ESPN Has Lost 7 Million Subscribers The Past Two Years

[bing101]

https://www.fiercecable.com/video/editor-s-corner-can-espn-s-new-boss-save-struggling-sports-network

Here is an update on ESPN.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

For the ESPN haters...
https://jalopnik.com/espns-f1-season-opener-broadcast-was-a-catastrophe-1824057087

[SP Cook]

ESPN's formula one coverage was indeed a train wreck.    Previously NBCSN had used some actual thought in mixing international camera work with announcers (who, often, were actually just working from the feed and not at the track).  ESPN just used the British Sky Sports broadcast, but cut away at, apparently pre-determened, intervals for US commercials, missing key elements of the event.  This may have been a function of the event being in Australia, and thus the controls were probably in the hands of somebody not smart enough to avoid the graveyard shift on a weekend, but time will tell.

Moving forward, ESPN's daytime lineup gets a shake up starting next week.  ESPNews, started as an "all day SportsCenter" channel back in the 90s, becomes the channel for video versions of ESPN Radio, with Golic and Wingo from 6-10, Dan LeBatard from 10- 1, a rerun of its Get Up show from 1- 3, and Will Cain from 3-6.   The issues there are the (pretty good IMHO) G&W show moves down to a channel that less people get and loses its mid-morming ET rerun (which means the show is unavailable to the west on a linear basis).  The big thing going forward is LeBatard's contract is up and he is looking at SXM radio and DirecTV where he can use profanity.   The Get Up rerun is apparently a short term thing, ESPN wants ESPNews to be "video ESPN Radio" all day on weekdays.

ESPNU will just start airing game reruns and filler.  The issue here is this channel, which previously had LeBatard and other non-college material is returning to what its name actually implies, which makes it less valuable, especially in the summer.

Then comes the two main channels.  Monday sees the launch of the Mike Greenburg "Get Up" show.  Described as "like Good Morning America but with some sports" early previews shown to ad buyers and leaked onto the internet have been 100% negative.  This has all the makings of a dumpster fire.  ESPN will have a rerun of the Van Pelt late night SportsCenter at 6, Get Up from 7-10, then its argument shows.  ESPN2 will air SportsCenter reruns all morning, then a rerun of Get Up at 10 and then its single sports shows in the afternoon. 

[formulanone]

I'm usually of the opinion that any F1 coverage is better than none at all, and I figured they're going to muff it a few times early on...but it was tough to watch. To be fair, that's how a lot of early-AM motor sports programming looked/sounded like on TV 30 years ago; where else and when were you going to see 6-month-old highlights of European Touring Car action or the World of Outlaws season review in the US?

That said, missed passes during commercial breaks are a fact of F1 life if there's commercial breaks. It's almost existential law by now. And not helped at all by a sport that's occasionally losing the message and becoming stuck in a technological moebius loop.