OT- ESPN had worst month ever losing 621,000 subscribers

[PScottman]

I'm a capitalist. I hate corporate welfare too. These are not mutually exclusive things, in fact, they are connected as mandated "winners & losers" is not capitalism as many likely believe. ESPN, CNN, Fox, all of them now do not stand upon their content to entice the audience to their programming. The boards of directors think themselves clever by half in the intricate web of bundles, subsidies, tie-ins, exclusive transport rights and other government and colluding partner supported largesse to ensure a steady stream of cash regardless of audience size.

Luckily, ordinary people, by and large, are also not stupid (okay, Goodell notwithstanding...). If there's a way around this collection of pigs at the trough, we will often explore it. My fear however is that new laws will be passed - once again weaving industry and our ability to seek relief from being forced to pay for it attaching these suckling giants to OTA, streaming, and other solutions currently being used to circumvent their model. Likely a big reason why new internet fairness laws are being pushed in fact to ensure that use of the net can be likewise exploited monetarily as the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum.

So while heartened by this massive rejection of the current ESPN delivery model; I am not as hopeful it won't morph into something equally, or perhaps even more, disgusting in the future.

 

[DarrylS]

"Poor Mort".. what goes around, comes around.

Payback is a bytch..

Wonder what would happen if we could pick the channels that we want, rather than them determining what channels they think we need???.. Paternalistic TV broadcast system..

 

[fourhour]

Just remembered, I can drop NESN now that the Red Sox are done and cut ESPN with the same action!

 

[RobertWeathers]

Just remembered, I can drop NESN now that the Red Sox are done and cut ESPN with the same action!

No Bruins?

 

[OhExaulted1]

This very bad for us. Nothing will change the #'s like a good ol' manufactured Patriot scandal. Just what Goodell needs right now as well to sweep the Josh Brown story under the rug.

 

[1960Pats]

I'm a capitalist. I hate corporate welfare too. These are not mutually exclusive things, in fact, they are connected as mandated "winners & losers" is not capitalism as many likely believe. ESPN, CNN, Fox, all of them now do not stand upon their content to entice the audience to their programming. The boards of directors think themselves clever by half in the intricate web of bundles, subsidies, tie-ins, exclusive transport rights and other government and colluding partner supported largesse to ensure a steady stream of cash regardless of audience size.

Luckily, ordinary people, by and large, are also not stupid (okay, Goodell notwithstanding...). If there's a way around this collection of pigs at the trough, we will often explore it. My fear however is that new laws will be passed - once again weaving industry and our ability to seek relief from being forced to pay for it attaching these suckling giants to OTA, streaming, and other solutions currently being used to circumvent their model. Likely a big reason why new internet fairness laws are being pushed in fact to ensure that use of the net can be likewise exploited monetarily as the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum.

So while heartened by this massive rejection of the current ESPN delivery model; I am not as hopeful it won't morph into something equally, or perhaps even more, disgusting in the future.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

I think you have to subscribe some of their losses to Kaepernick (and ESPN's 24/7 praise of him) and the networks entire leftist bent. How many times have they given Obama free air time? People go to ESPN to watch live sports, not to be lectured by some liberal idiot on how they should think.

Disney, there parent company, has been despicably firing Americans and forcing the fired Americans to train their cheaper, foreign replacements, not enough bad things can happen to Disney and ESPN as far as I am concerned.

Wait til the NBA broadcasts center around anthem protests (which has pretty much happened already) and watch those numbers tank. ESPN has to be careful because they lay out something like 7 BILLION a year in broadcast rights, so their margin for error is very slim.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

I guess people are not interested in a 60 minute discussion on what LBJ thinks about the world series or what some athelete wrote on twitter ................ESPN should stop being a 24 hr channel and just be a 1 hr sports highlight show/channel .

Seriously, they lost touch with their roots and what made them initially attractive, and now they simply worship at the altar of Joe Maddon.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

ESPN Formula: Take huge hostage subscriber numbers to pay for rights to broadcast extremely costly sporting leagues/events. Fill in non sporting event time slots with largely cheap to produce sports yammering. Spill over/trickle down viewer numbers generate substantial ad revenue/GP.

