ESPN has lost 10 million subscribers since 2013

[T0mShane]

I wonder how much the NFL Network being good has hurt ESPN. Considering that the NBA and NHL are in a death spiral and MLB is diffused into regional networks, the fact that football fans can go to NFLN for their fix kills ESPN. Instead of sitting through 50 minutes of hockey "highlights," Bryce Harper coverage, and mock-debates over Steph Curry's humility, you can just go a few channels up and get wall to wall coverage of the #1 sport in America.

[adb280z]

8 hours ago, Ex-Rex said:

It is called Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. I am surprised that it is only 10 million subscribers. I never became a subscriber because I know it is a waste of money and that is what espn is all about these days.

You don't have cable or directv?  The 10 million subscribers ESPN lost are cord cutters who decided that streaming works for them.  Not many serious sports fans cut out cable.  I don't watch much ESPN but it wouldn't go without it.

[drdetroit]

9 hours ago, T0mShane said:

I wonder how much the NFL Network being good has hurt ESPN. Considering that the NBA and NHL are in a death spiral and MLB is diffused into regional networks, the fact that football fans can go to NFLN for their fix kills ESPN. Instead of sitting through 50 minutes of hockey "highlights," Bryce Harper coverage, and mock-debates over Steph Curry's humility, you can just go a few channels up and get wall to wall coverage of the #1 sport in America.

NFLN and MLBN are drawing away viewers.  Better content and no obnoxious idiots like Stephen A Smith or Skip Tebow.

[RutgersJetFan]

20 hours ago, Raideraholic said:

ESPN has become too political correct, and it makes me sick.  You can do all the fag pieces on Michael Sam etc, and really don't care about things like that.     Curt Shilling or some other on air personality  has opinion on important subject, and they fire him.( too much pushing a certain agenda).

Only time will watch ESPN is when my main man Charles Woodson is on. ( best hire they have made in sometime.

Ah yes. Raider nation representing proudly, right here.

[RutgersJetFan]

15 hours ago, Jet Fan RI said:

Are you sure you're not a subscriber? If you have a cable or satellite package that includes ESPN, you're a subscriber even if you don't watch it. It's the only reason I am a subscriber. Sure hope they go to to an "a la carte" subscription basis, so I can not sign up for ESPN. I am even a subscriber to the awful New England Sports Network (NESN), for which I am charged a few extra dollars per month even though I never watch it. I called and asked if I could drop it. Answer: No.

 

13 hours ago, batman10023 said:

you are a subscriber.  a subscriber is someone who has it on their cable package.  you are a casual viewer as well.

You're both actually off on this one. Basic cable packages now may be without ESPN. Both AT&T and Xfinity's most basic cable/internet packages come without it. They do this to entice unpluggers like myself to upgrade. Funnily enough they give me free HBO, but no ESPN or other channels that used to be standard on all cable packages; TNT, CNN...etc.

It's kind of hilarious how they think this still matters. As if I can't get all this information elsewhere. They'd be better off just giving me the channels so I can watch them on my AppleTV with the ads, like how Crackle or CBS News does. And the 30 for 30s pop up on Netflix within a few weeks anyways.

[Bugg]

9 hours ago, T0mShane said:

I wonder how much the NFL Network being good has hurt ESPN. Considering that the NBA and NHL are in a death spiral and MLB is diffused into regional networks, the fact that football fans can go to NFLN for their fix kills ESPN. Instead of sitting through 50 minutes of hockey "highlights," Bryce Harper coverage, and mock-debates over Steph Curry's humility, you can just go a few channels up and get wall to wall coverage of the #1 sport in America.

The few occasions in the gym they have Sportscenter on, looks like you're more liklel to see WNBA or EPL highlights than the NHL. They wake up Barry Melrose for 5 minutes each day and then go back to some guy scoring a goal in England or Spain. And after all, the NHL is a demo, straight white guys with money, they don't care about.  

