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ESPN (A bunch of Death-Spiraling maroons)

This has nothing to do with politics, sports watchers or even [Mark May]ty ESPN. Most people who watch live sports still have cable. A LOT of people who don't give a [Mark May] about sports have dropped cable in favor of netflix, hulu, hbo, amazon, etc. Since ESPN was on every basic cable package in the country, they are losing a buck per cord cutter.
I dropped cable 6 years ago and have not missed a single OSU game. Plus, I hear it's more like $7 per.
 
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Well, yeah, but do you remember when you could only watch about half the Ohio State games in a season?

I remember when teams were limited to one or two games a year and many 's the time the only chance you had to see the Buckeyes for the year was the Michigan game. ABC and then ESPN changed the way we enjoy college, and especially Buckeye, football today. The problem with 24/7 anything is that there's a limited amount of product that will attract enough viewers to meet the cost. So, be careful of what you wish for with ESPN, you just might get your wish.
I remember those days of getting possibly only two games a year and ABC was front and center of that coverage. I don't see any way things ever go back to that level of coverage with the interest and money in college football. That being said, I did hear someone on FOX Sports commenting that eventually the losses at ESPN will hurt college football. Of course he failed to elaborate on how.
 
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I remember those days of getting possibly only two games a year and ABC was front and center of that coverage. I don't see any way things ever go back to that level of coverage with the interest and money in college football. That being said, I did hear someone on FOX Sports commenting that eventually the losses at ESPN will hurt college football. Of course he failed to elaborate on how.
Well if folks aren't willing to pay as much to watch, listen to or otherwise take part in college football, then revenue will fall as will revenue for BTN and other networks when it comes time for renegotiation of contracts. That will ultimately impact the bottom line at schools. There is a shift happening with cord cutting and other demographics which might ultimately reign in what has seemed like and endless cash cow.
 
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Well if folks aren't willing to pay as much to watch, listen to or otherwise take part in college football, then revenue will fall as will revenue for BTN and other networks when it comes time for renegotiation of contracts. That will ultimately impact the bottom line at schools. There is a shift happening with cord cutting and other demographics which might ultimately reign in what has seemed like and endless cash cow.
I can see what you're saying. It will be interesting to see what the long term impact will be.
 
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Don't overpay for broadcasting rights.

Don't do shoddy reporting on scandals that piss off every alumni and fan of a given institution, and don't have on-air personalities whose primary job is to piss off certain fanbases.

Don't insult every political/cultural/religious conservative that would otherwise watch sports on your network.

Then, you will be on pretty solid footing.
 
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Don't overpay for broadcasting rights.

Don't do shoddy reporting on scandals that piss off every alumni and fan of a given institution, and don't have on-air personalities whose primary job is to piss off certain fanbases.

Don't insult every political/cultural/religious conservative that would otherwise watch sports on your network.

Then, you will be on pretty solid footing.
These are all good points, but I'm not sure how much it relates to the steady decline in cable viewership. This decline isn't just an ESPN thing, it's cable in general. Now, the fact that they have overpaid for broadcast rights, yeah that's a problem. As is supporting LHN if it cannot hold its own.

But if mellenials don't want to watch, or at least pay for watching sports, then the industry will change.

A la carte programming will ultimately offer a huge change as well. I suspect that many existing networks and programs will die with a la carte or they will find their way going the YouTube route.
 
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Don't overpay for broadcasting rights.

Don't do shoddy reporting on scandals that piss off every alumni and fan of a given institution, and don't have on-air personalities whose primary job is to piss off certain fanbases.

Don't insult every political/cultural/religious conservative that would otherwise watch sports on your network.

Then, you will be on pretty solid footing.

These are all good points, but I'm not sure how much it relates to the steady decline in cable viewership. This decline isn't just an ESPN thing, it's cable in general. Now, the fact that they have overpaid for broadcast rights, yeah that's a problem. As is supporting LHN if it cannot hold its own.

But if mellenials don't want to watch, or at least pay for watching sports, then the industry will change.

A la carte programming will ultimately offer a huge change as well. I suspect that many existing networks and programs will die with a la carte or they will find their way going the YouTube route.

While the future for ESPN Is fucked because they way overpaid for programming rights... they are still making fist fulls of dollars, this is now being driven by investors in Disney who keep pushing them to cut ESPNs budget so they can make even more money.
 
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These are all good points, but I'm not sure how much it relates to the steady decline in cable viewership. This decline isn't just an ESPN thing, it's cable in general. Now, the fact that they have overpaid for broadcast rights, yeah that's a problem. As is supporting LHN if it cannot hold its own.

But if mellenials don't want to watch, or at least pay for watching sports, then the industry will change.

A la carte programming will ultimately offer a huge change as well. I suspect that many existing networks and programs will die with a la carte or they will find their way going the YouTube route.
What are all of these faggy millennials watching anyways?
 
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I remember those days of getting possibly only two games a year and ABC was front and center of that coverage. I don't see any way things ever go back to that level of coverage with the interest and money in college football. That being said, I did hear someone on FOX Sports commenting that eventually the losses at ESPN will hurt college football. Of course he failed to elaborate on how.

I would think that money lost at ESPN is money lost on paying for the rights. Given the rapid turn in how media is distributed - hulu, playstation, netflics, HBO - given the declining numbers in cable subscriptions - and I assume Dish too - something's gotta give.

Kind of like how Trump mined the unhappiness in the white lower middle class, I've always resented the lack of a la carte channel offerings. I could easily put together a list of 7 channels and be done with it - and not a one of those would be home shopping -
 
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My own viewing has changed over the years - as late as 1968 I watched anything that sports offered up - thinking
ABC's Wide World of Sports - Irish curling, Aussie rules football, international skiing, the Olympics, on top of baseball, football and basketball. One by one many of them have fallen off - curling and Aussie rules because nobody covers them, skiing maybe if I don't have something more interesting to do, Olympics because they spend way too much time telling tear jerkers on how little Tommy saw his father killed in an elephant stampede and swore he'd grow up to be the world's greatest luge rider even though his mother had dengue fever and the nearest run was 7,000 miles away in Switzerland, baseball because the Reds really fucked a bunch of us over - shared a box, row three, dead even with 3rd base and they wanted us to cough up $1K per seat and then move us out to row 30 dead even with the left fielder, NBA basketball because you can take steps, palm and/or carry the fuckin' ball, and hand check the shit out of anybody without getting called and nobody plays offense or defense like the Bill Russell Celtics [quote: Fred Taylor, Basketball Techniques and Coaching 453, 1967 - "Only one team in the NBA blocks out, that's that team in green and white, on the crazy looking floor, in the building with all the banners hanging from the ceiling."] Pro football because every team plays like every other team and if you don't have a QB you're fucked. I'm now down to mostly college football and even then not a whole lot more than the Buckeyes. I'm probably not alone on some of this, but I think the audience has probably narrowed its interest range just as I have. that's not good for ESPN or TV.
 
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