One can't necessarily castigate ESPN for seeing this as their rock solid ongoing path to growth in GP, however and IMHO, the "hostage" part of the equation caused a self destructive insulation in their decision making process. For a time it almost didn't matter what ESPN did. If their decisions/actions were poorly thought out?? So what, they had 5 then 6 then 7 bucks X every cable/sat subscriber to pay for what is now nearing the last 'must watch' TV: live sports and in particular live NFL games. The formula remained intact regardless. ESPN could put crap filler on, they could act without the pretense of fairness, they could alienate various pools of viewership, they could retain and reward the inner circle regardless of the inner circle's general viewership appeal (consider this: while Goodell's face repelled many of the viewership pool ESPN was actually filling in air time with 'look at what a cute kid Goodell was' program). Again little of it mattered because they had the virtually guaranteed formula of the live sports paid for by the hostage subscribers.

Far more than anything the subscriber drop is a money thing. One can get lots of content via the Internet and OTA at a significantly smaller cost than the real cost of a cable/sat package. Yet even with the biggest reason for dropping subscriptions being money, when one is a member of one of the viewership pools ESPN has purposefully alienated, that becomes 'one more nail in the coffin'/an added motivation to get rid of the cable or sat subscription. That certainly is the case with me. I do not want to watch (I don't) or support (I do as a subscriber hostage) ESPN. And when the landscape is right for my own situation I'll jettison my cable subscription. ESPN most definitely won't be the sole reason but it will be a distinct added motivation.

Unfortunately, a lot of what you just described sounds very much like what's going on in the NFL, and in our own team's ownership offices.

 

[Bill Lee]

And, losers: Accept that we "damaged the league", go along with "dabbling in ownership" Orthwein and keep dressing the players in embarrassing ugly insulting costumes with a fake logo, trumpet his first seven years here as something impressive or any better than anything that ever happened on the field in any previous decade here by lumping those seasons in with the Brady era, endorsing and supporting a maliciously incompetent stooge for Commissioner, a year later accepting the stooge's insane decision that the team broke rules and stooge's implementation of unprecedentedly extreme and inappropriate punishments, accepting and acknowledging the following April the fallacy that we "damaged the league" again, apologizing to his fellow owners instead of attacking them and putting them in their place, failing to see that worthy alumni are inducted into the team's HOF before they pass away, accepting another impossibly over-the-top way incongruous punishment for minor violations the team didn't even commit, to date not realizing or accepting any of his previous errors, other than the insane decision to "put" his "faith in the league"

LOL, another Orthwein reference!

ESPN Formula: Take huge hostage subscriber numbers to pay for rights to broadcast extremely costly sporting leagues/events. Fill in non sporting event time slots with largely cheap to produce sports yammering. Spill over/trickle down viewer numbers generate substantial ad revenue/GP.

One can't necessarily castigate ESPN for seeing this as their rock solid ongoing path to growth in GP, however and IMHO, the "hostage" part of the equation caused a self destructive insulation in their decision making process. For a time it almost didn't matter what ESPN did. If their decisions/actions were poorly thought out?? So what, they had 5 then 6 then 7 bucks X every cable/sat subscriber to pay for what is now nearing the last 'must watch' TV: live sports and in particular live NFL games. The formula remained intact regardless. ESPN could put crap filler on, they could act without the pretense of fairness, they could alienate various pools of viewership, they could retain and reward the inner circle regardless of the inner circle's general viewership appeal (consider this: while Goodell's face repelled many of the viewership pool ESPN was actually filling in air time with 'look at what a cute kid Goodell was' program). Again little of it mattered because they had the virtually guaranteed formula of the live sports paid for by the hostage subscribers.

