ESPN Laying Off Additional On-Air Personalities

[capitalcityguy]

exactly. I'm not discounting that people are annoyed by the non sports, social stuff. I am too. But people aren't cancelling their entire cable package because of ESPN's political views. Not in significant numbers, anyway. That's illogical. It's just not the reason for the drop in subscribers.

I agree it is a minority. That said, we've had plenty of threads on the forum in the past on people deciding to cut the cord or not and a very common reason for staying was not wanting to lose out on ESPN and other sports programming...and it was their ONLY reason. So if a person is already tempted to cut the cord and tired of paying the huge bill each month, it just seems very reasonable that this could have pushed them over the edge.

 

[Farnsworth]

I agree it is a minority. That said, we've had plenty of threads on the forum in the past on people deciding to cut the cord or not and a very common reason for staying was not wanting to lose out on ESPN and other sports programming...and it was their ONLY reason. So if a person is already tempted to cut the cord and tired of paying the huge bill each month, it just seems very reasonable that this could have pushed them over the edge.

People in this situation though, like myself, don't want to lose access to the broadcasting of live sports. Political takes on shows like SportsCenter or First Take aren't the deciding factors for us as we aren't watching this crap anyways. It's all about live events.

 

[Incyte]

People in this situation though, like myself, don't want to lose access to the broadcasting of live sports. Political takes on shows like SportsCenter or First Take aren't the deciding factors for us as we aren't watching this crap anyways. It's all about live events.

This is very true for most but how do you explain the reduced NFL ratings last year?

I'm quite curious if that was an anomaly or the beginning of a larger trend.

 

[capitalcityguy]

People in this situation though, like myself, don't want to lose access to the broadcasting of live sports. Political takes on shows like SportsCenter or First Take aren't the deciding factors for us as we aren't watching this crap anyways. It's all about live events.

I am the same way so I'm obviously speculating about others' decision triggers and in my mind, it isn't that big a stretch...especially for families struggling with their budget.

 

[Farnsworth]

This is very true for most but how do you explain the reduced NFL ratings last year?

I'm quite curious if that was an anomaly or the beginning of a larger trend.

I'm one of those who have been teetering on the absolute edge of cord-cutting for a very long time. The more I think about it, the more I realize I just need to do it. The only must see live events for me anymore are Iowa State games. With that said, we normally meet up to watch them as a group anyways, so I'm not sure I need ESPN anymore.

Like you mentioned, I don't feel the need to watch a lot of pro sports like NFL live outside of the teams I enjoy and follow. I find myself watching them less and less as well anyways.

I could see NFL viewership being affected by people's perception of the league overall from politics, bad behavior/arrests, safety/concussions, etc. I feel like people have so many other entertainment options and things to do now that you may follow your team, but may not watch a full slate of weekend games spanning from Thursday-Monday.

 

[carvers4math]

This is very true for most but how do you explain the reduced NFL ratings last year?

I'm quite curious if that was an anomaly or the beginning of a larger trend.

I know a growing number of people who believe the NFL is fixed.

 

[weR138]

I'm one of those who have been teetering on the absolute edge of cord-cutting for a very long time. The more I think about it, the more I realize I just need to do it. .

Do it. You won't regret it.

 

[jbhtexas]

Again, it only makes sense if people are so mad about ESPN's politics that they're cancelling cable entirely. Because ESPN's lost viewers aren't going to their competition. FS1 has been losing more subscribers than ESPN.

http://awfulannouncing.com/ratings/fs1-lost-more-households-february-espn.html

The political angle makes for a nice talking point, but the data shows that it just doesn't hold water.

Am I the only one whose ESPN broadcasts are interrupted by commercials? ESPN isn't 100% funded by subscriber fees. Various Internet sources put the percentage of ESPN income funded by subscriber fees at around 65%. People can stop watching ESPN without cutting cable. If people stop watching ESPN because of politics or any other reason, then ESPN can't charge as much for ads and revenue goes down. Or, companies are wary of advertising on the controversial programs, so ESPN has to drop rates to get advertisers. The ESPN exec said that the political nature of some of the broadcasts played some part in the issues. Why would she say that if it wasn't true? It would just make her look dumb to mention that politics played a part if it wasn't the case.

 

[RoseClone]

I'm one of those who have been teetering on the absolute edge of cord-cutting for a very long time. The more I think about it, the more I realize I just need to do it. The only must see live events for me anymore are Iowa State games. With that said, we normally meet up to watch them as a group anyways, so I'm not sure I need ESPN anymore.

Like you mentioned, I don't feel the need to watch a lot of pro sports like NFL live outside of the teams I enjoy and follow. I find myself watching them less and less as well anyways.

I could see NFL viewership being affected by people's perception of the league overall from politics, bad behavior/arrests, safety/concussions, etc. I feel like people have so many other entertainment options and things to do now that you may follow your team, but may not watch a full slate of weekend games spanning from Thursday-Monday.

