According to recent estimates of SNL Kagan and Barclays Capital, ESPN’s monthly subscriber fee is up to $5.06, by far the highest sub fee for any cable TV channel. That’s what ESPN charges Time Warner Cable or Charter (or whatever cable service you have) per month per subscriber.Second-highest on the list is ESPN 3D at $2.71.
In fact, dedicated sports channels account for four of the top ten cable network sub fees. The other two are the NFL Network ($0.84) and ESPN2 ($0.67). That doesn’t include channels that carry some sports programming, like TNT and TBS.
Farther down the list are Fox College Sports ($0.39) and the Big Ten Network ($0.37). The list does not include regional sports networks (RSNs) like Fox Sports Wisconsin.
So. The reason, for example, the Rose Bowl is on ESPN, instead of ABC – both are owned by Disney Co. – is because ESPN wants as much premium programming on its channel as it can get. Then it can ask for higher sub fees from its carriers and those carriers will pay it, even if they have to hold their noses when they do.
It’s the reason college football’s BCS National Championship, to cite another example, is on ESPN and not ABC. Those big events help brand ESPN and allow it to ask for, and get, the increased sub fees from its carriers.
And remember. ESPN and the rest of these channels also generate revenue from advertising. Now you have two revenue streams instead of just one. That’s the beauty of it, at least if you are ESPN.
