 10-15 years ago. Those contracts were just massive. Then it was followed by layoff after layoff. And now (let's keep it non-political) the stuff going on with Disney & DeSantis.

Still a shocking announcement, but paying attention to the company over the last decade or so, it's not entirely surprising.
Unless I didn't understand the article - I didn't read that it won't be on cable - just the main channels will now also be available to stream stand alone
Nothing formal, but it seems like this is the plan. To take it off cable, and go streaming only.

They have all the live sports! People pay for streaming services with no live content, and ESPN has sports. It’ll be an easy sell.
From the article: The WSJ reports that ESPN has already begun “securing flexibility” in its deals with cable providers to be able to offer the channel as a DTC option.
 
They were vastly overpaying for broadcast fees like 10-15 years ago. Those contracts were just massive. Then it was followed by layoff after layoff. And now (let's keep it non-political) the stuff going on with Disney & DeSantis.

Still a shocking announcement, but paying attention to the company over the last decade or so, it's not entirely surprising.
Unless I didn't understand the article - I didn't read that it won't be on cable - just the main channels will now also be available to stream stand alone
Nothing formal, but it seems like this is the plan. To take it off cable, and go streaming only.

They have all the live sports! People pay for streaming services with no live content, and ESPN has sports. It’ll be an easy sell.
From the article: The WSJ reports that ESPN has already begun “securing flexibility” in its deals with cable providers to be able to offer the channel as a DTC option.
You are right.

Inevitably, they will have streaming only exclusives, why wouldn’t they?
 
They were vastly overpaying for broadcast fees like 10-15 years ago. Those contracts were just massive. Then it was followed by layoff after layoff. And now (let's keep it non-political) the stuff going on with Disney & DeSantis.

Still a shocking announcement, but paying attention to the company over the last decade or so, it's not entirely surprising.
Unless I didn't understand the article - I didn't read that it won't be on cable - just the main channels will now also be available to stream stand alone
Nothing formal, but it seems like this is the plan. To take it off cable, and go streaming only.

They have all the live sports! People pay for streaming services with no live content, and ESPN has sports. It’ll be an easy sell.
From the article: The WSJ reports that ESPN has already begun “securing flexibility” in its deals with cable providers to be able to offer the channel as a DTC option.
You are right.

Inevitably, they will have streaming only exclusives, why wouldn’t they?
Well they have that now with ESPN Plus but I'm sure they're going to have some more stuff that streaming only
 
Cable won’t exist in a decade

Cable as in the thing you need a coaxial plug for or the thing where most channels still have to be bought as part of some big package? Because Sling and YTTV were nice at first but their prices are creeping up and up and it's looking like it's just the same thing all over again, and the "a la carte" stuff is still way too expensive to build a reasonable package out of.

I do hope you're right though.
 
Cable won’t exist in a decade

Cable as in the thing you need a coaxial plug for or the thing where most channels still have to be bought as part of some big package? Because Sling and YTTV were nice at first but their prices are creeping up and up and it's looking like it's just the same thing all over again, and the "a la carte" stuff is still way too expensive to build a reasonable package out of.

I do hope you're right though.
That. That won’t exist in a decade. Channels you can browse will all be those FAST type of services like Pluto. Sports leagues will distribute their content directly (tennis channel, nba league pass) or in partnership with a specific provider (mls). RSNs are done. It’s over.
 
Because Sling and YTTV were nice at first but their prices are creeping up and up and it's looking like it's just the same thing all over again, and the "a la carte" stuff is still way too expensive to build a reasonable package out of
I've no idea how it shakes out, but I would bet against the current model being a long term solution, for all the reasons you said and more.

I'm very comfortable cycling through add ons, never have more than one aside from YTTV.
 
Went to ESPN.com to check in on how the Lakers-Denver game is going. Clicking on the game, the first video was a long clip of Stephen A yelling about the Lakers to the face of Perkins. Second video was Windhorst talking about Carmelo Anthony's all time ranking. Who the heck cares about either of these things? Click on a highlight, get served a 1 minute ad.

This is just an abysmally run business. They fundamentally misunderstand what the fans want to see. Old school Sportscenter ran circles around this crap.
 
Went to ESPN.com to check in on how the Lakers-Denver game is going. Clicking on the game, the first video was a long clip of Stephen A yelling about the Lakers to the face of Perkins. Second video was Windhorst talking about Carmelo Anthony's all time ranking. Who the heck cares about either of these things? Click on a highlight, get served a 1 minute ad.

This is just an abysmally run business. They fundamentally misunderstand what the fans want to see. Old school Sportscenter ran circles around this crap.

To be fair, this is exactly what they're trying to change with this recent announcement, right? Currently ESPN+ and ESPN.com intentionally don't offer easy access to the games because they want you to have to watch it on actual ESPN through your cable provider. Making it easy to just go to espn.com or open up the ESPN app to watch the game is what they're going to change with this announcement, eventually.
 
