ESPN Has Lost 7 Million Subscribers The Past Two Years

[SP Cook]

Relative to M&M, it looks like Golic's show is just going to be the continuation of M&M and they have already shown they have plenty of others on staff that can be plugged into the Greenburg role.  The issue for that show is ESPN plans to move it to ESPNU, which a lot less people get, after football season.  Meanwhile, Greenburg's show is reported to be considered for a delay from its January launch.  Apparently ESPN's empty suits just agreed to Greenburg's desire for a show without really seeing if he could produce something watchable for three or four hours per day.  Apparently he cannot.  Now they are saying the show may not launch until late spring.  I will continue to point out that FS1's replica of the show "First Things" is a great alternative, but likewise much too focused on the NBA.

Other than live games, the only ESPN products I watch is the ATH/PTI block, always recorded so the politics and NBA obsessions can be FFed.  I will watch Feinbaum on the SECN just for fun now and then.  I will watch their college wraparound shows sometimes.  I cannot watch any version of SC anymore, they just have no interest in actually giving the scores of the day's sports in rough order of their notability and popularity.

[1995hoo]

ESPN gets F1 broadcast rights starting next year. Not sure how I feel about this...
http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a12778328/formula-1-espn-broadcasting-rights/

Sounds like we'll lose Diffey, Hobbs, Matchett, and Buxton. That's a shame. They're not perfect, but they do good work.

[formulanone]

ESPN gets F1 broadcast rights starting next year. Not sure how I feel about this...
http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a12778328/formula-1-espn-broadcasting-rights/

Sounds like we'll lose Diffey, Hobbs, Matchett, and Buxton. That's a shame. They're not perfect, but they do good work.

If they can get Bob Varsha and Derek Daly, it will be better than okay. But they're looking like darkhorses right now. Buxton does a great job in the pits, Hobbs has driver's experience in many disciplines, Matchett knows the technical / team side of things, so they'll be missed.

I'm not a fan of the bland "world feed" commentary that I've heard on YouTube videos. It sounds so...pre-recorded and a bit contrived.

[Takumi]

Isn't the English-language world feed commentary the UK announcing team?

[1995hoo]

ESPN gets F1 broadcast rights starting next year. Not sure how I feel about this...
http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a12778328/formula-1-espn-broadcasting-rights/

Sounds like we'll lose Diffey, Hobbs, Matchett, and Buxton. That's a shame. They're not perfect, but they do good work.

If they can get Bob Varsha and Derek Daly, it will be better than okay. But they're looking like darkhorses right now. Buxton does a great job in the pits, Hobbs has driver's experience in many disciplines, Matchett knows the technical / team side of things, so they'll be missed.

I'm not a fan of the bland "world feed" commentary that I've heard on YouTube videos. It sounds so...pre-recorded and a bit contrived.

It was nice hearing Varsha again for the Singapore race, but I think he's more or less locked in at FOX Sports for now. I recall when F1 moved to NBC he said the reason he didn't move was that he was under contract with FOX to cover more than just F1, whereas Hobbs and Matchett were not.

I looked on Twitter last night and Hobbs has more or less said he figures he'll be retiring from TV work. Not retiring completely as he does own that Honda dealership in Wisconsin.

[Takumi]

Yeah, I remember that about Bob as well, yet the only thing I've ever seen him cover since F1 left Fox is a car auction.

[slorydn1]

Yeah, I remember that about Bob as well, yet the only thing I've ever seen him cover since F1 left Fox is a car auction.

And the 24 Hours of Lemans, too!

[Takumi]

I wouldn't know, since Fox's coverage of that is, uh, strange.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

I looked on Twitter last night and Hobbs has more or less said he figures he'll be retiring from TV work. Not retiring completely as he does own that Honda dealership in Wisconsin.

Funny, I remember when David Hobbs had a car dealership in Columbus (during the 1980s).

[bing101]

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/12/14/how-the-disney-fox-deal-affects-local-sports-coverage/

Note the OC Register talks abot how the Fox/Disney deal affects Fox sports West in the Los Angeles area and how it affects the contracts of LA area teams.

[SP Cook]

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/12/14/how-the-disney-fox-deal-affects-local-sports-coverage/

Note the OC Register talks abot how the Fox/Disney deal affects Fox sports West in the Los Angeles area and how it affects the contracts of LA area teams.

After all the name changes, people who are not hard core sports TV geeks will have a new lingo to learn.  ESPN, for the about 70% of the country where Fox and then ESPN owned the local RSN, could mean:

- The "regular" ESPN channels ("mothership", 2, U and News) that show national broadcasts of games.
- ESPN on ABC, which is how ABC brands almost all of its sports programming.
- ESPN3, which is not really TV, but supplemental, mostly small time, games on the internet.
- Watch ESPN, which is an internet based mix of all of the above.
- ESPN Radio, which is ESPN's syndicated package of talk shows and the radio coverage of several major events.  This is often confusing because ESPN's news shows and "bottom line" genterally insists that things on other networks are on ESPN Radio, with no mention of the TV coverage.
- The other ESPN Radio, which is 100s of staions that have branded themselves as "ESPN Radio" and carry the above, plus locally produced materal that really has nothing to do with ESPN.
- ESPN regional, such as ESPN West or ESPN Ohio, which will carry the local teams locally, plus (generally) filler material.