Far more than anything the subscriber drop is a money thing. One can get lots of content via the Internet and OTA at a significantly smaller cost than the real cost of a cable/sat package. Yet even with the biggest reason for dropping subscriptions being money, when one is a member of one of the viewership pools ESPN has purposefully alienated, that becomes 'one more nail in the coffin'/an added motivation to get rid of the cable or sat subscription. That certainly is the case with me. I do not want to watch (I don't) or support (I do as a subscriber hostage) ESPN. And when the landscape is right for my own situation I'll jettison my cable subscription. ESPN most definitely won't be the sole reason but it will be a distinct added motivation.

They helped create Goodell, it was in their financial interest to prop him up.

That was made clear when they got rid of Bill Simmons for speaking the truth about Goodell.

And now they're going down, hopefully taking Goodell with them.

Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.

 

[Halifax_Pats_Fan]

No NHL, no watch....how can you not strike a deal with such an amazing sport...there are so many reasons not to watch this "sports network"...it's elitist...

 

[TinhWoodhead]

I am devastated! didn't know they still have that many subscribers..

 

[OhExaulted1]

I think you have to subscribe some of their losses to Kaepernick (and ESPN's 24/7 praise of him) and the networks entire leftist bent. How many times have they given Obama free air time? People go to ESPN to watch live sports, not to be lectured by some liberal idiot on how they should think.

Disney, there parent company, has been despicably firing Americans and forcing the fired Americans to train their cheaper, foreign replacements, not enough bad things can happen to Disney and ESPN as far as I am concerned.

Wait til the NBA broadcasts center around anthem protests (which has pretty much happened already) and watch those numbers tank. ESPN has to be careful because they lay out something like 7 BILLION a year in broadcast rights, so their margin for error is very slim.

So there loss of veiwership is really based on politically motivated backlash and really has nothing to do with there ****ty programming. If you say so.

 

[fourhour]

No Bruins?

No, not a hockey follower. I get all the hockey news I need without looking for it.

Football, baseball and the occasional lazy Saturday afternoon golf broadcast.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

So there loss of veiwership is really based on politically motivated backlash and really has nothing to do with there ****ty programming. If you say so.

thier left wing programming is the same ****ty programming you allude to.

If you give Obama an hour of primetime, you have automatically eliminated more than half the country as potential viewers, not exactly a smart business move.

 

[Ivan]

there left wing programming is the same ****ty programming you allude to.

If you give Obama an hour of primetime, you have automatically eliminated more than half the country as potential viewers, not exactly a smart business move.

Take it to the political forum.

 

[RobertWeathers]

No, not a hockey follower. I get all the hockey news I need without looking for it.

Football, baseball and the occasional lazy Saturday afternoon golf broadcast.

I love watching golf on TV. Drives my co-inhabitants insane.

 

[Ivan]

Much as I hate ESPN their loss in viewers is simply about cable rates and the more affordable options available. Cord cutting is responsible and that is about affordability. My monthly bill is around $ 200 and as I watch less and less I get closer and closer to getting rid of it and using other options. ESPN pays the price because they are part of basic cable, the fact that I never watch them doesn't hurt them because I still have the package they make money off.

 

[fgssand]

Much as I hate ESPN their loss in viewers is simply about cable rates and the more affordable options available. Cord cutting is responsible and that is about affordability. My monthly bill is around $ 200 and as I watch less and less I get closer and closer to getting rid of it and using other options. ESPN pays the price because they are part of basic cable, the fact that I never watch them doesn't hurt them because I still have the package they make money off.

I'm not sure that is true, if you are to watching their programming then you are not watching their advertising, that hurts them where the sun does shine.

That being said,as much as I hate ESPN, I want them around and I want FS1 -- I want sports everywhere, all the time. All of it. I'd like to see a network that is not political and embraces what is great about sports -- the competition, the athletes, the drama of the event.

Take their agenda driven political egotistical maniacs off the air and they just might find their ratings spike. Start with Goodell please.

 

[SalemPats]

ESPN has basically said they don't care about journalism and pride in reporting.

Mort should have been fired for awful journalism, Stephen A Smith and Broussard still have jobs, they hire dumb idiots like Ray Lewis, Trent Dilfer, etc...