ESPN Cutting Costs

[dishcomm]

That one sentence was all your needed to hit the nail on the head.

Disney is a well run, notirioulsy cost aversive company who make cuts far before most companies would and stay highly profitiable because of its financial thumbscrews. In part, this about saturation: at some point it becomes so much money to get these rights that it exceeds profits. However, if we can accept play by play from thousands of miles away and other cost cutting, ESPN could actually see better profits. Yes, the big teams gettng their one channels, etc. and some cord cutting and the leagues allowing access to games via internet/mobile device all have some affect to such games no longer being truly exclusive and ONLY on ESPN or other tradiditonal TV channels, and that hurts the value of the games to entities like ESPN with losing viewers as one effect.

But, I wonder: it seems to me that the Mellinials aren't very interested in watching sports as previous generations. This and subsequent generations seem to spend more time on video games and at ComiCON and Anamie conventions than following any of the major or college sports. Is the market for sports broadcasting shrinnking because of changing interests for the younger generation? Or is it, perhaps, just the WRONG sports because it seems soccor/football is increasing in popularaity in the US and NOT among immigrants, but from those born in the USA with generations before it born in the USA, as well. These new fans of soccor did play it as kids, but often did not follow up playing other more tradtional sports at USA junior and high schools.

I just think the times are a changing and Disney is smart to rein in the costs far before it is too late. If we all live another 30 years, we may not recognize this planet at all.

Millenials aren't interested in anything that does not offer instant gratification and guaranteed success.
As far as I am concerned, Millenials are by far the most egotistical, narcissistic generation to come along in the last 50 years. That said....They cannot be counted on for anything..
I read a story on the site "fiercewireless.com" that the newest Samsung smartphone ( Galaxy 6 and 6 note) showed declining sales. The reason offered by the story was that "the phone had no real innovations"..In other words even though the 6 is a more reliable and stronger version of the 5, it lacks bells and whistles. Apparently this is what appeals to millenials.
BTW, millenials are not interest just in sports programming. They show little interest in TV at all. And forget commercial tv....Millenials record everything they watch . Or they use such services as netflix. Not that there is anything wrong with that....

 

[Tampa8]

Just a comment, there is no Note 6, there isn't even a Note 5 yet. And the real reason the Galaxy S6 has not been the success they hoped for was a marketing gamble that may not be paying off, nothing at all to do with Millennials wanting just bells and whistles. They want functionality. Samsung dropped the SD card slot and dropped the ability to change batteries. It is suspected that made it simply another Iphone, not a clear alternative to it.

In fact Millennials have started to adapt to not upgrading just because a new phone comes out. And they do like technology, which is very different than wanting bells and whistles. The S6 has bells and whistles, it does not offer the technology that even their older phones had.
Millennials certainly are not watching TV in the same way we all have and mostly still do. But it isn't some bad trait or any self absorbance. It's what I said, technology and a changing lifestyle. They would rather use technology - watching just their favorite shows and/or ones that everyone is talking about, and do it at moments when they have time. That means often online, mobile. In addition, and I don't see this talked about much, jobs and hours of work have changed and continue to do so. With Women less likely to be home all day, and so many part time jobs replacing full time, many are jumping from job to job with varying hours. All this leads to the traditional way to watch TV not as enticing, especially at the cost it is now.
So many who write these articles do so on the fly or it's really more their opinion.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Back OT, it looks like Colin Cowherd is another victim of ESPN's belt tightening. He's close to signing a deal with FS.


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[Lue]

Just a comment, there is no Note 6, there isn't even a Note 5 yet. And the real reason the Galaxy S6 has not been the success they hoped for was a marketing gamble that may not be paying off, nothing at all to do with Millennials wanting just bells and whistles. They want functionality. Samsung dropped the SD card slot and dropped the ability to change batteries. It is suspected that made it simply another Iphone, not a clear alternative to it.

In fact Millennials have started to adapt to not upgrading just because a new phone comes out. And they do like technology, which is very different than wanting bells and whistles. The S6 has bells and whistles, it does not offer the technology that even their older phones had.
Millennials certainly are not watching TV in the same way we all have and mostly still do. But it isn't some bad trait or any self absorbance. It's what I said, technology and a changing lifestyle. They would rather use technology - watching just their favorite shows and/or ones that everyone is talking about, and do it at moments when they have time. That means often online, mobile. In addition, and I don't see this talked about much, jobs and hours of work have changed and continue to do so. With Women less likely to be home all day, and so many part time jobs replacing full time, many are jumping from job to job with varying hours. All this leads to the traditional way to watch TV not as enticing, especially at the cost it is now.
So many who write these articles do so on the fly or it's really more their opinion.

It is a changing market for sure, just look at what Dish CEO has to say about it

Looking out five years, Ergen predicted all TV programs will be stored “in the cloud” for on-demand viewing and delivered via the Internet, given the lower cost and ubiquity of connected devices.

That means a lot of disruption coming to the market.

This interactive scare piece (prices are overblown) but it illustrates the expensive sports bubble channels very well.

