Deflategate karma continues.....ESPN is losing subscribers, costing them a quarter billion dollars

The Brandon Five said:

That's standard outsourcing practice. Even if those new workers are trained well, they will be gone in six months at which point Disney is f-ed. Dumb management FTW!

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Exactly. Not to turn this into a political thread but at my last place we trained a number of contractors that Comcast outsourced work to. They had constant turnover (the contractors would leave is someone offered them a dollar more) and after 6 months they wanted to more training. My contacts at Comcast were so frustrated but nobody had the juice to actually fix anything.

Boards of Directors in their infinite wisdom (sic) LOVE outsourcing. When I ran R&D the CEO et. al. were on my ass constantly to outsource. I got around it when I could not find software engineers who wanted to do maintenance work, everyone in the Boston area wanted to do product development ( I don't fault them). So I outsourced maintenance on the old stuff. It actually worked out OK. I'm sure the pressure is even stronger this decade.

I own a home in Worcester County, Mass., but stay in my Boston apartment most of the time. I also travel a fair bit for work. I hooked up a Slingbox at my home, and in Boston only have Internet. I also bought a Roku box for about $99 and watch my full cable lineup without paying a cent more for another account (Charter is in Worcester, Comcast in Boston). Plus I have full access on the road as well, including my DVR cable box back in Worcester County. You pay no subscription fees for either Roku or Slingbox, just the purchase of the devices themselves. It works great, even when I'm out of the country. I watched the infamous Thanksgiving Butt Fumble game from my London hotel room back in 2012 (although it aired early in the morning UK time; but I am so glad I did). There are many <legal> ways around having to pay muliply for cable or satellite services, or not having access to your local market when traveling thanks to devices such as Slingbox and Roku.

Analysts believe that in order for ESPN to continue its current revenue stream, the streaming subscription monthly cost would need to be $30, or five times the $6 the sports network is currently charging.

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This will be interesting to watch. Wonder if BSPN will be able to keep their 1.9 Billion a year commitment with the NFL. Who would not pay $30 bucks a month to stream BSPN just for MNF?

If cable companies offer a la cart choices does this end the relationship between the NFL and BSPN? Does the NFL keep MNF away from basic cable subscribers or will it be in the NFL's best interest to give MNF back to a basic subscription channel such as ABC/CBS/NBC ? Interesting stuff.

I seldom, if ever watch, ESPN, certainly not my demographic..

If those mediots lose their jobs, they will find another market that likes all that "short attention theater method" of sports reporting..

As John Lennon said.. we will all shine on..

Instant Karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
You better get yourself together
Pretty soon you're gonna be dead

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We can all only hope the days of ESPN at the trough are rapidly coming to an end.

Like I have said before, the time is ripe for the emergence of a real sports network to appear, one that cover sports objectively....just a sports network.

I only watch ESPN when my college team is on. While I still feel disgusted with myself, it makes me feel better that the announcers and hosts don't involve themselves in pro topics, so i have no hate for them.

I think I've not had ESPN and directv for 3 years now. During that time, my sex drive is up and I've had 2 kids. Is that a coincidence? I think not.

Hmm... I really need to stop at 2. Which is cheaper, ESPN or vasectomy?

nabwong said:

I think I've not had ESPN and directv for 3 years now. During that time, my sex drive is up and I've had 2 kids. Is that a coincidence? I think not.

Hmm... I really need to stop at 2. Which is cheaper, ESPN or vasectomy?

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In order of cheapness : 1) Vasectomy, 2) ESPN, 3) 2 Kids.

Vasectomies hurt less than watching ESPN too.

speaking of espn, the 11pm sportscenter hosted by scott van pelt is so horrible. nobody gives a **** about the anchors, just run the highlights. only exception is chris berman. lol
if only espn had legit competition...fox sports 1 sucks balls.

Patsfanin Philly said:

Now I just have to figure out where to watch those 6 or 7 games a ear not on local TV.....

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Costly but bulletproof option: VPN (so you can come in with a foreign IP address) + International Gamepass. Gonna run you $200+ if you select only the team option. You can cut costs by finding a VPN with a turkish IP.

Less costly option: Have a kid in college get a Sunday Ticket streaming-only account since apparently college kids can do that this year.

Cheapest option: VIPbox or other freebie streaming services.

Buchanty said:

Mortensen is, nevertheless, a victim of the above, though he lacks the intelligence to see it. He doubtlessly believes he is upholding his honor by protecting his source(s) and acceding to his employers' directives. However there is little to no honor in protecting corruption, or obeying those that deceive. The less seen and heard from him the better.

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I have no problem with Mortensen protecting his sources. My problem is that he still refuses to acknowledge that he was lied to and that he took so long to correct the lies in his story even after it was proven false. That he didn't know how to delete a tweet is a lie - even if he didn't know (doubtful), he could have asked.

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

"Nevertheless, Disney Chairman Bob Iger is also talking about offering ESPN a la carte, as a live steaming channel.
And here’s where the scope and breadth of the bundled cable con really hits home.
Analysts believe that in order for ESPN to continue its current revenue stream, the streaming subscription monthly cost would need to be $30, or five times the $6 the sports network is currently charging."

LOL! It will be a cold day in hell before a give ESPN a single penny for that sh*tshow of a network.

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Isn't ESPN playing with "free" subscriber money? I believe they get theirs regardless if one watches their channel(s) or not. This might be likened to the taxpayer who pays for that new stadium, regardless if they are sports-minded or not. Perhaps, people should stop going along with this; call them out for cheating?

My problem with Mort is that instead of taking responsibility for his actions and the actions of his source, he starts playing the blame game and pretending to be the victim. He's convinced that the story wouldn't have blown up had Brady given up his phone or whatever the crap it was he was rambling on about. This was a non-story until his BS report came out. He should've owned up to it and re-reported the story in the light of the new details or so-called evidence seen in the Wells Report.

Mortensen was more concerned about getting a raise and ratings for his bosses at ESPN. He didn't give rat's tail about integrity, ethics, real journalism, Tom Brady or the Patriots. For that, he should be fired and take the rest of those bitter has-beens on the network and that goofy looking Jay Crawford with him. The network died with Stuart Scott -- I actually liked him.

You reap what you sow.....

I'll be dumping my sports package from Directv next week after the Red Sox season is over. Won't need any sports programming again until next Spring. Pats MNF playing on Channel 5?

fnordcircle said:

Less costly option: Have a kid in college get a Sunday Ticket streaming-only account since apparently college kids can do that this year.

.

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I don't remember perks like that when I was in college......
I would go up on the roof with rabbit ears and aim them towards Buffalo or Syracuse or downstate depending what game was on.......

Patsfanin Philly said:

I don't remember perks like that when I was in college......
I would go up on the roof with rabbit ears and aim them towards Buffalo or Syracuse or downstate depending what game was on.......

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You also probably didn't have a $100k tuition loan. Trust me, no reason to envy kids these days.

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

Cable TV is a lumbering dinosaur like printed newspapers. This crappy "yellow journalism" is their last desperate effort to stay relevant.

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Yup, you're right! TV/Internet service providers up here in Canada have been countering that by raising Internet rates again and again and again. It's gotten really bad up here. Unfortunately they have a Duopoly up here.

Wheelman said:

Yup, you're right! TV/Internet service providers up here in Canada have been countering that by raising Internet rates again and again and again. It's gotten really bad up here. Unfortunately they have a Duopoly up here.

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That's the real problem. Too few choices for internet providers. In central MA you get to choose between Verizon or Charter (and they both are overpriced and suck).