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ESPN to lay off nearly 4% of workforce amid changing pay-TV landscape
- PaulHoule 11y agoWhy don't they fire everybody involved with SportsCenter and just show sports instead?
- Ocerge 11y agoYou're getting downvoted but you're not far from the truth. I fail to see how ESPN couldn't just charge the consumer more than they charge the cable companies, but hand out their channels ala cart and show more sports.
- dublinben 11y agoMost people who currently pay for ESPN (as part of cable TV bundles) would not pay for ESPN by itself. The price for actual viewers would end up significantly higher than the current $15 rate.
- toomuchtodo 11y agoSo what you're saying is ESPN is doomed to a slow death as more people cut the cord and no longer subsidize ESPN viewers (who won't pay what it actually costs). Good riddance!
- macleanjr 11y agoSportsCenter is one of the high margin show on the network[1]... this isn't by any means the cause of the reduction in workforce. [1] http://www.wsj.com/articles/espn-tightens-its-belt-as-pressure-on-it-mounts-1436485852 http://www.wsj.com/articles/espn-tightens-its-belt-as-pressu...
- protomyth 11y agoI think ESPN is destined to become the Netflix of second tier sports. MLB, NFL, NBA, and NASCAR will probably start being their own national contracts when the big [edit]four[/edit] stop being able to pay such high fees, and the little sports will be what ESPN has left.
- georgeott 11y agoWho will pay the majors the billions of dollars then?
- protomyth 11y agoI think they are going to have to go direct because I don't think the networks will have the money to keep up with those contracts. Both the NFL and MLB already have direct to the customer paid feeds.
- debacle 11y agoThe massive distractions allowed by the Internet, gaming, and the choice of what to stream is going to slice into those billions pretty deeply in the coming years.
- livestyle 11y agoThat's what makes the theory of disruption so powerful.. someone will come and offer sports that don't have these restrictions with rights and pave an entirely new landscape of digital sports.
- aninteger 11y agoI wonder if a pay per view model might work out.. For example to watch a certain game you pay 99c. If you want to watch live you pay a premium $1.99. Possibly special games (Superbowl, world series, nba playoffs) go to $2.99 a game.
- ghaff 11y agoObviously selling TV shows and movies by the drink does work as (part of) a business model. However, I would posit that a lot of people watch sports games pretty casually. They catch a bit of the baseball game while they're eating dinner or whatever. Some sports certainly work PPV (boxing being the clear historical example). I'm guessing football might do OK as well. But you'd really cut back on the audience which would mean a lot fewer ad dollars too.
- maxerickson 11y agoIt'd be really interesting to see what the network sports programming gets per viewer from the advertisers (I think they aren't capturing any cable money). Maybe that information is available, I don't know where to look (I guess the Superbowl numbers are pretty public and would establish a ceiling). Those numbers should more or less show what it costs to put together the programming and would make it easier to reason about how many viewers they need at a certain PPV price.
- GFischer 11y agoI had an NBA League Pass subscription last year, and it was absolutely fantastic and WAY better than the cable offerings (even if I paid for every single extra). However, it's too expensive for me (I had it as a gift).
- untog 11y agoPay per view might work, but there is zero chance it would cost $1.99. Right now ESPN is effectively subsidized by cable bundles, so if that all collapses expect sports to get a lot more expensive before they get cheaper.
- coldpie 11y ago
- canistr 11y agoI don't know how related it is, but it does feel like the rich are getting richer. In this case, because of the massive NBA TV-contract (9-year $24 billion with NBA-ESPN-TNT), the net losers out of this are not the millionaire players or executives, but the 4% workforce getting laid off. So while it's all fun to say that Lebron James is getting underpaid, this new contract and the subsequent increase in salary cap means that you're not paying for the ESPN employees to do their job but giving it to the rich.
- 91bananas 11y agoWho on earth would say LeBron James is underpaid? He makes $24 million in basketball pay, which is third in the league to Kobe and somehow Joe Johnson, plus god knows how much in endorsement deals.