Went to ESPN.com to check in on how the Lakers-Denver game is going. Clicking on the game, the first video was a long clip of Stephen A yelling about the Lakers to the face of Perkins. Second video was Windhorst talking about Carmelo Anthony's all time ranking. Who the heck cares about either of these things? Click on a highlight, get served a 1 minute ad.

This is just an abysmally run business. They fundamentally misunderstand what the fans want to see. Old school Sportscenter ran circles around this crap.

To be fair, this is exactly what they're trying to change with this recent announcement, right? Currently ESPN+ and ESPN.com intentionally don't offer easy access to the games because they want you to have to watch it on actual ESPN through your cable provider. Making it easy to just go to espn.com or open up the ESPN app to watch the game is what they're going to change with this announcement, eventually.
Yes. Just speaking to their terrible content around the sports themself. Always seems pretty seamless to launch La Liga games from their app, but most other stuff seems a pain.
 
I guess we can let it slide this one time. If it happens again it’s going on your permanent record

Cool. My somewhat anonymous permanent record is going to hose me when we're ruled by AI. Please heed my cries for help when it comes down to it.

Oh yeah, back to ESPN. Streaming, they say? Sounds like the way television is moving. Million different scrips for a million different niches. Gonna be tough to afford it all.
 
I guess we can let it slide this one time. If it happens again it’s going on your permanent record

Cool. My somewhat anonymous permanent record is going to hose me when we're ruled by AI. Please heed my cries for help when it comes down to it.

Oh yeah, back to ESPN. Streaming, they say? Sounds like the way television is moving. Million different scrips for a million different niches. Gonna be tough to afford it all.
You know I got you

And yeah, my wife and I have been researching getting rid of cable but can’t really figure out a way to stream what we want to watch and save money
 
You know I got you

And yeah, my wife and I have been researching getting rid of cable but can’t really figure out a way to stream what we want to watch and save money
I keep trying to talk my wife in to Youtube TV but she just can't let go of cable. She's afraid she'll lose her "shows" that she DVRs on a regular basis. Even after I showed her that the channels she watches are part of the basic Youtube TV package. I won't give up. Even if I wanted to, I gather my resolve every time the cable bill comes in.
 
You know I got you

And yeah, my wife and I have been researching getting rid of cable but can’t really figure out a way to stream what we want to watch and save money
I keep trying to talk my wife in to Youtube TV but she just can't let go of cable. She's afraid she'll lose her "shows" that she DVRs on a regular basis. Even after I showed her that the channels she watches are part of the basic Youtube TV package. I won't give up. Even if I wanted to, I gather my resolve every time the cable bill comes in.
I don’t save a whole lot with YouTubeTV, but I do love being able to customize the guide/saved shows for each member of my family.
 
You know I got you

And yeah, my wife and I have been researching getting rid of cable but can’t really figure out a way to stream what we want to watch and save money
I keep trying to talk my wife in to Youtube TV but she just can't let go of cable. She's afraid she'll lose her "shows" that she DVRs on a regular basis. Even after I showed her that the channels she watches are part of the basic Youtube TV package. I won't give up. Even if I wanted to, I gather my resolve every time the cable bill comes in.
I think they pretty much have it all and personally, I love the flexibility of cancelling whenever and watching wherever. What shows are not part of youtubetv?
 
You know I got you

And yeah, my wife and I have been researching getting rid of cable but can’t really figure out a way to stream what we want to watch and save money
I keep trying to talk my wife in to Youtube TV but she just can't let go of cable. She's afraid she'll lose her "shows" that she DVRs on a regular basis. Even after I showed her that the channels she watches are part of the basic Youtube TV package. I won't give up. Even if I wanted to, I gather my resolve every time the cable bill comes in.
Dvr? What is it 2002?
 
You know I got you

And yeah, my wife and I have been researching getting rid of cable but can’t really figure out a way to stream what we want to watch and save money
I keep trying to talk my wife in to Youtube TV but she just can't let go of cable. She's afraid she'll lose her "shows" that she DVRs on a regular basis. Even after I showed her that the channels she watches are part of the basic Youtube TV package. I won't give up. Even if I wanted to, I gather my resolve every time the cable bill comes in.
Dvr? What is it 2002?
No dvr for you? Mine is always full of stuff I watch
 
You know I got you

And yeah, my wife and I have been researching getting rid of cable but can’t really figure out a way to stream what we want to watch and save money
I keep trying to talk my wife in to Youtube TV but she just can't let go of cable. She's afraid she'll lose her "shows" that she DVRs on a regular basis. Even after I showed her that the channels she watches are part of the basic Youtube TV package. I won't give up. Even if I wanted to, I gather my resolve every time the cable bill comes in.
Dvr? What is it 2002?
No dvr for you? Mine is always full of stuff I watch
I don't think I've even seen a DVR in a decade. I can't imagine a situation outside of live sports I'd ever record anything.
 
