They have lost millions of subscribers due to "cutting the cord."

 

I read yesterday that Disney has told ESPN to cut about $30M from its annual budget over the next two years.

 

ESPN Tightens Its Belt as Pressure on It Mounts - WSJ

I wonder how much MLBN, NFLN, FS1 and NBCSports have factored into that.

 

Though, losing live sports is one thing keeping a lot of people tethered to the wall.

I'm about two days away from cutting off the cable. For a sports hipster like me, who likes watching the Tour de France, ice hockey and the occasional European soccer game, this was almost unthinkable a few months ago.

 

But Time Warner has gotten so expensive and the service so terrible that I'm one more night of the cable box going on the fritz away from being done with it completely.

Darn. Shucks. That's just too bad.

I'm about two days away from cutting off the cable. For a sports hipster like me, who likes watching the Tour de France, ice hockey and the occasional European soccer game, this was almost unthinkable a few months ago.

 

But Time Warner has gotten so expensive and the service so terrible that I'm one more night of the cable box going on the fritz away from being done with it completely.

 

Where would you get your desired sports action?

 

Have you looked into services like Sling?

They have lost millions of subscribers due to "cutting the cord."

 

I read yesterday that Disney has told ESPN to cut about $30M from its annual budget over the next two years.

 

ESPN Tightens Its Belt as Pressure on It Mounts - WSJ

 

Forcing Chris Berman to pay for his own lunch would be a real start.

I'm about two days away from cutting off the cable. For a sports hipster like me, who likes watching the Tour de France, ice hockey and the occasional European soccer game, this was almost unthinkable a few months ago.

 

But Time Warner has gotten so expensive and the service so terrible that I'm one more night of the cable box going on the fritz away from being done with it completely.

 

I was "cordless" for a while. Might do it again. I never missed anything about the endless channels other than live sports on the cable channels. You can still get over air channels and buy subscriptions to MLB or NHL (there's a Roku channel you can purchase that gets you access to international soccer too). But, there's no ESPN2 when the college game you want to watch is on there and there's no sports highlight show to put on while you're winding down.

 

Though, I think there is now a "cordless" package that includes HBO and ESPN. And I think I saw a headline somewhere yesterday that ESPN was hoping to get in front of the pack for "cordless" people, which sounds promising.

Where would you get your desired sports action?

 

Have you looked into services like Sling?

 

I don't know and I haven't yet. If I still lived in my old place and had access to AT&T U-Verse TV, this wouldn't be an issue. Time Warner, on the other hand, is a complete disaster. I'm getting less for more money.

 

Switching back to U-Verse internet the second I cut the TWC cord will be the first joy I will experience from my TV.

 

I haven't looked into a ton of those services yet. I know that I'm already doing Netflix through my Chromecast and have thought about setting up Hulu+ the same way.

 

I'm worried if I start buying online packages I'm going to end up spending just as much and getting fewer channels. Might still be worth it just to avoid Time Warner.

Berman I think is the highest paid at ESPN at around $3,000,000 per

Mike Tirico ESPN/ABC also make $3,000,000

 

Jim Rome on CBS TV/Radio makes around $30,000,000

Edited July 10, 201511 yr by Jumper_Dad

Researching it looks like the Mike's make around $2M per year

Cowherd is around $2M

Stephen A's new deal pays him around $3M (Looks like that other list is outdated)

I think Skip makes a little less

 

Maybe needing to cut $30M is why Olberman is getting let go

Get rid of Berman, Chris Broussard, Skip, Stephen A, and Mike Greenberg and the company will be exponentially better and will cut a huge chunk of the $30M.

Could this end up being the precipice of a sporting bust in the USA akin to the housing bubble bursting. Sports have become outrageous to attend and it looks like they may start costing more and more to watch at home. As it cost more and more to get the rights each year if the ad revenue doesn't follow networks like ESPN, Fox, CBS won't be able to bid such outrageous amounts for the TV rights anymore. Forcing sports to either become a Pay-per-view only option or the leagues, owners and players to take less from the networks. Thus lowering everyone's income.

....

 

I posted a bunch on the cordless topic in a College Football thread less than a year ago, including links to some articles on the subject. The percentage of homes with no pay-tv service is up to about 17% and has been going up every year for over a decade. Only going to get worse. Subscription fees is how cable networks pay their bills, not advertising. It is especially germane to ESPN because of all of the money they have spent to secure content in the last few years.

 

The college athletics (read: football) bubble is going to burst sooner rather than later. This is the main reason.

Wonder if this means ESPN will shutter its "prestige" departments such as Grantland?

OK, I am getting crushed with Directv and TWC (internet). Bottom line- Can I get the NFL Packageon anything other than Directv and drop all of this and go a different route.