ESPN Has Lost 7 Million Subscribers The Past Two Years

[whiskeyboarder]

Im 31 years old and haven't had cable since I moved to California nearly two years ago.  Many friends my age and younger are choosing to "cut the cord" as well.  The cost/benefit analysis of cable t.v. is not in the consumer's favor.  But, for a long time, that was okay, because cable had the monopoly on content.  Now, I watch any sport I desire online.  

 

The scary thing is the stupid cable companies that are also internet providers.  They're aware of the trend described above.  Instead of making cable more affordable, it seems their strategy is to cap bandwidth to force users back to cable.  Happily, years of being a nerd have equipped me with the knowledge necessary to avoid their tactics  

[Bear]

ESPN gave UCF their SECOND PRIMETIME game, 

 

This is OUR chance to shine in the spotlight - let's embarrass them. 

[CousinRicky]

I watch ESPN when they have a game I want to watch.  And, I admit, I like PTI.  But otherwise I try to have the cable box tuned to something other than an ESPN channel.  I believe ESPN and their TOP 10 plays have changed the way games are played and made it much more about the individual and less about the team.  You see guys miss dunks trying to make a splash play to get on ESPN.  Diving into the endzone has nothing to do with scoring and all about getting air time.  I love it when guys drop the ball high stepping or summersaulting into the end zone.  And I think of ESPN's top plays every time they do.

[ssgCraigO]

I have tried to cut the cord, but the wife is not about it. However, during the offseason I drop ESPN, and pick them back up at the start of the season. Cable and Internet, Suddenlink in my area, runs around $180 a month. Worst part is Suddenlink has data caps of 300GB. Seems like a lot but download a game for the XBOX and have the kid leave Netflix on all night and you are pushing 100GBs right there.

Cable is a straight racket right now.

[Who'sYourData?]

ESPN has had huge success, now cable companies are dropping them. I don't think it's clear yet if ESPN has overpaid for content, but we will know the next round of contract talks.

ESPN did make a really dumb move with the longhorn network... paying Texas 15 million dollars a year, when really Texas should be paying them for the exposure. 

I read an article a month or so.  It is very clear that ESPN has overpaid for content.  ESPN has given out massive increases in payouts to sports when there was not another obvious candidate willing to pay. They have been terrible at the negotiating table, and started to get full of themselves.  The unfortunate victims are the hundreds of lower level people that did their jobs exceeding well and got laid off because those at the top did their jobs terribly.

[hm101]

Theyre a joke. There are dozens of exciting sports stories every week but they beat one or 2 to death. Hate it.

[cambodia36]

I think people "pulling the plug" accounts for some, slightly more choices means people who watch house renovation shows all day probably opt out of ESPN and it's high price if they can also. 

This is likely part of the reason for every big personality at ESPN other than Berman, who for some reason is untouchable, being dropped as well. 

They severely overpaid for a lot of sports to try and basically be a monopoly of everything besides NFL, who (wisely) spreads their product out among networks. ESPN will likely come back next time contracts are up and try to lowball a lot of CFB conferences, and probably NBA and MLB as well. So this could have a trickle down effect of sports leagues going thru lockouts, colleges trying even harder to avoid compensating athletes, etc.

[Paisa el Toro]

ESPN is still, by far, the most profitable cable channel. They're going to have to tweak the way they do business. I'm thinking of cutting the chord in a few weeks and shifting to Sling TV. I'll catch the USF away games that happen to be on CBS Sports at a bar or a buddy's house.

[smazza]

On 11/26/2015 at 6:37 AM, hbryan said:

Couldn't happen to a more worthless organization.  Once they have separate channel subscriptions from cable providers versus the prepackaged channel groups, ESPN will lose many, many more subscribers.

espn is fantastic

you must not be  a sports fan

[smazza]

On 11/26/2015 at 10:08 AM, whiskeyboarder said:

Im 31 years old and haven't had cable since I moved to California nearly two years ago.  Many friends my age and younger are choosing to "cut the cord" as well.  The cost/benefit analysis of cable t.v. is not in the consumer's favor.  But, for a long time, that was okay, because cable had the monopoly on content.  Now, I watch any sport I desire online.  

 

The scary thing is the stupid cable companies that are also internet providers.  They're aware of the trend described above.  Instead of making cable more affordable, it seems their strategy is to cap bandwidth to force users back to cable.  Happily, years of being a nerd have equipped me with the knowledge necessary to avoid their tactics  

in 1988 i bought my 10 foot satelite dish

i have never book

 

but i get all espn channels on the dish