ESPN Gets Political, Loses 621,000 Subscribers

#27
#27
LouderVol said:
add revenue off of hits. I have never had cable, but I have thought about getting it, the only thing I would use it for is sports. Yet I can't stand watching ESPN 90% of the fall, which is the only time I would have watched it. It has gotten so bad where it has kept me away, and price isn't an issue right now for me.
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Maybe I tune it out, but I haven't seen their politics bleed into their live sports. And I don't watch anything else other than some of the 30 for 30 films. I guess I simply don't see what's so upsetting.
 
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#28
#28
Franklin Pierce said:
Part of the subscriber loss is certainly due to cutting the cord, but a lot of people do not like their new Social Justice Warrior programming.

Cutting the cord is not as easy and great as some people like to say it is.

The dinosaur may eventually die, but it will not happen in the foreseeable future.
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It's not going to die all the way. They will adapt. HBO was smart and went stand-alone services before they had to. ESPN is getting to the point where they have to in order to stop the bleeding. Not sure what their contracts allow them to do and when.
 
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#29
#29
n_huffhines said:
It's not going to die all the way. They will adapt. HBO was smart and went stand-alone services before they had to. ESPN is getting to the point where they have to in order to stop the bleeding. Not sure what their contracts allow them to do and when.
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They have a lot of soul searching to do. They need to question everything about their company.
 
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#30
#30
PKT_VOL said:
They have a lot of soul searching to do. They need to question everything about their company.
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The thing is, I believe they did that self analysis years ago thinking they would widen the audience...

But, they've ran off the ones that made them who they are..
 
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#31
#31
Pacer92 said:
The thing is, I believe they did that self analysis years ago thinking they would widen the audience...

But, they've ran off the ones that made them who they are..
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Self-analysis is often wrong. They might still get it wrong. But even they have to know what they are doing isn't working.
 
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#33
#33
Espn was at its best when it didn't take itself so seriously. Dan Patrick was wearing basketball shorts underneath the desk. The second they changed that culture, everything about the network changed.
 
#38
#38
volfanhill said:
If you look at the demos the NFL hasn't lost loyalty or interest with gen x or baby boomers. Milenials are tuning out at a record pace and they are also the ones cutting cords the fastest.
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TV cuts into their twitter and game time. Besides their attention span does't extend far enough to justify any kind of legitimate programming.
 
#39
#39
DancingOutlaw said:
I watch sports on ESPN. I don't watch anything else. I got tired of guys with eight concussions and half a PE degree telling me how society should work. They have lost a ton of talent, I don't think that's a coincidence.
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Probably the same lack of incoming talent has kept Vern and Gary on CBS because it isn't their talent. It will continue to get worse as newer generations only know how to speak in finger tapped incomplete gibberish - it might matter if they actually had something worth saying.
 
#40
#40
Pacer92 said:
The thing is, I believe they did that self analysis years ago thinking they would widen the audience...

But, they've ran off the ones that made them who they are..
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Wonder if ESPN and NASCAR used the same people and concepts?
 
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#41
#41
espn takes talking about a team and repeats over and over. you see when they discuss Dobbs. i don't watch espn news anymore, they make it all about themselvs.
 
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#42
#42
AM64 said:
TV cuts into their twitter and game time. Besides their attention span does't extend far enough to justify any kind of legitimate programming.
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Nice broad brush stuff there, chief.

The younger crowd, myself included, grew up watching the NFL, Sportscenter in the mornings (and late at night), etc.

The problem is even the younger sports fan is tired of ESPN's BS. We're cutting cords, which leads to these subscriber collapses, but we're also just not tuning in. Even less than 10 years ago- back in high school- I could turn on Sportscenter and watch highlights, but now all it is is fake 'analysts' giving me opinions that aren't any better than what I'd read on a message board.

We all want highlights, we want the obscure sports back, and we don't want more Stephen A. Smiths.
 
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#43
#43
I'm kind of a "tweener"; I am technically a cord cutter, but I have slingtv, which gives me access to ESPN any time I want it. I only want it when a college football game of interest is on. Any other time, it is pretty much unbearable.

I don't watch fox news, CNN or MSNBC. Why would I want to turn on a sports station and get a bunch of parrots talking about BLM, race relations, and the political stances of millionairs that play a game for a living?

(Note: It's not just about the politicizing of a sports station, but that doesn't help. I lived very happily without ESPN before I got sling, and it was because they offer nothing I need, while giving me a few of the games I want.)

Personally, my disregard for ESPN has not been due to politics, but the politics only exacerbate their problem in my home.
 
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#44
#44
ButchPlz said:
Nice broad brush stuff there, chief.

The younger crowd, myself included, grew up watching the NFL, Sportscenter in the mornings (and late at night), etc.

The problem is even the younger sports fan is tired of ESPN's BS. We're cutting cords, which leads to these subscriber collapses, but we're also just not tuning in. Even less than 10 years ago- back in high school- I could turn on Sportscenter and watch highlights, but now all it is is fake 'analysts' giving me opinions that aren't any better than what I'd read on a message board.

We all want highlights, we want the obscure sports back, and we don't want more Stephen A. Smiths.
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I'm not sure that's true across the board. Why sit thru Sportscenter for highlights when you can watch any highlight, on demand, on your phone? I rarely watch SC, but if I did I'd want to hear some commentary or analysis, because I will have already seen every highlight.
 
#45
#45
bamawriter said:
I'm not sure that's true across the board. Why sit thru Sportscenter for highlights when you can watch any highlight, on demand, on your phone? I rarely watch SC, but if I did I'd want to hear some commentary or analysis, because I will have already seen every highlight.
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For me, there's a HUGE difference between having to look up highlights I want to see and receiving curated, awesome highlights in a long reel without effort while eating breakfast (or just laying around).

I'm not always going to go look up an awesome hit in a Habs-Bruins game, but old Sportscenter would expose me to it and give me good stuff and all I had to do was turn on the TV while making breakfast.

I guess my point is the content they used to curate was better than the crap they're putting out now. If the commentary they had was provided by actual insightful former players and coaches- and not the ones that just blurt out the company line- I'd probably like it a little more.
 
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#48
#48
AM64 said:
TV cuts into their twitter and game time. Besides their attention span does't extend far enough to justify any kind of legitimate programming.
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Yeah. I miss the 70s and the 80s tv programming. So much more legit that we can stream it now and still nobody chooses to watch it.
 
#49
#49
I'm in the same camp as ButchPlz. They have a content problem. They deviated from their winning formula.
 
#50
#50
I'm glad someone over there recognizes it. Though I disagree only conservatives are complaining about the lack of sports on a sports network.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...about-charlottesville/?utm_term=.a466b06ff8f9

Sage Steele has made clear for weeks that her vision of the revamped morning “SportsCenter” she will co-host starting next week will be heavy on highlights; “people I talk to want more of that,” she said this spring.

This at least brings to mind a popular complaint that you’ve no doubt heard, especially from political conservatives: That ESPN has gotten away from sports and is too immersed in contentious and polarizing social and political issues.

Steele has hinted at this stick-to-sports stance, telling the New York Post that “people come to us for their sports,” and that “for the most part, I think we leave [social and political issues] to the news networks.”

“I will always go back to why did people turn us on when Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann were hosting, and why are they turning us on now?” she said. “And in my opinion, it’s not to hear about Charlottesville. … We will have some opinions, the three of us, but I don’t believe it’s about us. It’s about the games, it’s about the highlights. Let’s show some standings. Let’s talk about what’s coming up tonight. I’m just old, I guess, old-school.”
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