- bnycum 11y agoThe NBA has a salary cap, unlike the MLB. Some say it forces players like LeBron to play for less than they are worth.
- cwal37 11y ago"But if this offseason is any indication, max players are the bargains once again. Forgive me for sounding like a bad Internet headline — but you are not going to believe how underpaid Kawhi Leonard is, despite his new max contract. The same salary cap spike that’s made this free-agency period so wacky is shifting what the league’s players are worth yet again."[1] [1]http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/kawhi-leonard-like-all-the-best-nba-players-is-vastly-underpaid/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/kawhi-leonard-like-all-t...
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- knoble 11y agohttp://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/02/12/275922026/episode-427-lebron-james-is-underpaid http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/02/12/275922026/episo... http://regressing.deadspin.com/how-much-is-lebron-really-worth-1595374835 http://regressing.deadspin.com/how-much-is-lebron-really-wor... http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2013/5/1/4291088/lebron-james-underpaid-infographic http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2013/5/1/4291088/lebron-james... And many more... It is generally agreed upon that in a salary capped league, and especially in basketball wherein a single player has a disproportionate impact on the outcome of a game, salaries are depressed in comparison to what teams would pay for his services on an open market. Lebron guarantees a competitive team no matter where he plays and significantly increased revenues and franchise values when leaving for Miami and returning to Cleveland.
- cruise02 11y agoThey can start with everyone who is involved in translating sports stories into emoji.
- sjg007 11y agoIf they offer an Apple TV subscription I would pay them $5 a month.
- gorbachev 11y agoPlease, please have Stephen A. Smith be one of the people laid off.
- jblow 11y agoPart of the reason this is unappealing to consumers is there are actually two layers of bundling here. One layer is the obvious cable TV bundling that most of us probably think is evil and should die. But the second layer of bundling is ESPN itself. How many people care about "sports" in general, enough to pay for all the sports? No, people usually are into a couple of sports at most. They like baseball, or they like basketball and football, or they like the other football, etc. Or even, they like specific players. I think there is a future to be had in selective channels available on the internet that cover specific sports in much greater detail than ESPN ever would.
- jbob2000 11y agoAll of those things are symptoms of the real problem; the professional sports organizations (NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB). These guys call all the shots regarding who gets to see what and when and how much it costs. I've never seen the LA Kings play because I live on the east coast and the NHL doesn't allow their games to be broadcast here. They are greedy and restrictive and the primary cause of sport broadcast woes. I have another bone to pick with them as well. They've chopped up professional sports and sold it to the advertisers. Fucking everything in a sports game has a company's logo on it. I went to a baseball game the other day and Home Hardware was sponsoring the field clean up crew. Are you kidding me? The fucking field janitors are wearing logos now? They ran out of things to stick ads on so literally anyone involved in the game in any capacity is wearing a logo. Baseball has turned into a thin excuse to serve ads to people.
- jblow 11y agoNo kidding. I was trying to watch some soccer games in England last month, and it was an exercise in having to fight through the flashing+animated ads around the entire field. I don't think I will ever try watching one of those matches again.
- zeveb 11y agoAs someone who has never in his life turned on the TV to watch an athletic competition, not even once, I greet this with the applause and cheers I never directed to the screen for some ball game. It's not that I mind those who like sports having the opportunity to watch them — that's a-okay — what I mind is that I and those like me have to subsidise them through cable fees, sports stadium taxes, tuition and the visual and attention pollution attendant on major-league and collegiate sports.
- trevor-e 11y agoOne can hope that Skip Bayless and Stephen A Smith are part of this. I kid, I kid, but seriously there's a large amount of sports fans looking for alternative sports news.
- JohnTHaller 11y agoConsidering that I was forced to pay $60 a year to support this channel that I never watched while I had cable - ultimately being one of the reasons I ditched cable entirely - I can't get too broken up over this.