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Topic: OT: Is ESPN pricing itself out of the market?

Topic: OT: Is ESPN pricing itself out of the market?

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Pataskala
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Member Since: 7/8/2010
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OT: Is ESPN pricing itself out of the market?

Posted: 10/21/2015 9:23:01 AM

Rising programming costs and declining subscribership is causing Disney to cut up to 350 jobs at ESPN. The MAC deal is part (although a small part) of ESPN's $68 billion commitment in long-term programming costs (this includes last year's NBA deal). And as subscribership goes down, so will ad revenue. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-20/disney-...

We will get by.
We will get by.
We will get by.
We will survive.

OU_Country
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Location: On the road between Athens and Madison County
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RE: OT: Is ESPN pricing itself out of the market?

Posted: 10/21/2015 9:29:38 AM

Fox posted a thought in regards to this over the summer. Consider the source given its from an ESPN competitor, but it points out similar things. Because of these enormous rights fees, ESPN is in trouble if the trend toward cutting the cable continues.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/outkick-the-cov...

Chuck_IV
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Location: Connecticut
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RE: OT: Is ESPN pricing itself out of the market?

Posted: 10/21/2015 12:49:18 PM

ESPN has themselves between a rock and a hard place too. They are currently suing Verizon for breech of contract for not including ESPN as part of a "skinny" bundle.

With that said, if ESPN tries to start their own stand alone streaming service, ala HBO Now, then that will give ammo to Verizon to defend itself wih and give opportunities for others to start excluding ESPN for certain packages, to keep costs down for their customers.

ESPN, aka. Disney if fighting a losing battle.

Last Edited: 10/21/2015 12:51:26 PM by Chuck_IV

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C Money
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RE: OT: Is ESPN pricing itself out of the market?

Posted: 10/21/2015 1:29:43 PM

Live sports on ESPN is probably the only thing keeping me hooked up to cable at this point. There's probably only half a dozen shows on maybe 4 other networks my family watches. I'd switch to a combo of Netflix/GooglePlay/whatever and a standalone ESPN online service in a heartbeat, even at the prices that Fox Sports article quotes.

Are there 30 million more people like me? I think there are. 2013 seems like ancient history when you look at the growth of streaming services.

brucecuth
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RE: OT: Is ESPN pricing itself out of the market?

Posted: 10/21/2015 3:55:42 PM

as the bloomberg piece states, ESPN is still making money, and would have done so even if there were no layoffs. Just not making as much as The Mouse had hoped.

The worst thing that happened to them was Fox Sports, and to a much lesser extent CBSSN and NBCSN. Competition from Fox along with the fact that live sports is something advertisers value, has really driven up rights fees.

As far as cuts are concerned, I wonder how much of this is fat vs. meat. Do they really need to be doing Sportscenter live from LA 5 nites a week? No.

And an anecdote...

Heather Cox was in Cbus for the OSU Penn St. game this past weekend. On her twitter account Friday nite, she posted a pic of the menu from Hyde Park Steakhouse, one of the most expensive in the Midwest. If The Mouse/ESPN can afford expense account meals for sideline reporters at expensive steakhouses, then they're probably not doing all that bad...

ytownbobcat
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RE: OT: Is ESPN pricing itself out of the market?

Posted: 10/21/2015 5:20:13 PM

Is that fat NCAAF contract sustainable over 12 years?

.
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RE: OT: Is ESPN pricing itself out of the market?

Posted: 10/22/2015 1:22:06 PM

Many editors and producers will be laid off.

NFL Countdown will still have every living NFL coach ever fired and every former player who can put two syllables together trying out Chuckle Hut material each Sunday morning and cashing in seven-figure checks.

People ain't no good.

Last Edited: 10/22/2015 1:22:36 PM by .

GoCats105
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Location: Seattle, WA
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RE: OT: Is ESPN pricing itself out of the market?

Posted: 10/22/2015 1:39:49 PM

C Money wrote:

I'm in your boat C Money.

If Sling TV had more sports channels like Fox Sports/CBS/NBC I'd switch to Roku/Sling TV yesterday. ESPN is good programming for Sling, but I want more variety.

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