ESPN has largely survived by cutting big deals with cable providers to be part of their normal package, and by painting itself as an essential part of any set of cable channels being offered (and then taking in more money by insisting that providers also bundle a host of ESPN-affiliated channels).
The problem is, consumers aren't sold on the idea.
'A new study commissioned by BTIG Research and analyst Rich Greenfield (registration required) found that 56% of those surveyed would happily ditch ESPN if it meant saving them $8 a month. 60% of females say they would ditch the channel for the $8 discount, while 49% of males would do the same. And while ESPN could pursue a standalone streaming service, 85% of those polled say they wouldn't subscribe at $20 a month, even if it bundled in all of the additional ESPN channels such as ESPN 2 and ESPN 3.'
Count me as part of that 49%. We turn to a game on ESPN maybe once every 3-4 months, and only when there are guests who have to see the Big Game when it's only available there. I would be happy to forego that privilege (sorry, gang) to save $8/mo.
The problem, as the article notes, is that ESPN has been operating in a bubble, where it has the market locked by becoming "essential" to cable companies. That's no longer the case any more, as more and more people shift away from cable. But the impact is not just on ESPN and its Disney overlords, but on the sports leagues that ESPN pays big buck to for exclusive coverage of games. If such a substantial part of the viewing public doesn't think that's worth it, ESPN may be renegotiating those contacts on the other end, which will make some NFL team owners (et al.) pretty unhappy (shucky-darn).
I'm definitely a cord-cutter, getting by with my HD Antenna for the few things I watch that aren't Netflix and Amazon Prime.
But that said, I do resent that key college games, including bowl games are ESPN-only. But I'm sure not going to spend $800/year to watch 1-2 football games a year. Instead, I just get pushed farther from sports–from apathy to dislike.
+Greg Stockton I'm wondering how long it will take sports leagues to realize that's a growing problem for them that will be more costly in the long run than the lucrative exclusive contracts they sign for the short run.
I would drop ESPN from any cable package I have for no discount at all. I have no use for watching sports. Having cut the cable awhile ago it's a moot point now.
One little quibble, +Dave Hill: I don't think their contract with the NFL is all that substantial. As I recall, they were part of a package put together by a variety of broadcasters; CBS and FOX split up the Sunday day games, NBC got a "showcase" Sunday evening game and ESPN got a "showcase" Monday evening game (which they had inherited from ABC, which had traditionally shown Monday Night Football — and of course ABC is also owned by Disney).
The entities it is more likely to hurt are college conferences. ESPN has paid a lot for exclusive rights to a variety of conference regular season and championship games (in particular, the bowls that take part in the College Football Championship Series as well as the championship game itself). If they were to cut back, it would probably hurt student athletes as much as anyone. What makes a conference such as the current configuration of the ACC possible (stretching as it does from Miami to Boston and West to South Bend Indiana) is money flowing in to cover such extensive travel costs. The so called "Olympic" sports (typically non-revenue producing) benefit disproportionately since they benefit from the money coming in from TV contracts for Football and Basketball.
It was also rumored that ESPN played a bit of hardball (no pun intended) with the Big East and the ACC in particular to get "realignment" achieved with Syracuse and Pitt leaving the Big East and joining the ACC (which effectively killed the Big East football entity). Of course, that has been vehemently denied, but conference "realignment" did happen to coincide roughly with TV contract negotiations with those conferences, in which ESPN was a major player.