How do I hate thee ESPN?, let us count the ways

[alias_rice]

I won't miss Trent Dilfer.

What's nuts is that they were willing to pay Skip Bayless millions to stay when he left for Fox.

[4matic]

most expensive channel on your cable bill too....believe it's maybe in the $12 range when most other channels are pennies on the dollar. word was many dropping espn on their cable as well.

I wish it was a premium offering instead of most basic plans. I suspect that's coming.

[BmillsSkier]

I wish it was a premium offering instead of most basic plans. I suspect that's coming.

Possible but I doubt it. TMZspn buoys just about every other of the 400+ channel offerings on the providers plans. And if you want to watch your Kardazians or The Weatherterrorist channel, or that angry little dude Rachel Maddow; you're going to pay for ESPN because they're the ones footing the bill for everyone else in the lineup.

[SkiBall]

I am ready to cut the whole damn thing. Can I just get Viceland and maybe AXS?

[cinnepa]

if it wasn't for my son i'd scrap everything and go powered antenna.

[smartyiak]

I am ready to cut the whole damn thing. Can I just get Viceland and maybe AXS?

And Universal Sports.

[Benny Profane]

http://dealbreaker.com/2017/04/cohn-...-prank-ygbfkm/

Classic. It's all about grandstanding for the shareholders.

[Benny Profane]

most expensive channel on your cable bill too....believe it's maybe in the $12 range when most other channels are pennies on the dollar. word was many dropping espn on their cable as well.

It's 6 dollars per subscriber, and all have no choice in the matter. If America woke up from their stupor and demanded itemized bills and a la carte pricing, ESPN would tank overnight. Now it's going to take another ten years, as the cable industry goes down the same drain the newspaper industry did.

[BmillsSkier]

Benny I usually don't share your dystopian views or generally cynical attitude but your comments are dead-on from all that I heard from industry insiders on air yesterday.

You could wipe the salaries clean in the place and replace all the talent with chain-smoking chimps (admittedly an improvement in most areas) and it still wouldn't address the death-spiral they're in. They've got the newspaper-like issues of 15 years ago and they also have the issue on the other side of the ledger: overpaying for content.

As Cowherd said in his interview yesterday, Fox paid something like $1.xxB for NFL games on Sundays, the NFC Championship Games, 2 out of the next 4 Super Bowls... and they make a fuckton of money off it. Conversely ESPN paid $1.xx+a lot moreB for "an increasingly irrelevant Monday Night Football game and highlight clips". Kinda hard to keep that model up.

[The SnowShow]

ESPN lays off 100 people (after 350 last year) and how the hell is Stephen A. not one of them?

That's pretty unreal. He must have a pee pee tape of the CEO.

[Diamond Joe]

I won't miss Trent Dilfer.

I kind of liked "Dilfers Dimes"

[Benny Profane]

Benny I usually don't share your dystopian views or generally cynical attitude but your comments are dead-on from all that I heard from industry insiders on air yesterday.

You could wipe the salaries clean in the place and replace all the talent with chain-smoking chimps (admittedly an improvement in most areas) and it still wouldn't address the death-spiral they're in. They've got the newspaper-like issues of 15 years ago and they also have the issue on the other side of the ledger: overpaying for content.

As Cowherd said in his interview yesterday, Fox paid something like $1.xxB for NFL games on Sundays, the NFC Championship Games, 2 out of the next 4 Super Bowls... and they make a fuckton of money off it. Conversely ESPN paid $1.xx+a lot moreB for "an increasingly irrelevant Monday Night Football game and highlight clips". Kinda hard to keep that model up.

