Interesting Read - May impact Future of CFB TV Deals

[cmhatter]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-31/live-sports-no-longer-tv-s-holy-grail-in-u-s-as-ratings-peak

 

[Bull94]

as I said on the rumors thread, conference expansion is over.

 

the only reason they expanded was so conferences could get the subscriber fees for conference networks in their new locations and to renegotiate fees from ESPN and the like. that bubble is now bursting.

 

ESPN losing 3m subscribers will cost them $18M+ per month. That's $216M per year. That's only going to accelerate as people now have the option to pay for what they want. Granny will not be paying ESPN $6+ per month for something she doesn't watch. I've read where 75% of the households that pay subscriber fees to ESPN do not watch it. That means in theory their subscriber fees could fall by $450M per month.

 

what we will see in the future is college football will start consolidating. only the top programs that actually drive ratings will break off. probably top 30 or so similar to NFL. oh and they won't be earning near what they do now. same with NFL, MLB, NBA etc. player salaries will start to go down as tv revenue declines.

Edited September 3, 2015 by Bull94

[Bull-Hornz]

From the article:

 

"TV networks including Disney’s ESPN, Fox Sports and Time Warner’s TNT and TBS will spend a combined $12.5 billion in the next year for rights to carry professional football, basketball and baseball games and the Summer Olympics, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Those long-term contracts are based on industry assumptions that may prove too optimistic amid evidence of shrinking demand for cable TV."

 

From BHz:

"You guys are getting greedy and hurting the product!" 

[Who'sYourData?]

The bubble had to burst sooner or later.  The money was becoming ridiculous.