With Texas & Oklahoma the SEC is a bigger draw than the NBA domestically. Foreign rights change the equation.
OT: Big Layoffs at ESPN
- Thread starter RUtix4me
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With Texas & Oklahoma the SEC is a bigger draw than the NBA domestically. Foreign rights change the equation.
A " Light" rant if I ever heard oneRejoice…they already are!!it’s remarkable how many stupid and financially questionable decisions one company can make…and it is awesome! Celebrate with a beer…just not from AB!
as for ESPN's parent company
Revenue for the quarter rose 13% year over year to $21.82 billion. A bright spot for Disney came from its parks, experiences and products divisions, which saw a 17% increase in revenue to $7.7 billion during the most recent quarter.May 10, 2023
So I feel the layoffs are just like RutgersDave posted earlier in this thread:
"the typical cleaning house that is done at all companies."
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They are a bigger draw regionally, but most advertisers want a national reach. Advertisers and viewers help to set fee rights. Add that to the fact ESPiN is losing subscribers at an alarming rate; how do they solve this problem while throwing money into the wind? Also, more players (Warner/Discovery, Fox, NBC, CBS, Amazon, etc.) want a piece of the pie. The pie isn't getting any bigger.
I think like you do. The BIG has NYC, Philadelphia, Chicago and now Los Angeles (!). There is one conference that can be national and by the grace of the big guy it's the one we are in. There's a hole re: the South and I would have liked to have UT but A and M did try to get away from them once. Who knows what the future holds but we are in the strongest position in my view.
Unfortunately they never talk. Both of them just constantly yell! Mostly about mundane things not worthy of yelling about.
That’s the point though. It’s all for shock value and attention. It turns me off but there must be enough people who watch it for ESPN to pay Smith or McAfee what they do.
While not the B1G markets, SEC is not hurting with markets. They own growth markets of Dallas-San Antonio-Houston triangle (includes Austin), Atlanta, Miami-Orlando-Tampa triangle, and Nashville-Memphis. Open markets for both are Phoenix (large), and smaller markets of Denver, San Francisco Bay Area, Salt Lake, and Seattle-Portland corridor.
I remember Bayless as a good columnist for the newspaper in Dallas, and Stephen A. Smith was quirky but good with the Inquirer. Something about TV brings out the worst in newspaper people. It's the same with Angelo Cataldi, who was an adequate but not great reporter at the Inquirer before he became a blowhard at WIP.
Cataldi of those is by far the worst. Promoted a tongue in cheek comment by former fellow Inquirer writer T.J. Furman to throw batteries at J.D. Drew. Furman wasn't serious and was pissed that Cataldi egged listeners on for a week to do just that. The guy is a complete scum bag in real life too!
I didn't know that about the origins of the battery-throwing proposal --anyone over three would know how awful an idea it is to throw a hard object at someone. I don't know about real life except that he dumped his wife of many years and married "the beautiful Gail." I read in Philadelphia Magazine (not the most reliable of sources, though) that he was encouraged by that terrible woman WIP had on the morning show before they hired Rhea Hughes.
I also recall he organized a demonstration to protest the Eagles' decision to draft Donovan McNabb.
I have a story from a friend/coworker who lived in the same neighborhood as Angelo. Can't write all the details as it involves kids from both families. But he asked my friend to split the cost of something that he got for free on air by a call-in listener to show! $400 back in the mid 90s.
Bayless wrote for the San Jose Mercury News for a bit (perhaps after his time at the Chicago Tribune). I thought he came across as a pompous rear-side and others I talked sports with thought likewise.
Bayless has moved around a lot! He went from college at Vanderbilt to the Miami Herald, then to the Los Angeles Times, then to the Dallas Times Herald, then to the Chicago Tribune, then to TV. He is obviously not stupid -- he was salutitorian of his high school class and Phi Beta Kappa at Vanderbilt, and has won awards for his newspaper work. Too bad he, as you say, comes "across as a pompous rear-side." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skip_Bayless
I recently saw TAG on ESPN. It was interesting how they can make a sport out of anything.
The coming across as a pompous rear-side is an affliction that affects many a very smart people.
Delicious. Can't wait for the rest of espn to be on the unemployment line.
That’s too bad, I liked him for his storytelling pieces. Think he did a good job replacing Tom Ronaldi.
As to ESPN, I think it’ll be fine. They just need to continue down the path of operating more efficiently. The days of largesse are long gone. Disney will be breaking out its financials in the future too so you can see just how it’s doing.
Some speculate that’s a step for a sale or spinoff but I don’t think so and Iger has said as much. If it was ever available, I doubt it would be for long as I could easily see one of the big techs swallow it up.
