ESPN Analysts Thought Cord Cutting Was Just a Fad A new report highlights just how unprepared ESPN was for the cord cutting revolution. We've long noted how the cord cutting phenomenon caught ESPN flat footed, thanks to executives that believed the cord cutting trend wasn't worth taking seriously. With ESPN now having lost 16 million subscribers over seven years (and an estimated 17,000 defecting viewers per day), the company has slowly but surely started to get the message that cord cutting is not only very real, it's a trend that continues to set records as users get fed up with expensive sports-loaded TV bundles. According to the Wall Street Journal, ESPN's denial was fueled by analysts who routinely informed executives that the cord cutting phenomenon was not worth worrying about because they believes it was never going to take off: quote: ESPN’s research department presented data arguing cord-cutting was unlikely to become widespread, according to attendees. “They were flat-earthers,” said one former ESPN executive. At the same time, ESPN was spending aggressively. The company agreed to triple the fees it would pay the NBA, which it believes is growing in popularity. On the talent side, Mr. Skipper closely managed negotiations, desiring to beat back rivals like Fox Sports 1 and NBC Sports. Agents, former ESPN executives and hosts said that led him to overpay for several on-air personalities. Ultimately ESPN executives responded to their own failures by Ultimately ESPN executives responded to their own failures by firing hundreds of ESPN employees . And while ESPN is telling everyone that its looming standalone streaming app shows they're now taking cord cutting seriously, we've noted previously how the service still isn't giving users what they want: the ability to buy traditional ESPN a la carte.







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Most recommended from 53 comments



camper

just visiting this planet

Premium Member

join:2010-03-21

Bethel, CT 31 recommendations camper Premium Member Put the egregiously expensive sports channels in their own tier

The tier should be sports and only sports, it should also be totally optional. Only those who want to pay for the sports channels should have to buy them.



At this point, with nearly $8 per month for ESPN, the cost of ESPN as a low-tier channel it has gotten quite ridiculous.

TIGERON

join:2008-03-11

Boston, MA 16 recommendations TIGERON Member Why is it that douchenozzles NEVER get it until it is too late? I almost feel sorry for these executives until I realized they are getting exactly what they deserve. nfotiu

join:2009-01-25 10 recommendations nfotiu Member There's not much they could have done The article makes a good point that they shouldn't have continued to spend large money on contracts when this was inevitable. But the fact is they were fully taking advantage of a model that allowed them to charge a lot of money to people who weren't watching their channel. There is no way to replicate that revenue in a cord cutting world, and offering their channel a la carte via streaming or via sat/cable carriers would cost them dearly. At some point cord cutting will kill that golden goose. But they have to continue to milk that for all that its worth until cord cutting reaches some level of critical mass to make a stand alone app make sense. existenz

join:2014-02-12 8 recommendations existenz Member Doesn't help that major league sports are becoming as sensationalized...



»fantelope.com/fan-attend ··· clining/ ...as the WWF. I used to follow pro sports in college and attended some games but the Big 4 have been turning into the WWF since. Sports 'analysts' are more interested in being a standout personality. And there's other more interesting content/entertainment out there to occupy my mind like CuriosityStream. Other casual sports fans I know don't attend games anymore - ticket prices too high, other things to do. Some just follow scores of games on phone, not really watch games then may only pay closer attention if making playoffs and even then still just watching scores on phone. It's just not ESPN in trouble, seems to be the whole industry...

tshirt

Premium Member

join:2004-07-11

Snohomish, WA 2 edits 8 recommendations tshirt Premium Member ESPN Analysts.... poor quality over paid sports analyst lead by overpaid poor quality market analysts

ESPN was just a fad LoveHD

join:2011-07-31

united state 5 recommendations LoveHD Member Okay. “With ESPN now having lost 16 million subscribers over seven years (and an estimated 17,000 defecting viewers per day), the company has slowly but surely started to get the message that cord cutting is not only very real, it's a trend that continues to set records as users get fed up with expensive sports-loaded TV bundles.”



When it reaches that point, there is no longer a choice.



It sounds like the people behind the scenes of ESPN are not particularly bright. Walter Dnes

join:2008-01-27

Thornhill, ON 3 recommendations Walter Dnes Member Cynical correction to story we've noted previously how the service still isn't giving users what they want: the ability to buy traditional ESPN a la carte. the service still isn't giving users what they want: the ability to NOT buy traditional ESPN with their cable packages. Ditto for other sportsnets. the service still isn't giving users what they want: the ability tobuy traditional ESPN with their cable packages. Ditto for other sportsnets.