 

NHL is not in a  death spiral, but admittedly it's a niche sport with a ceiling run by idiots. Would't let Gary Bettman hail a cab given the way he's mismanaged the Coyotes. But much less so than soccer or WNBA.  

[RutgersJetFan]

9 hours ago, T0mShane said:

I wonder how much the NFL Network being good has hurt ESPN. Considering that the NBA and NHL are in a death spiral and MLB is diffused into regional networks, the fact that football fans can go to NFLN for their fix kills ESPN. Instead of sitting through 50 minutes of hockey "highlights," Bryce Harper coverage, and mock-debates over Steph Curry's humility, you can just go a few channels up and get wall to wall coverage of the #1 sport in America.

Pretty much. What's the point of me watching ESPN over the summer when it's cheaper for me to watch the actual games on any device I want from anywhere in the world? MLB actually has the best deal going right now and has for a while. The At-Bat package is 100% worth it even if you live in the area, and their renewal rates are insanely cheap considering the amount of games and coverage you get. They offered up a pretty sick gesture of good faith in the aftermath of getting successfully sued for not offering single-team packages; $80 entire-league subscription for the whole year. And Xfinity wants me to shell out an extra $8 a month on top of that so I can get Kurkjian's take on Harvey's struggles? **** outta here.

If I still do want highlights or rumors? I can just go to their site or anyone else's for free. And if any of them try to charge me for sh*t I can just go to someone who doesn't. I think I'm good on shelling out $5 a month so I can have the hot scoop on the next Knicks GM search.

This is similar to what happened to the music industry for quite some time and it's still playing catchup in a few ways. When you don't adapt quickly to new technology you can fall far behind within a small amount of time and then it's difficult to catch up. Cable companies are really trying to grasp at the last straws of a business model that is done and several channels are following suit (see: TNT's attempt at offering an app that broadcasted the Western Conference playoffs this year). ESPN's apps are great but the means that they provided to people to access them were ancient. They locked themselves further into the cable model and for the 40-and-under crowd that's not how a rapidly growing percentage of us are rolling anymore.

It's Disney, so they'll always be around, but they have a loooooot of catching up to do. 

[JetFreak89]

On 6/2/2016 at 10:24 AM, Fibonacci said:

While discussing ESPN, can anybody suggest a good website where I can track sports headlines? I am not on twitter and I rely on sports websites and ESPN has gone crap and other sites I find are click baits. I am in serious need of simple sports coverage. Any good site out there?

If you are looking for an app for your phone, I like theScore. Very simple app, you can follow entire leagues, specific teams and even specific players and set up notifications to pop up on your phone with relevant news. I like the fact that it reminds me 15 minutes before games start for my favorite teams. Obviously I don't need reminders for the Jets so much but sports with tons of games like baseball or hockey I have found that I have watched a ton more games than previously. I've also found that I receive breaking news faster than even the official NFL apps. 

[batman10023]

On 6/3/2016 at 7:29 AM, RutgersJetFan said:

 

You're both actually off on this one. Basic cable packages now may be without ESPN. Both AT&T and Xfinity's most basic cable/internet packages come without it. They do this to entice unpluggers like myself to upgrade. Funnily enough they give me free HBO, but no ESPN or other channels that used to be standard on all cable packages; TNT, CNN...etc.

It's kind of hilarious how they think this still matters. As if I can't get all this information elsewhere. They'd be better off just giving me the channels so I can watch them on my AppleTV with the ads, like how Crackle or CBS News does. And the 30 for 30s pop up on Netflix within a few weeks anyways.

he says he watches it occationally -  so that means he has it in his package and is considered a subscriber.

 

whether consumers are better off or not with bundles is a hard thing to figure out.  i do think 2nd and 3rd tier stations live off this stuff. 