As to ESPN, I think it’ll be fine. They just need to continue down the path of operating more efficiently. The days of largesse are long gone. Disney will be breaking out its financials in the future too so you can see just how it’s doing.
Some speculate that’s a step for a sale or spinoff but I don’t think so and Iger has said as much. If it was ever available, I doubt it would be for long as I could easily see one of the big techs swallow it up.
I seriously never heard of Gene. I don't agree that ESPN will be fine. It is a shell of it's former self. Sports Center and the Top 10 were staples of almost every fan of sports. Used to tune in nightly to watch Sports Center.
Now, as one scrolls through their channel guide, most of the content is boring documentaries or replays of old games. Their move to become SECSPN is polarizing, and many general college football fans don't want to be spoon fed their pro-SEC spin.
Their live games have terrible and unlistenable announcers, from Beth Mowins to Joe Tessitore, among others, if they are the announcers, the sound is off.
Their baseball coverage is horrific, especially the fake piped in sounds of the ball popping in the catcher's mitt or a hit. Recently, their fake sounds were out of sync. Worse yet are the baseball announcers--just terrible.
Sorry for the downer of a post, but ESPN reaped what it sowed.
I don’t know if you watch CGD regularly but that’s where you’d see his storytelling pieces.
As to ESPN, despite whatever negatives are brought up about it, I‘m pretty sure it’s still a fairly profitable business for Disney.
Their problems have less to do with ancillary content beyond the actual sports and more to do with just the general trend of people giving up the bundle. Btw ESPN+ has actually been slowly adding subscribers, I think 24-25 million last I read. They need to get their costs right sized and figure out how and when to rollout ESPN OTT without cannibalizing what’s left of the bundle and get the price point right as well.
edit: btw these cost cutting measures aren’t a Disney specific thing or ESPN thing, it’s a media industry thing. Even big tech had to undergo such cost cutting measures because ad spending isn’t as robust as it had been.
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I'm acronym deficient WTF(
) does OTT mean? Over the top? Looked it up, and it seemed that was it, but where did that come from-- the Sly Stallone arm wrestling movie? Maybe because my viewing interests are B1G-centric, but I don't tune in much at all to ESPN, even for games, unless it is a B1G game. About the only time I watch their content regularly is during college bowl season.
KS, I can't believe we ever had a disagreement. (Bro Hug)
I follow no other sports besides CFB so I don’t watch ESPN except for CFB games and pre-post game shows. Regardless, they still make money.I'm acronym deficient WTF(
Maybe because my viewing interests are B1G-centric, but I don't tune in much at all to ESPN, even for games, unless it is a B1G game. About the only time I watch their content regularly is during college bowl season.
I think those 2 should have been the first ones canned.
I always liked Gene. Thought he was fair and a good storyteller. Wish him luck in whatever he decides to do next
I really do miss the old-school 30-minute SportsCenter that featured athletic competitions of significance with less emphasis on individual performance/accomplishments. I want to see how teams in multiple sports are performing relative to others in their divisions/conferences (not just the sports/events for which the network owns broadcast rights). Having a couple of wise asses annotate the highlights helps. It would be nice to know how my teams are doing, but I'd also like to know which teams are performing well during the ebbs and flows of their seasons. Highlights are by their nature about individuals but they used to be narrated in the context of broader results. I'm really tired of hearing about off-season player contracts when there are actual games being played and results to report.
I realize that this isn't a business model that will support ESPN's existing costs -- is there a legal alternative out there? Seriously. I'm OK with podcasts and streaming.
I realize that this isn't a business model that will support ESPN's existing costs -- is there a legal alternative out there? Seriously. I'm OK with podcasts and streaming.
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Take it with a large grain of internet salt, but her salary is estimated to be under 100k per year.
Suzy kolber is actually a gem of a human being so that’s a shame. But ya the rest of em … see ya
I get what you’re hinting at but all that matters is if she’s a cheaper alternative than what is there now.
Doc Rivers would be a great replacement. It has less to do with what I may or may not have hinted at and more to do with having someone who played or coached the game they are watching as an announcer to add their perspective, share anecdotes, etc. On the other hand, the baseball crew with Cone, and whomever else is on that crew are just awful, so with ESPN, it may not matter.
And Stephen Smith remarked at what a huge loss Van Gundy is to the network. ESPN seems to have forgotten that to make money you have to spend money.
Doc Rivers would likely cost more too. This is just someone guessing, who knows if it’ll be her or not. If they think Doc is worth it, they can pay him but most likely it’s going to be more than her.