{"id":129530,"date":"2016-01-21T17:54:40","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T00:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/21\/espn-is-not-nearly-as-popular-and-essential-as-they-would-like-to-be.html"},"modified":"2016-02-09T09:21:31","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T16:21:31","slug":"espn-is-not-nearly-as-popular-and-essential-as-they-would-like-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/21\/espn-is-not-nearly-as-popular-and-essential-as-they-would-like-to-be.html","title":{"rendered":"ESPN is not nearly as popular and essential as they would like to be"},"content":{"rendered":"

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).<\/p>\n

The problem is, consumers aren't sold on the idea.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.techdirt.com\/articles\/20160114\/06532833339\/56-would-drop-espn-heartbeat-if-it-meant-saving-8-month-cable.shtml<\/a><\/p>\n

'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.'<\/i><\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/a>\u00a0\n<\/div>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading “ESPN is not nearly as popular and essential as they would like to be”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-media-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/AP090831063822-IVLF5B15D.jpgimgmax=660.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":131035,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/09\/oh-please-please-let-me-live-without-paying-for-espn.html","url_meta":{"origin":129530,"position":0},"title":"Oh, please, PLEASE let me live without paying for ESPN","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 9-Jul-16 5:27am","format":false,"excerpt":"With apologies to those occasional house guests who actually want to watch something on it, I'm frankly more than happy to live without having (or paying for) ESPN.Please. Originally shared by +Jack Seeley: That'll be the end of cable companies being anything but dumb pipes... ESPN reportedly breaking away from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51496,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/17\/i-could-very-easily-live-my-life-without-espn.html","url_meta":{"origin":129530,"position":1},"title":"I could very easily live my life without ESPN","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 17-Jun-15 9:26pm","format":false,"excerpt":"In fact, it's really only ever watched in my household by house guests, and I have other ways of keeping most of them entertained. 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