[batman10023]

On 6/3/2016 at 7:44 AM, RutgersJetFan said:

Pretty much. What's the point of me watching ESPN over the summer when it's cheaper for me to watch the actual games on any device I want from anywhere in the world? MLB actually has the best deal going right now and has for a while. The At-Bat package is 100% worth it even if you live in the area, and their renewal rates are insanely cheap considering the amount of games and coverage you get. They offered up a pretty sick gesture of good faith in the aftermath of getting successfully sued for not offering single-team packages; $80 entire-league subscription for the whole year. And Xfinity wants me to shell out an extra $8 a month on top of that so I can get Kurkjian's take on Harvey's struggles? **** outta here.

If I still do want highlights or rumors? I can just go to their site or anyone else's for free. And if any of them try to charge me for sh*t I can just go to someone who doesn't. I think I'm good on shelling out $5 a month so I can have the hot scoop on the next Knicks GM search.

This is similar to what happened to the music industry for quite some time and it's still playing catchup in a few ways. When you don't adapt quickly to new technology you can fall far behind within a small amount of time and then it's difficult to catch up. Cable companies are really trying to grasp at the last straws of a business model that is done and several channels are following suit (see: TNT's attempt at offering an app that broadcasted the Western Conference playoffs this year). ESPN's apps are great but the means that they provided to people to access them were ancient. They locked themselves further into the cable model and for the 40-and-under crowd that's not how a rapidly growing percentage of us are rolling anymore.

It's Disney, so they'll always be around, but they have a loooooot of catching up to do. 

people stole music and that's why that industry died.   sports needs to do a better job at not letting that happen to them.

[77DRAFT]

On June 2, 2016 at 4:02 AM, PCP63 said:

Can't even remember the last time I watched ESPN or MTV, or seen a Disney movie. All three have gone severely downhill. Just a

1 hour ago, batman10023 said:

people stole music and that's why that industry died.   sports needs to do a better job at not letting that happen to them.

It's Disney, ESPN is a Disney channel, some things just don't mix.  Mickey Mouse and DIck Butkus, bad combo.

[jack48]

On June 1, 2016 at 6:39 PM, Jetdawgg said:

Because the TV sports rights bubble has officially popped

http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/outkick-the-coverage/espn-loses-1-5-million-subscribers-as-cord-cutting-accelerates-052816

 

No surprise. It is a charnel house

[Jet Fan RI]

1 hour ago, batman10023 said:

people stole music and that's why that industry died.   sports needs to do a better job at not letting that happen to them.

Right, The content shouldn't be stolen. But give me a basic package w/o ESPN and let me choose what sports programming I want to pay for. 

[Adoni Beast]

I saw this on reddit. So I'm citing my sources. But this is why espn is awful.

[hokiejetfan92]

Espn has definitely gone down hill in the recent years and especially since they tried to incorporate social media into their accounts. But I think it could have just as much to do with Americans simply choosing not to pay for cable anymore more than people deciding to downgrade to a package without espn. I was looking for hard numbers, but I saw in an article from 2012 that 2.3 million houses dropped cable since 2010. Projecting those numbers over 4 more years... That would account for 7 million of the 10 million. Granted, I'm sure the rate would not stay the same... but just food for thought

[Hitman Harris]

3 hours ago, batman10023 said:

people stole music and that's why that industry died.   sports needs to do a better job at not letting that happen to them.

A lot more to it than that. Has a lot more to do with them forcing contived garbage on everyone. 

People know the difference between real musicians and puppets. 

[drdetroit]

1 hour ago, hokiejetfan92 said:

Espn has definitely gone down hill in the recent years and especially since they tried to incorporate social media into their accounts. But I think it could have just as much to do with Americans simply choosing not to pay for cable anymore more than people deciding to downgrade to a package without espn. I was looking for hard numbers, but I saw in an article from 2012 that 2.3 million houses dropped cable since 2010. Projecting those numbers over 4 more years... That would account for 7 million of the 10 million. Granted, I'm sure the rate would not stay the same... but just food for thought

They are just trying way too hard to appeal to millenials with twitter.  Every single f-ing thing is "Carl Crawford had this to say about Lebron James's dunk on twitter"

 

WHO CARES