OT: ABC Sports no more

pats1 · Aug 10, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/11/sports/othersports/11sandomir.html?ex=1312948800&en=fa9dad9edf823bc4&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

ABC Sports Is Dead; Stand by for ESPN

By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Published: August 11, 2006

ABC Sports, which once defined sports television and was the home of Roone Arledge, Jim McKay, “Wide World of Sports,” Howard Cosell, 10 Olympics and Mexican cliff diving, died yesterday after one final big gulp by ESPN.

The sports division that was nurtured to prominence through Arledge’s production vision and deal-making savvy had been in fading health and recently lost the rights to “Monday Night Football.”

ABC Sports was only 45.

...

Still, for those who observed the changes at ABC Sports over the years, its demise is not a stunning development, nor is the title, “ESPN on ABC,” that will accompany all sports programming on ABC starting Sept. 2, along with “SportsCenter” updates and ESPN graphics.

Soon, except for the transparent ABC logo on the screen, ABC Sports will be a distant memory.

•Nearly every sport shown by ABC for quite a few years was acquired by ESPN’s leaders, not those of ABC Sports, and nearly all the announcers calling events on ABC are borrowed from the ESPN empire.

...

godef · Aug 10, 2006

pats1 said:
Nearly every sport shown by ABC for quite a few years was acquired by ESPNâ€™s leaders, not those of ABC Sports, and nearly all the announcers calling events on ABC are borrowed from the ESPN empire.

What do you mean borrowed? ESPN is OWNED by ABC. This is the equivalent of the Red Sox borrowing their 1st round pick from Pawtucket.

Patriots4Ever · Aug 11, 2006

pats1 said:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/11/sports/othersports/11sandomir.html?ex=1312948800&en=fa9dad9edf823bc4&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

To be honest,and this may come to a surprise to some,but I actually truly enjoyed ABC's coverage of the NFL games because it just brought a true family aura to the games.I think having a choice on which broadcast to watch was a nice change of pace.Why ESPN has to have it all I will never understand.Granted they do cover the games well but come on now.:::shrugs::: just my two cents.

Willie55 · Aug 11, 2006

Anybody remember when they had Monday Night Baseball on ABC? That was when I liked MLB.

Speaking of the ESPN empire, anbody else read the book that was written years ago about how it was created. A father and son team created the network on scam. They made alot of promises that weren't true: when they went for financing from the bank, they told the bank they had satellite contracts signed. When they went to get the satellite contracts signed, they said they had the financing all in order. There were other 'untruths' also which were all very interesting.

And as soon as the network got up and running, the founders (father and son) knew they would be forced out very quickly, which did happen (w/in a years time). And the rest they say is history.

Willie55 · Aug 11, 2006

from Pro Football talk:

FAREWELL, ABC SPORTS
The thrill of victory, the agony of . . . listening to Stu Scott utter the same hackneyed catch phrases in the unlikely event that someone who has never heard them before is tuning in for the first time.
ESPN and ABC, both owned by Disney, have taken a huge-but-inevitable step in their relationship.
Gone is "ABC Sports." Replacing it is "ESPN on ABC."
As explained by Richard Deitsch of SI.com, a significant motivation for the move was the attraction of the 18-to-34-year-old demographic to ABC via the ESPN brand.
The change also might have been intended to help drive more viewers to ESPN on ESPN on Monday nights from September through January, when ESPN on ESPN will be trying to earn back some of the $1.1 billion that will be paid for the right to broadcast weekly NFL games.
The further integration of ESPN and ABC makes us even more curious about the specific content of the contract between ESPN and the NFL. If, as at least one reader has suggested, the numbers forMNF on ESPN on ESPN aren't very good, perhaps the games will be broadcast both on ESPN on ESPN and on ESPN on ABC.
The possibilities are, actually, intriguing. There could be a set of announcers on ESPN on ESPN who call the game like homers from the perspective of one of the two teams, and announcers on ESPN on ABC who call the game from the perspective of the other team.
Different camera angles could be used on the two networks, with the standard sideline view on ESPN on ABC and the end-zone "Madden" view on ESPN on ESPN.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves. For now, the only innovation is a no-brainer move that, in hindsight, was probably overdue.

Click to expand...

desi-patsfan · Aug 11, 2006

godef said:
What do you mean borrowed? ESPN is OWNED by ABC. This is the equivalent of the Red Sox borrowing their 1st round pick from Pawtucket.

Well you're almost correct, ABC and ESPN are owned by Disney. They are more like brothers.

Weishuhn · Aug 11, 2006

This is simply a corporate restructuring. Maintaining a separate ABC Sports division was wasteful in terms of staffing, resources, and duplication of effort. It also gives them more opportunity to cross-promote their ESPN content. The continued drift away from sports toward the shorter, limited attention span friendly, reality programming made this an inevitable and easy business decision.

PromisedLand · Aug 11, 2006

This is about as much of a non-story as the "demise of Monday Night Football". ABC/ESPN hyped this non-event all throughout last season, then turned the final game on ABC itself into a self-absorbed nostalgia-fest. Then they bombarded us all offseason with promos for "Monday Night Football on ESPN", like it was something brand new.

All that really happened is that the Disney corporation which owns both networks switched the broadcast from one of their channels to another. Big deal.

godef · Aug 11, 2006

desi-patsfan said:
Well you're almost correct, ABC and ESPN are owned by Disney. They are more like brothers.

OK thanks.

bobgeorge · Aug 11, 2006

Willie55 said:
Speaking of the ESPN empire, anbody else read the book that was written years ago about how it was created. A father and son team created the network on scam. They made alot of promises that weren't true: when they went for financing from the bank, they told the bank they had satellite contracts signed. When they went to get the satellite contracts signed, they said they had the financing all in order. There were other 'untruths' also which were all very interesting.

And as soon as the network got up and running, the founders (father and son) knew they would be forced out very quickly, which did happen (w/in a years time). And the rest they say is history.

That father and son team (Bill and Scott Rasmussen) were from my hometown. Bill was a weekend sports anchor at Springfield's NBC affiliate (WWLP TV-22), his son Scott a standout hockey goalie at my high school. The story goes that one day Bill and Scott were driving in a car from Springfield to Hartford, and Bill said to Scott, "Gee, what if they ever came up with a 24-hour sports network?" The two of them subsequently set out to found what is now ESPN. Whatever "untruths" there might have been, give them credit for having the gumption and the smarts to get ESPN going, as well as the foresight for having it become what it did, though I would doubt that the Rasmussens could have ever envisioned the giant it did become.

Bob G

OT: ABC Sports no more

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