@DCGoldPants Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Well, I notice a pattern in the folks complaining about ESPN. They're complaining about ESPN's filler material. The Cowherds and the SportsCenters and things like that. But that's not why people pay for ESPN. They pay for the live sporting events. For 5-6 college football games every Saturday. For the NBA and MLB. That's what ESPN spends Big Bucks for. And that's what audiences spend Big Bucks for. I wonder if people would like it more if ESPN found a way to show more actual sports and less Sportscenter and PTI type shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bay Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I wonder if people would like it more if ESPN found a way to show more actual sports and less Sportscenter and PTI type shows. ESPN's filler stuff used to be awesome. They would show all sorts of sports that weren't really super mainstream (or sporty); paintball, ATV races, street hockey and...Magic: the Gathering. I guess all of those were relegated to the Ocho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@DCGoldPants Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 ESPN's filler stuff used to be awesome. They would show all sorts of sports that weren't really super mainstream (or sporty); paintball, ATV races, street hockey and...Magic: the Gathering. I guess all of those were relegated to the Ocho. Sometimes they show college baseball. But I'm trying to think of what they could show during the morning and afternoon. Euro-league sports? I've only see a little of Japanese baseball. But it was kind of entertaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattFancy Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I wonder if people would like it more if ESPN found a way to show more actual sports and less Sportscenter and PTI type shows. SportsCenter and ESPN went down hill when they started making it more about the talking heads and less about the actual sports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 SportsCenter and ESPN went down hill when they started making it more about the talking heads and less about the actual sports. Is that about the same time they got a huge spike in the ratings and a huge boost to their profitability? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bay Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Sometimes they show college baseball. But I'm trying to think of what they could show during the morning and afternoon. Euro-league sports? I've only see a little of Japanese baseball. But it was kind of entertaining. I would be fine if they went back to everything I previously mentioned, to be honest (even Magic). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattFancy Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Is that about the same time they got a huge spike in the ratings and a huge boost to their profitability? Well considering they're having to slash $100M from their 2016 budget and $250M from their 2017 budget, I don't think their profitability is too high right now. Especially when they've lost 7.2% of their subscriber base over the last 4 years. Since July 2011, ESPN’s reach into American homes has dropped 7.2%, from more than 100 million households—roughly the size of the total U.S. pay-TV market—to 92.9 million households, according to Nielsen data. ESPN pres John Skipper given a mandate to cut $100M from network's budget next yr & to cut $250M in 2017 via @THR — Darren Heitner (@DarrenHeitner) July 12, 2015 Both from: http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/as-cord-cutters-grow-espn-reaches-a-crossroads-on-costs.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Springfield Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I don't give half a **** about ESPN and think it blows that I have to subsidize their programming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I wonder if people would like it more if ESPN found a way to show more actual sports and less Sportscenter and PTI type shows. I've actually wondered if maybe they could make money, showing reruns of sporting events. For example, every weekend, ESPN may send broadcast trucks to 10 college football games. But Joe Subscriber in Jacksonville only gets to see 5-6 of them. The rest of them get shown in other markets, but Joe can't see them. (Unless he pays for some godawfull expensive package.) OK, so show Joe the games he didn't get to see live, later. Yeah, I suspect that very few people will watch a football game where they already know who won. But so what? ESPN's production cost for the rerun is zero. Can they make any money at all, from the rerun? I've wondered if maybe the NFL could do the same thing. Show reruns of the football games that I didn't get to watch live. (I think that they supposedly do, on NFLN. But I don't get that.) (But, if they'd let me stream it, for $5-10 bucks a month? I'd pay for that.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
@DCGoldPants Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 kind of like how the NFL Network will show condensed games during the week? That's not a bad idea. Watch a whole baseball game in an hour. Hockey you could do in 30 min. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 ESPN's filler stuff used to be awesome. They would show all sorts of sports that weren't really super mainstream (or sporty); paintball, ATV races, street hockey and...Magic: the Gathering. I guess all of those were relegated to the Ocho. Yeah, I've seen bowling and fishing and things on ESPN. And don't they show poker, now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Well considering they're having to slash $100M from their 2016 budget and $250M from their 2017 budget, I don't think their profitability is too high right now. Especially when they've lost 7.2% of their subscriber base over the last 4 years. Since July 2011, ESPN’s reach into American homes has dropped 7.2%, from more than 100 million households—roughly the size of the total U.S. pay-TV market—to 92.9 million households, according to Nielsen data. ESPN pres John Skipper given a mandate to cut $100M from network's budget next yr & to cut $250M in 2017 via @THR — Darren Heitner (@DarrenHeitner) July 12, 2015 Both from: http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/as-cord-cutters-grow-espn-reaches-a-crossroads-on-costs.html So it was in July of 201q when they made the change away from sports? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elessar78 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 kind of like how the NFL Network will show condensed games during the week? That's not a bad idea. Watch a whole baseball game in an hour. Hockey you could do in 30 min. condensed games are the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Also correlation and causality are two different things. It's the same griping you hear about a lot of networks and it is a pet peeve of mine. The history channel didn't change formats because they hate money. They figured out if you broadcast 3 lard asses at a pawn shop in Vegas it will draw more viewers than a documentary about the Russo Japanase war. We can choose to not like it personally, but to pretend these networks are atupid or don't know what they're doing is, well, stupid So there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattFancy Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 So it was in July of 201q when they made the change away from sports? Ok, so ESPN was making some good money for a few years, but it seems like they aren't as profitable as they once were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Ok, so ESPN was making some good money for a few years, but it seems like they aren't as profitable as they once were. Well let's hope they fold The only espn I watch is during the football season and only if the redskins are relevant, so needless to say I don't watch much I agree the product is terrible but it seems to be the overall trend in entertainment. I don't fault espn for giving all the sports douchebags in this country exactly what they want Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjfootballer Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Stop paying so much for so many talent. Do we really need 12 people sitting behind a desk to do a pregame show? Cut the pregame time down also. I don't watch but about 20 minutes, so I don't need 4 hours of you rehashing the same reasons why team A will beat team B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattFancy Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Well let's hope they fold The only espn I watch is during the football season and only if the redskins are relevant, so needless to say I don't watch much I agree the product is terrible but it seems to be the overall trend in entertainment. I don't fault espn for giving all the sports douchebags in this country exactly what they want They certainly aren't the only network doing it. I was just saying that it seemed their quality took a nose dive when they started to take the focus off the sports and started trying to create the story instead of reporting on the story. I agree with what pj is saying. How many NFL Analysts do they need? Do we need a 4 hour pregame show? Does anyone watch the entire Sunday Countdown or Monday Night Countdown? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Ok, so ESPN was making some good money for a few years, but it seems like they aren't as profitable as they once were. Forbes (April 2014): The Value of ESPN Surpasses $50 Billion The National Football League announced last week that ESPN would host the first playoff game in its 35-year history in January 2015. The Wild Card playoff game is a carrot for the $15.2 billion ESPN committed over eight years in its latest NFL TV rights deal, which kicks off next season. ESPN’s commitment to the NFL is worth almost twice as much annually as the pacts signed by NBC, Fox and CBS . An NFL playoff game marks the latest milestone for the network and further strengthens the stranglehold it has on sports programming. ESPN’s value is derived from the massive cash flow the company generates, which is expected to reach $4.5 billion this year, up 39% from five years ago. For comparisons sake, CBS Corp., the highest rated broadcast network, had operating income of $1.6 billion last year. ESPN’s advantage over its network and cable brethren lies in the affiliate fee and ad revenue model that generates huge sums of cash. ESPN’s average monthly affiliate fee was $5.54 in 2013, according to SNL Kagan. The next highest national cable channel was TNT at $1.33, followed by Disney Channel at $1.15 and $1.13 for the NFL Network. ESPN2 is not far behind at $0.70 with ESPNews, ESPN Classic, ESPNU and ESPN Deportes each around $0.20 a month says SNL Kagan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma There Goes That Man Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Espn has gotten too big for its own good. Fluff rules the day now instead of any actual analysis. I can only watch it for sports and I listen to Lebetard on the way home because his show is funny. Espn is too powerful and has too much influence on the world of sports, like college football for instance. Id be happy to see it go completely or get taken down a few notches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattFancy Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Forbes (April 2014): The Value of ESPN Surpasses $50 Billion Interesting. Wonder why the need for them to slash their budget? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elessar78 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 To continue my ESPN are whores diatribe. A smart whore knows they have prime earning years. After that they need to accept that they will be a genre buy and not a mainstream buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattFancy Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Espn has gotten too big for its own good. Fluff rules the day now instead of any actual analysis. I can only watch it for sports and I listen to Lebetard on the way home because his show is funny. Espn is too powerful and has too much influence on the world of sports, like college football for instance. Id be happy to see it go completely or get taken down a few notches. ESPN has become the story in most instances instead of reporting on the story. Awful Announcing does some good stuff on this. Remember a few years ago when Jaws claimed Colin Kaepernick could be the "best QB ever"? That ended up being talked about on multiple ESPN shows for multiple days. They make their own stories and run with them now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elessar78 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 ESPN has become the story in most instances instead of reporting on the story. Awful Announcing does some good stuff on this. Remember a few years ago when Jaws claimed Colin Kaepernick could be the "best QB ever"? That ended up being talked about on multiple ESPN shows for multiple days. They make their own stories and run with them now. They also have the spinoff effect where every non-espn outlet ALSO talks about ESPN's news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattFancy Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 They also have the spinoff effect where every non-espn outlet ALSO talks about ESPN's news. Yup. They will continue do so as long as it leads to ratings and clicks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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