We finally did it this month. I had Dish, 4 hook-ups, 2nd from the top tier package and the sports package for a total of $135/mo and always rising. I now have antennas and Playstation Vue because it has a channel we watch a lot and it is $30/month. There are others that are cheaper like Sling. I don't have ESPNU or ESPNNews which I never watch unless ISU is on but I can change my plan anytime to move up to the next plan that has them for $5. When the season is over I can move back down. If I decide Vue isn't doing it for us I'll try another one...they all have a free trial period.

I put the receivers in the boxes Dish sent me (which they charge $14/per) and dropped them off at UPS and feel great about.

 

[Cyched]

I first noticed SportsCenter (and ESPN in general) taking a step in the wrong direction back when Brett Favre was going through his retirement phase. Every...single...telecast...was like an episode of TMZ. I grew to despise Favre simply from the over-saturation. It was a tired subject and they beat it into the ground.

I think this was the same summer they had the Albert Haynesworth Watch as well. My SC viewing took a dive after that year.

 

[3GenClone]

Add NBA reporter Marc Stein to the cut list

 

[chuckd4735]

I agree it is a minority. That said, we've had plenty of threads on the forum in the past on people deciding to cut the cord or not and a very common reason for staying was not wanting to lose out on ESPN and other sports programming...and it was their ONLY reason. So if a person is already tempted to cut the cord and tired of paying the huge bill each month, it just seems very reasonable that this could have pushed them over the edge.

We cut the cord and went with DirecTV now, and my only reason for wanting ESPN was ISU basketball.

 

[matclone]

I first noticed SportsCenter (and ESPN in general) taking a step in the wrong direction back when Brett Favre was going through his retirement phase. Every...single...telecast...was like an episode of TMZ. I grew to despise Favre simply from the over-saturation. It was a tired subject and they beat it into the ground.

Unfortunately SportsCenter has become worse. They take one subject and completely kill it. In this day and age when people have shorter and shorter attention spans they drag out one or two stories and beat it to death.

Yep. And the dramatization has continued and infiltrates game broadcasts as well. It's difficult for me to watch any of their baseball games anymore (regardless of who the announcers are) because they spend so much time talking about silly bs instead of focusing on the game at hand. A year or two ago, there was a game in Arizona where Brandon___ was flopping about on a plastic toy in the pool at the ballpark, and there goes the camera and the talk, and all this in the middle of the game.

But this silliness is not limited to ESPN. I remember a classic (or maybe classless) broadcast a few years back where Joe Buck was going on and on about Terrell Owens' latest acting out episode, and Troy Aikman finally blurted out (off script, I'm sure): "Who cares?". Buck, ever the good corporate man, came back with, "I care! Fox Sports cares!"

 

[Gonzo]

Cowherd said that? Wtf...

He did. It was the last straw after other dumbass things he's said and it's why ESPN pushed him out the door. Of course in his radio interview Cowherd implied that he started looking for other opportunities long before that and left ESPN on his own because he saw the massive layoffs coming.

 

[Clonehomer]

On the political note. That doesn't mean just ESPN. There's a lot of people that kept cable for national news sources. As those have become so polarized over the past few years, I would imagine that there's a lot of people that started tuning it out. The drop in subscribers isn't just about ESPN, it's cable in general. ESPN just happens to be the network with the highest fixed costs.

 

[Bryce7]

https://nypost.com/2017/04/27/britt-mchenry-andy-katz-latest-talent-to-be-dumped-by-espn/

The water is swirling around the drain.

 

[Clonehomer]

So does this mean we're going to have more games where the announcers are sitting in a studio in Bristol watching the game on TV like the rest of us? If that's the case, I'm going to have to work harder to figure out how to get the TV to sync up with the radio.

Or...Maybe that's a solution for ESPN. Just use the local radio broadcast instead of actual commentators. They probably have enough channels these days to do both the home and away feed.

 

[jdoggivjc]

We cut the cord and went with DirecTV now, and my only reason for wanting ESPN was ISU basketball.

Switching from cable to DirecTV isn't cutting the cord - you just unplugged one cord and plugged in another one.

 

[cyfanatic13]

So does this mean we're going to have more games where the announcers are sitting in a studio in Bristol watching the game on TV like the rest of us? If that's the case, I'm going to have to work harder to figure out how to get the TV to sync up with the radio.

Or...Maybe that's a solution for ESPN. Just use the local radio broadcast instead of actual commentators. They probably have enough channels these days to do both the home and away feed.

It's been talked about before but that would be awful. TV and radio broadcasting are extremely different. If I'm watching a game, I don't need everything happening described to me like they do on the radio. TV broadcasters don't go near into detail what the radio guys do

 

[jkclone]

Switching from cable to DirecTV isn't cutting the cord - you just unplugged one cord and plugged in another one.

https://www.directvnow.com/

Its streaming