I guess we can let it slide this one time. If it happens again it’s going on your permanent record

Cool. My somewhat anonymous permanent record is going to hose me when we're ruled by AI. Please heed my cries for help when it comes down to it.

Oh yeah, back to ESPN. Streaming, they say? Sounds like the way television is moving. Million different scrips for a million different niches. Gonna be tough to afford it all.
You know I got you

And yeah, my wife and I have been researching getting rid of cable but can’t really figure out a way to stream what we want to watch and save money
we've tried a few times

in the end cobbling together the various services you "need" to watch tv wind up being as expensive or more and you have to toggle between apps to watch various programs. just too much of a pain in the *** to deal with in the end.

we have bare bones cable and netflix now. that's more than enough. i know people want to pimp Hulu and Paramount and HBO Max, etc., etc. they're just "cable" in different clothes.
 
You know I got you

And yeah, my wife and I have been researching getting rid of cable but can’t really figure out a way to stream what we want to watch and save money
I keep trying to talk my wife in to Youtube TV but she just can't let go of cable. She's afraid she'll lose her "shows" that she DVRs on a regular basis. Even after I showed her that the channels she watches are part of the basic Youtube TV package. I won't give up. Even if I wanted to, I gather my resolve every time the cable bill comes in.
Dvr? What is it 2002?
No dvr for you? Mine is always full of stuff I watch
I don't think I've even seen a DVR in a decade. I can't imagine a situation outside of live sports I'd ever record anything.
We have cable. You either DVR, or you sit through what, about 28 minutes of commercials nowadays for a 60 minute show? Sorry, but that is never going to happen. We can (sarcasm aside) watch 60 minute shows in right around 40 minutes. That means that's 1/3rd of my TV time not spent watching commercials. Seems like a solid no brainer. Also, you wouldn't "see" our DVR. It's built in to the set top box. I have to believe that's pretty standard?
 
You know I got you

And yeah, my wife and I have been researching getting rid of cable but can’t really figure out a way to stream what we want to watch and save money
I keep trying to talk my wife in to Youtube TV but she just can't let go of cable. She's afraid she'll lose her "shows" that she DVRs on a regular basis. Even after I showed her that the channels she watches are part of the basic Youtube TV package. I won't give up. Even if I wanted to, I gather my resolve every time the cable bill comes in.
Dvr? What is it 2002?
No dvr for you? Mine is always full of stuff I watch
I don't think I've even seen a DVR in a decade. I can't imagine a situation outside of live sports I'd ever record anything.
We have cable. You either DVR, or you sit through what, about 28 minutes of commercials nowadays for a 60 minute show? Sorry, but that is never going to happen. We can (sarcasm aside) watch 60 minute shows in right around 40 minutes. That means that's 1/3rd of my TV time not spent watching commercials. Seems like a solid no brainer. Also, you wouldn't "see" our DVR. It's built in to the set top box. I have to believe that's pretty standard?

I mean I guess there are people that have cable and do this still ,but feel like this is an endangered species. Seems a lifetime ago when this was something I would consider.
 
You know I got you

And yeah, my wife and I have been researching getting rid of cable but can’t really figure out a way to stream what we want to watch and save money
I keep trying to talk my wife in to Youtube TV but she just can't let go of cable. She's afraid she'll lose her "shows" that she DVRs on a regular basis. Even after I showed her that the channels she watches are part of the basic Youtube TV package. I won't give up. Even if I wanted to, I gather my resolve every time the cable bill comes in.
Dvr? What is it 2002?
No dvr for you? Mine is always full of stuff I watch
I don't think I've even seen a DVR in a decade. I can't imagine a situation outside of live sports I'd ever record anything.
We have cable. You either DVR, or you sit through what, about 28 minutes of commercials nowadays for a 60 minute show? Sorry, but that is never going to happen. We can (sarcasm aside) watch 60 minute shows in right around 40 minutes. That means that's 1/3rd of my TV time not spent watching commercials. Seems like a solid no brainer. Also, you wouldn't "see" our DVR. It's built in to the set top box. I have to believe that's pretty standard?

I mean I guess there are people that have cable and do this still ,but feel like this is an endangered species. Seems a lifetime ago when this was something I would consider.
I still have one only because I have The Bucs' 2020 championship run saved on it.
 
Obviously salary has something to do with some of the choices, but keeping someone like Seth Greenburg over a Laphonso Ellis for college hoops is insane.
 
Obviously salary has something to do with some of the choices
I think it could also just be demographics. Bring in younger viewers with names that they are excited about. If you are 25, who cares about Steve Young or Keyshawn? Now, it would not matter if they were talented TV personalities, but they're not.

McShay thing shocks me. But I never thought he should have been there in the first place.
 
Obviously salary has something to do with some of the choices, but keeping someone like Seth Greenburg over a Laphonso Ellis for college hoops is insane.
It sounds like some folks have contracts that are up soon anyway and just aren’t being renewed vs being fired today. Someone like Vince Carter had a contract up in Sept and they apparently aren’t renewing. So it’s probably much more than 20.
 

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