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/06/how-much-would-it-cost-to-get-your-favorite-channels-a-la-carte.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ees-fit-with-t-mobile-as-he-develops-sling-tv



http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/06/how-much-would-it-cost-to-get-your-favorite-channels-a-la-carte.html

 

[harshness]

Back OT, it looks like Colin Cowherd is another victim of ESPN's belt tightening. He's close to signing a deal with FS.

Colin has never stayed in one place for too long. I remember when he was the sports guy at my local NBC affiliate in the late 1990s. I wouldn't be surprised if it is his idea rather than ESPNs.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Colin has never stayed in one place for too long. I remember when he was the sports guy at my local NBC affiliate in the late 1990s. I wouldn't be surprised if it is his idea rather than ESPNs.

Well, he's been at ESPN since 2003. Not bad for a normally nomadic industry.

Word is that his contract was up and ESPN wasn't willing to pony up as much as FS. Also, Jamie Horowitz, a former ESPN producer who worked with Cowherd is now president of FS....


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[cosmo_kramer]

Bill Simmons has signed a huge multi-platform deal with HBO.


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[Lue]

Numbers are not adding up, something has to give

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/...ng-about-to-spell-major-trouble-for-ESPN.html

 

[ChadT41]

The only part of that that mattered:

Said McCann, “ESPN has revolutionized the way we ingest and digest sports. The outsiders (NBC, CBS, FOX) get a little here and a little there, but almost all of today’s major events, including the build-up, the actual event and the aftermath are on the ESPN family of networks, including ABC. Will it stay like that forever? Who knows? But for right now, if you are BYU and BYUtv, there is still no better partner than ESPN.”

 

[dishcomm]

Just a comment, there is no Note 6, there isn't even a Note 5 yet. And the real reason the Galaxy S6 has not been the success they hoped for was a marketing gamble that may not be paying off, nothing at all to do with Millennials wanting just bells and whistles. They want functionality. Samsung dropped the SD card slot and dropped the ability to change batteries. It is suspected that made it simply another Iphone, not a clear alternative to it.

In fact Millennials have started to adapt to not upgrading just because a new phone comes out. And they do like technology, which is very different than wanting bells and whistles. The S6 has bells and whistles, it does not offer the technology that even their older phones had.
Millennials certainly are not watching TV in the same way we all have and mostly still do. But it isn't some bad trait or any self absorbance. It's what I said, technology and a changing lifestyle. They would rather use technology - watching just their favorite shows and/or ones that everyone is talking about, and do it at moments when they have time. That means often online, mobile. In addition, and I don't see this talked about much, jobs and hours of work have changed and continue to do so. With Women less likely to be home all day, and so many part time jobs replacing full time, many are jumping from job to job with varying hours. All this leads to the traditional way to watch TV not as enticing, especially at the cost it is now.
So many who write these articles do so on the fly or it's really more their opinion.

Or whatever the thing is called. It's the latest version of the "S" line.....See how I get these crazy things mixed up.....There are so many models.

 

[Lue]

Will be one to watch, BYU might be the first Tier 1 college contract to be greatly reduced.

Numbers just don't add up.

http://www.sltrib.com/sports/2750073-155/scott-d-pierce-will-espn-cost-cutting

 

[dvrexpander]

If it wasn't for ESPN I prob wouldn't still have Dish. I can stream in just about everything else cept for all those CFB games!! If they would do more to stream in all those games in HD...bye bye dish.

 

[ChadT41]

SlingTV.

 

[bobvick]

Will be one to watch, BYU might be the first Tier 1 college contract to be greatly reduced.

Numbers just don't add up.

http://www.sltrib.com/sports/2750073-155/scott-d-pierce-will-espn-cost-cutting

That probably has to do with the fact that BYU is independent for football and is not in one of the big 5 power conferences.

 

[Bobby]

That probably has to do with the fact that BYU is independent for football and is not in one of the big 5 power conferences.

and the Mormon church has plenty of money....

 

[Lue]

What happens now??

For Iger to even mention this shows that something is afoot.

The days of the mandatory giant cable bundle is coming to a close.

http://blogs.wsj.com/cmo/2015/07/27/disneys-bob-iger-inevitable-that-espn-goes-direct-to-consumer/

http://americasmarkets.usatoday.com...be-sold-directly-to-consumers-in-a-few-years/

http://consumerist.com/2015/07/27/w...g-to-buy-other-channels-maybe-in-a-few-years/

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/27/disney-ceo-iger-espn-could-one-day-be-sold-direct.html

http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/27/9045639/espn-direct-consumer-sales-eventually-iger-says

 

[Lue]

ESPN dropping out of golf

http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/esp...tly-one-of-the-networks-best-productions.html

 

[Lue]

Bubbles can bring on some over the top behavior.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13328608/jen-welter-hired-arizona-cardinals-assistant-coach

 

[tigerfan33]

ESPN dropping out of golf

Not true. Still heavily vested in The Masters.

 

[harshness]

Not true. Still heavily vested in The Masters.

Not nearly as vested as CBS.