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ESPN's future
| February 16th, 2017 at 3:06:12 PM permalink | |
| Evenbob Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 146 Posts: 25011 |
lol If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose. |
| February 16th, 2017 at 4:06:38 PM permalink | |
| AZDuffman Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 135 Posts: 18204 |
When you stop caring about sports life gets so much better. I can still enjoy a game here or there, but to live and die for it I have gotten over and never plan to go back. Then you have to listen to all the left-wing babble of half the announcers. Duh, people tuning into sports want to forget about all of that and relax. ESPN isn't getting it. Financially they may be past the tipping point, already some calls for Disney to sell or spin EPSN off. I don't see that until they are a shell of their former self, which could be 5-15 years. The President is a fink. |
| February 16th, 2017 at 5:50:57 PM permalink | |
| Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
Forbes listed ESPN as one of the most valuable brands in the world for 2016, and the most valuable "Media" brand. Disney is listed as a "leisure" brand.
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| February 16th, 2017 at 6:13:27 PM permalink | |
| terapined Member since: Aug 6, 2014 Threads: 73 Posts: 11791 |
I watch a lot of ESPN I'm a huge basketball fan What left wing babble? I seriously don't get it. Can you provide an example? The only "show" I watch is PTI Other then that, all live sports. How can live sports be political? Watching Utah vs Oregon right now. No political discussion at all. As to ESPN being a shell of their former self, I don't get that either Sports is still great entertainment that attracts a ton of fans. ESPN gets tons of eyeballs because tons of people enjoy watching live sporting events Sometimes we live no particular way but our own - Grateful Dead "Eyes of the World" |
| February 16th, 2017 at 8:31:14 PM permalink | |
| Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
I think that is an exaggeration as well. ESPN is still the most valuable media network in the world. It's just right now, Disney's movie studio is on a monumental tear, having one of the most spectacular years in movie history. ESPN is not the golden boy in the corporate lineup. My brother has a friend who works for ESPN and he says they have been talking about the upper limit for years. So far they have been able to raise their fees with cable companies year after year and remain on the base tier. But everyone knew that the bubble couldn't inflate forever. Naysayers were predicting the ESPN would have to charge $25 to $35 if they were forced to market themselves as a pay channel like HBO or Showtime. But Sling TV offers ESPN and over 30 channels for $20 a month. The executives at ESPN are counting on remaining on the basic tier of cable TV and picking up extra revenue from places like Sling TV. |
| February 16th, 2017 at 11:57:01 PM permalink | |
| Evenbob Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 146 Posts: 25011 |
I stopped watching sports in 1970. The big thing was to spend all day Sunday drinking beer and watching sports on TV. I started asking myself why was I wasting a whole day doing nothing worthwhile. I've never looked back. Sports is something you can't be involved in on any level except staring at it. I'd rather stare at a book, at least I might learn something doing that. If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose. |
| February 17th, 2017 at 3:27:04 AM permalink | |
| AZDuffman Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 135 Posts: 18204 |
ESPN is kind of like GM was in 1978. Riding high but their execs are not seeing the building collapsing around them. Maybe a better analogy is phone execs in 1996, drooling at how the average home would soon have 3-4 landlines for internet, fax, and whatever. Sling and other streaming services are the future. Forcing 100% of the people to pay for a channel maybe 25% care about is the past. I am one of the naysayers you mention, and I am still sticking to it. Cord cutting is a fact of life now. Of course, big fans do pay $200+ per year for league packages now. ESPN is not going to die and pieces be whacked up. But it will be a shadow of its former self, same as parent ABC became. The President is a fink. |
| February 17th, 2017 at 6:38:47 AM permalink | |
| Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
Sling (Dish network) costs $20 for ESPN + Disney + Freeform (Disney Inc channels) + base channels. $25 for NSBC+SyFy+Bravo+USA (Comcast channels) + FX, FXX, etc +base channels. Base 27 channels in both options TNT, TBS,BBC America, A&E, AMC, CNN, Comedy Central, Travel Channel, Adult Swim, Food Network, Cartoon Network, HGTV, History, IFC, Lifetime,Bloomberg, AXS TV, Cheddar, El Rey, Flama, Galavisión, Local Now by The Weather Channel, Maker, Newsy, Polaris TV, TheBlaze, Viceland Right now my cable company charges a mandatory $24 in surcharges which seem to correspond to the price of ESPN, Re-transmitting broadcasting stations, etc. But Sling still requires a medium to transmit. Sooner or later the cable companies will charge an access fee, and then reorganize their network channels into price groups to match those of Sling TV or Direct TV Now. Then they can still charge the access fee if you get your entertainment channels from an outside service. I don't think they are the future so much, but a sign of the breakup of the big basic tier. Since ESPN charges the highest fees by far, they will suffer the most if they are no longer in the base tier. |
| February 17th, 2017 at 2:03:49 PM permalink | |
| JimRockford Member since: Sep 18, 2015 Threads: 2 Posts: 971 | One is reliable the other will break your heart. The mind hungers for that on which it feeds. |
| February 17th, 2017 at 4:57:38 PM permalink | |
| buzzardknot Member since: Mar 16, 2015 Threads: 7 Posts: 497 | Yes, Mrs' Thumb and her 4 lovely daughters are always reliable. |