Well, sort of enjoying this since I watched their dominance rise at the same time I was employed by SI, although SI, or the whole Ivy culture of Time Inc. definitely deserved it.
I thought that this ridiculous escalation of player salaries would finally at least slow down with the 08 recession, but, it just continued. What the fuck? And then I started reading how the whole business model for most pro team sports had been severely altered by cable revenue. Even your sweet grandma is paying for ESPN every time she writes that check, and probably doesn't know it. I certainly could give a fuck about most football, hockey, and the present day NBA, let alone fucking competitive poker, but, I'm paying for it. That sucks, if you ask me, especially when I read about salaries, and double especially when I read about stadium deals.
The old Yankee stadium was sold out practically every game before they built the new one. Now, even playoff games (ahem, they're getting rare) have empty seats in that big swath of seats at field level from first to third. Wtf? Well, they make 3 bucks (maybe more these days?) from every cable subscriber in the NY metro market, and all others that carry YES, even if those subscribers are, hahahaha, Met fans, or, could give a flying about baseball. Last year I was one of a million subscribers that had no YES for the whole season, because my provider, Comcast, refused to pass along a new increase. Even though I'm a lifelong fan, good for Comcast. Enough with this shit already. Let them all go back to working winter jobs, like Yogi Berra, in the old days.

[DBdude]

ESPN has doubled down on bundling. They are aware of the environment they are in and that the future is in over the top delivery. They have partnered with MLB in a video over the internet service. They have run the numbers and decided quite rightly they own the format and can milk it while they come up with new content and determine a way to get paid for it.

Saying ESPN is doomed is short sighted and shows a lack of a grasp of the business - business as usual for talking heads sport jocks and Benny

edited to add:

I don't have ESPN because I have the cheapest Dish package - and I hate ESPN. Somebody mentioned it earlier, but I caught steven smith on Around the Horn and was pretty dismayed. He appeals to a different viewer.

Maybe over they top is going to change sports? cable did. the music industry is a lot different than when I was a kid.

It will be cool to watch

[BmillsSkier]

This is tailor made for a classic get off my lawn rant Benny. Lay it on thick.

I too am surprised that these effects aren't yet being seen at the franchise or league level (or being preemptively dealt with in those two areas). The days of overpaying for content can't last much longer. Leagues going direct to consumer (I love the mlb.com access to every game - although the ability to watch locally still needs some tinkering), people are cutting the cable, and the powerplayers like ESPN can't justify to pay 2 and 3x over what anyone else in their right mind would for the same highlights and minimal games.

I see a strike happening first, and a whole lot of 'who cares?' from the fans.

[DBdude]

^ I agree

There is so much content, I think younger viewers will say fuck it and it will be geezers willing to pay the ridiculous costs of sports entertainment

[Benny Profane]

[Jumper Bones]

I really liked Trent Dilfer, especially compared to that prick Merrill Hodge or than unintelligible blub in Berman. And how the hell do Max Kellerman or Stephen A still have jobs, that are celebrated in all of their in-network advertising? Never once have I felt sucked into their show by any clips or ads, just retards sitting around saying a bunch of dumb shit and getting all blustery with each other. I mean who likes that?

Same goes for Fox with their Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe chunk fest. Undisputed, ugh.

How do you make Ed Werder walk, but keep Micheal and Jameela for their awful, failing show?

[SkiBall]

Look at most of the fans at last nights draft from mostly all teams repped. Those are the people that probably like the loud back and forth. Someone is tuning in.
Hell, the internet has bred that whole back and forth culture with no solution other that passing the time...um, it's those OTHER sites. Right? Right? You want to argue about it?

[iceman]

When the robots come for all the jobs everyone is going to need to figure out how to pass the time. We're Pioneers, man.

[Benny Profane]

The draft was just a blip in the media fifteen years ago, now it's a major fucking spectator event. And then there's Spring practice football games. Christ, I looked up at a tv in the gym, and I think the stadium was full, with everyone dressed up in their expensive team merchandise wear. We're all going to hell, I tell ya, and we deserve it.

[SkiBall]

Good point ice. Play hard to get with the weed so that we will all appreciate it more. We'll all be melted in our chairs on gov't issue weed and Funyun's while the big shots run roughshod.

[Jumper Bones]

But doesn't Jeff Sessions say weed is the devil? I mean seriously he compared it to heroin.

[SkiBall]

All part of the master plan.
Hickenlooper just had a sit-down with Sessions on Wednesday. From appearances afterward, it looked like things will proceed as normal.

[irul&ublo]

And get rid of Bomani Jones. Worst example of pidgin since JarJar Binks

[HansJob]

mlb.com I listen to games via radio broadcast. Like when I was a kid.