ESPN Profit Plummets As Network Turns Left

#101
#101
Boston Vol said:
The Caitlyn Jenner/espy thing wasn't about politics, it was about ratings. There's a reason ESPN promoted it for over a month. Guess what, it worked. Ratings for that espy broadcast were up 200% over the previous years edition.
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If Arthur Ashe ever finds out that cosmetic surgery is now a sport, he's gonna come back and get his trophy.
 
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#102
#102
tnburban said:
ESPN has shifted away from pure sports reporting and analysis, to more of a "reality TV" type drama reporting on sports. Now it's not enough to show highlights from last night's whatever game. Now it's the drama from tweets, player reaction, coach reaction and fan reaction that is more important to them. Forget LeBron's triple-double, let's talk about how he did or didn't fist bump someone after the game.

They (ESPN as a whole) intentionally stir up crap by getting the hosts of their various programs to say controversial things to create news and controversies. Stephen A Smith, Jason Whitlock, Skip Bayless, Colin Cowerd, and more just to name a few (I know some are not with the network anymore, but were when they made their name). There have been a few co-hosts or regular guests on some of their shows that have basically come out and said that ESPN wanted them to say controversial stuff to stir up crap. But, if they went too far they cut them out.

And they have (or is it "we" have as they keep airing the same things??) a love affair for five things:
1. LeBron - For every 1 minute they spend talking about LeBron's physical game, they spend 10 minutes on him, his "empire," his tweets, his comments, his attitude, his blah blah blah.
2. Tom Brady/Patriots - If he farts there is a 5 minute segment about it. And then some talking head claiming the Patriots may have benefited from Fartgate and the NFL should investigate.
3. Tiger Woods - they keep saying he's not relevant, while they give him a 5 minute segment with talking heads telling us he's not relevant...until he plays a round of golf in the Bob's Septic Tank Service pro-am where they analyze his round for 20 minutes.
4. NBA in general - ever since they got the TV rights they have done everything they can to move NBA to the headlines waaaayyyyy more than ever before.
5. NFL over analysis - is the 2020 NFL Mock Draft 17.0 out yet?
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I'm so heartened to know that Southern sports fans have decided to stop watching sports and sports-talk on cable tv and radio--and reality tv, too, right?-- and instead will now be watching C-Span and reading classic literature along serious current affairs journals so they can become more enlightened citizens. Very encouraging
 
#103
#103
volfanbill said:
No, your point is there, just wrong. The extra networks were a hit. Very few expected cord cutting to be so quick and instantaneous. Funniest part of the whole thing is Fox Sports is literally hemorrhaging itself into oblivion due to the same problem, but brown noser Travis won't touch that.
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This.

On top of that, their ratings are terrible. The Bayless/Sharpe show is getting 0 shares in some larger markets. Bayless was even busted trying to use a fake Twitter account to prop up support.
 
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#104
#104
armchair said:
I'm so heartened to know that Southern sports fans have decided to stop watching sports and sports-talk on cable tv and radio--and reality tv, too, right?-- and instead will now be watching C-Span and reading classic literature along serious current affairs journals so they can become more enlightened citizens. Very encouraging
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Like me. :)
 
#105
#105
armchair said:
I'm so heartened to know that Southern sports fans have decided to stop watching sports and sports-talk on cable tv and radio--and reality tv, too, right?-- and instead will now be watching C-Span and reading classic literature along serious current affairs journals so they can become more enlightened citizens. Very encouraging
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What's sad is you really believe those are the only rational options. Getting some people to step away from social media and technology in general, would have the same success rate as kicking heroin.
 
#106
#106
Boston Vol said:
The Caitlyn Jenner/espy thing wasn't about politics, it was about ratings. There's a reason ESPN promoted it for over a month. Guess what, it worked. Ratings for that espy broadcast were up 200% over the previous years edition.
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Yeah for that one be episode but the ones it brought in don't watch espn and it pushed several regulars away....I know I don't watch espn anymore and that's bc it's shows simply aren't entertaining.... sort of like MTV.
 
#108
#108
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#111
#111
I avoid them because they've become way too political. I don't want sports and politics together. I do my best to stay away from politics in general.

I don't follow SC on Facebook anymore because of that. I get most of my sports news from B/R, and even they get political at times.
 
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#112
#112
I can only speak for myself, and I have Direct TV so I didn't unsubscribe, I just stopped watching as much. When they started adding in hidden political agendas, that was a huge turn off for me. Also, I don't like the new Sportscenter, or most of the on air "talent". I still watched Gameday, but I don't enjoy it as much as I used to, I don't like Bama homer Finebaum or some of the others. I still watch it for actual games, football and baseball, but hardly watch it for anything else anymore.
 
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#115
#115
They'd do well to go ahead and start offering ESPNs outside of cable/satellite packages thew way that HBO has done with HBONow and their partnership with Amazon as an add-on to Prime. There's plenty of money to be made from people who refuse to get cable, but still want ESPN.

I'd much rather pay $10/month during football season for ESPN, rather than reactivate my SlingTV account and spending $25/month for no other reason than it allows me to login to ESPN's site to watch games.
 
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#116
#116
ESPN is turning into the Deadspin of television. Its pretty clear their agenda and it's pretty grating to us non-political types (and moderate rights).

Michael Smith has fallen hard from grace.
 
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#117
#117
In my opinion it comes down to the increase in technology and the various ways people can access sports now. It's like MTV with music. You do not have to sit on your couch and watch ESPN to be informed about sports anymore. You can scroll through Twitter, instagram, Facebook, phone apps, etc. and know the information you want in seconds. And their shows are not that good. I do not want to watch hour long shows on repeat where people pointlessly argue with one another when I can just find out about my team and my interests instantly.

Also, there are so many streaming devices on the market that eliminate the need for cable like Sling, Roku, etc. But it still puzzles me that they are losing so many subscribers though. I keep them simply because I know I'll want to watch certain sporting events when ESPN broadcasts them.
 
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#118
#118
Because they over played their hand plain and simple. They thought they were more than they were.

They are trying to buy and sell millinials to stay on top and frankly millinials are only tuning in to watch certain games which fox and others are getting more and more of. Millinials are turning of their cable boxes.

They have enormous influence and power over the outcomes of significant sports situations like draft status or championship status or hiesman votes.... yet they are ALWAYS consistently wrong with their opinions.
 
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