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| Economy |
| ESPN Loses 4 Million Subscribers In Past Year |
| 2016-08-06 |
| I've heard worse news this year In the past five years ESPN has lost 11,346,000 subscribers according to Nielsen data. If you combine that with ESPN2 and ESPNU subscriber losses this means that ESPN has lost over a billion dollars in cable and satellite revenue just in the past five years, an average of $200 million each year. That total of a billion dollars hits ESPN in the pocketbook not just on a yearly basis, but for every year going forward. It's gone forever. That's not just bad, this is downright cataclysmic. And it's getting worse. In the past year ESPN lost 4.159 million subscribers, that's another $350 million in lost revenue across the ESPN family of networks. ESPN presently has 88,781,000 subscribers, down from 101,000,000 subscribers five years ago. Given that the rate of lost subscribers appears to be accelerating, if we're conservative and just project ESPN loses 3 million subscribers a year for the next five years, then the worldwide leader in sports will have just 73 million subscribers in 2021. At that point in time ESPN would be roughly break even with the amount of money its paying for sports rights and the amount of money ESPN brings in via subscriber revenue. So where are all these subscribers going? A good theory posited by SportsTVRatings is that the loss is happening three ways, 1. death, 2. cord nevers and 3. cord cutters. Let me unpack those three: first, older people are dying off and they're more likely to subscribe to cable than younger people, second, many younger people don't subscribe to cable at all, hence they're cord nevers and third, many of you are also cutting the cord to save money. Combine all three of these factors and all are working against the cable and satellite bundle. So let's talk about the ESPN business model. I've written a ton about this, but on its most basic level every channel has a cost in your cable bill. You don't realize it because your cable bill isn't broken down by individual channel cost, but ESPN is by far the most expensive channel on all our cable bills. (ESPN is the most expensive channel costing $6.60 a month. The second most expensive? TNT, which costs just $1.65 a month). Every single cable and satellite subscriber pays around $80 a year for ESPN. With 88.7 million subscribers, that means ESPN pockets around $7 billion a year just in cable and satellite subscription fees. So what makes sports on cable TV a bubble? The fact that ESPN uses the money it receives from cable and satellite subscribers to buy sports rights. And the vast majority of those cable and satellite subscribers never watch ESPN. Your Aunt Gladys, who hasn't watched a sporting event in a decade, pays the same amount for ESPN as you do. What does ESPN do with that money from you and Aunt Gladys and its other 88 million subscribers? It buys sports rights. Presently ESPN is on the hook for the following yearly rights payments: $1.9 billion a year to the NFL for Monday Night Football, $1.47 billion to the NBA, $700 million to Major League Baseball, $608 million for the College Football Playoff, $225 million to the ACC, $190 million to the Big Ten, $120 million -- and potentially growing -- to the Big 12, $125 million a year to the PAC 12, and hundreds of millions more to the SEC. This weekend, the NFL opening exhibition game, the Hall of Fame Game will be on cable only. The travails ESPN is having in losing More at the link Via Ace O'Spades and the Perfesser |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #15 Radio seems to work well for my better half, who can listen to the Cubs while gardening or lying down for some shut-eye. |
| Posted by: james 2016-08-06 22:38 |
| #14 Fox Sports is awful as well. Remember the "more homeruns because of glow bull warming"? Also, the Speak for Yourself with Whitlock - Whitlock the Hack was who spearheaded the Javon Belcher murder + suicide as Gun Lobby/NRA conspiracy culture, not what really happened: ill raised boy apex athlete who had a child out of wedlock, baby momma's momma raising the two, he went out routinely to do a bunch of drugs (which ones we do not know because the toxicology report was buried) and drink a bunch of liquor the night before the game and hooked up with one of his mistresses, was pulled over by police on the way home, released because superstar, shot and killed baby's momma, then suicided himself at the stadium. Much easier to blame someone else then answer all of those questions, then Bob 'puffy face' Costas, the smartest man in the announcers booth, blamed white culture. Whitlock was a KC Star = Disney = ESPN blue chip until bought out by Fox. When PTI is the most popular show, you are doing it wrong. Countering that with SFY is like watching someone fishing a spot for 3 hours and doing nothing but losing bait, then taking their spot and expecting to catch something. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2016-08-06 14:18 |
| #13 Haven't owned a TeeVee in 10 years. Got big screen flat panel monitors powered by laptops with an internet connection. This link is all I need. |
| Posted by: Crating Clunk2894 2016-08-06 14:12 |
| #12 Mark Levin stated about sports casters "Most of them are liberals, and all of them are stupid." |
| Posted by: newc 2016-08-06 13:20 |
| #11 We cut the cable - two years ago, maybe three. Got Roku boxes, and paid for Netflix and Hulu - already had Amazon prime. Honestly don't think we are missing anything currently broadcast. We can pick it up down the line on streaming video and without commercials. The cable bill monthly from Time Warner was 150$+, and I was just sick of paying that much and only watching a few things. Now it's $43 for the internet service only, and about another 20$ a month for Hulu and Netflix. |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2016-08-06 13:14 |
| #10 I'm a month away from cutting the cord - I'd rather get damn near every channel in the world than pay $150 / month to listen to Screaming A. Smith tell me what a racist I am. |
| Posted by: Raj 2016-08-06 11:44 |
| #9 CF, Outrageous Acts of Science is still fun. Mythbusters is gone now but they were fading fast the last couple of years. Some of the History channel type stuff is okay and some of the car building shows on Discovery too. Never liked Bill Nye the Science Boob or Global Worming guys. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2016-08-06 11:14 |
| #8 Rant got gobbled. Will try again later. Political ad on Olympics - just turned the TV off, probably for the rest of the deal. Anyone see the opening ceremony? We MST3k the deal. What was the Japanese Imperial March? Happy Peasants? And the Yo Gabba Gabba War? ESPN is a knitting circle for aspiring sport bar trivia heros. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2016-08-06 11:05 |
| #7 Bill Nye the Political Hack you. Even science shows are tuning into GloBull Worming / Enviromental Facism indoctrination shows. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2016-08-06 09:46 |
| #6 I used to watch a lot of ESPN as a way to avoid all the political bull crap. Really fun in the old days when VFL (aka Aussie Rules) was on and Allie Sherman did the football analysis. I've always liked intelligent analysis shows and the weird sports but it changed into a channel of all big sports all the time. Then they tried to shove the WNBA down our throats, then the racial grievance mongers like Stephen A and the NBA. Pretty much down to one show now, Mike & Mike in the Morning and even that is becoming SJW polluted. Been going to the web for news for years, doesn't seem to be anywhere to go for non-politicized entertainment anymore other than a few science type shows and even those can get questionable. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2016-08-06 09:29 |
| #5 I cut the cable years ago. Between Netflix and Amazon, there isn't a show I miss. I can get NFL Sunday Ticket streamed for my Bronco games. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2016-08-06 09:26 |
| #4 I dumped cable several years abo. Never missed it. Now we mostly watch things on Amazon prime. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2016-08-06 09:18 |
| #3 ESPN has become MSNBC that occasionally shows sports. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2016-08-06 09:12 |
| #2 I dumped cable last year because of the constant predatory increasing rates with a lack of service just pissed me off. Most of the cable news is in the tank for the Donks as well. I got fed up with the constant left-wing drum beat for the Dems. I found that I saved a ton of money. The "real news" is available from the alternative media via the internet. The crowning blow came when At&T promised me service in time for a championship game and they didn't deliver. Ended up watching the game in a sports bar--haven't had cable since. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2016-08-06 08:27 |
| #1 You want payback, ban bundling. Then watch their numbers. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-08-06 08:07 |