[bing101]

http://deadline.com/2017/12/john-skipper-resigns-espn-president-co-chairman-disney-media-networks-1202229094/

Update John Skipper leaves ESPN.


https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/james-andrew-miller-inside-an-espn-presidents-shocking-exit-bob-igers-role-1070918

[bing101]

http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/05/media/donovan-mcnabb-espn-eric-davis-harassment/index.html

Update two pundits at ESPN has been removed over harassment allegations.

[Roadgeekteen]

And now ESPN is create fake drama about the Patriots .

[triplemultiplex]

ESPN has been in the tank for the Pats for decades.
The Patriots, Yankees, Red Sox, Lebron network.

[mgk920]

ESPN has been in the tank for the Pats for decades.
The Patriots, Yankees, Red Sox, Lebron network.

Seeing as they are HQed in central Connecticut . . . .

<rolleyes>

Mike

[Roadgeekteen]

ESPN has been in the tank for the Pats for decades.
The Patriots, Yankees, Red Sox, Lebron network.

Seeing as they are HQed in central Connecticut . . . .

<rolleyes>

Mike

Then what about Lebron?

[jp the roadgeek]

ESPN has been in the tank for the Pats for decades.
The Patriots, Yankees, Red Sox, Lebron network.

Seeing as they are HQed in central Connecticut . . . .

<rolleyes>

Mike

Then what about Lebron?

[spooky]

ESPN has been in the tank for the Pats for decades.
The Patriots, Yankees, Red Sox, Lebron network.

ESPN is most definitely not "for" the Pats. They caused the deflategate controversy with their inaccurate reporting, and seem to be targeting the Patriots again with some unconfirmed rumors this past weekend regarding the relationships between the QB, head coach and owner.

[SSOWorld]

How about SEC Football??

[KeithE4Phx]

ESPN has been in the tank for the Pats for decades.
The Patriots, Yankees, Red Sox, Lebron network.

Seeing as they are HQed in central Connecticut . . . .

<rolleyes>

Mike

Then what about Lebron?

ESPN is all about marketing stars, as is the NBA for that matter, but ESPN does it for all sports it coves.

See:  Brett Favre (Green Bay), Peyton Manning (Indianapolis), Tim Tebow (Univ. of Florida), for example.

[Roadgeekteen]

ESPN has been in the tank for the Pats for decades.
The Patriots, Yankees, Red Sox, Lebron network.

Seeing as they are HQed in central Connecticut . . . .

<rolleyes>

Mike

Then what about Lebron?

ESPN is all about marketing stars, as is the NBA for that matter, but ESPN does it for all sports it coves.

See:  Brett Favre (Green Bay), Peyton Manning (Indianapolis), Tim Tebow (Univ. of Florida), for example.

Those stars are kind of outdated. It is not 2009 anymore.

[triplemultiplex]

ESPN has been in the tank for the Pats for decades.
The Patriots, Yankees, Red Sox, Lebron network.

ESPN is most definitely not "for" the Pats. They caused the deflategate controversy with their inaccurate reporting, and seem to be targeting the Patriots again with some unconfirmed rumors this past weekend regarding the relationships between the QB, head coach and owner.

There's no such thing as bad publicity.

[SSOWorld]

ESPN has been in the tank for the Pats for decades.
The Patriots, Yankees, Red Sox, Lebron network.

Seeing as they are HQed in central Connecticut . . . .

<rolleyes>

Mike

Then what about Lebron?

ESPN is all about marketing stars, as is the NBA for that matter, but ESPN does it for all sports it coves.

See:  Brett Favre (Green Bay), Peyton Manning (Indianapolis), Tim Tebow (Univ. of Florida), for example.

Those stars are kind of outdated. It is not 2009 anymore.

They still worship LeBron and Tiger though.  Any golf tournament featuring the latter is elevated to a top story and the focus is on him, not the leader/winner of the tournament.

[Roadgeekteen]

ESPN has been in the tank for the Pats for decades.
The Patriots, Yankees, Red Sox, Lebron network.

Seeing as they are HQed in central Connecticut . . . .

<rolleyes>

Mike

Then what about Lebron?

ESPN is all about marketing stars, as is the NBA for that matter, but ESPN does it for all sports it coves.

See:  Brett Favre (Green Bay), Peyton Manning (Indianapolis), Tim Tebow (Univ. of Florida), for example.

Those stars are kind of outdated. It is not 2009 anymore.

They still worship LeBron and Tiger though.  Any golf tournament featuring the latter is elevated to a top story and the focus is on him, not the leader/winner of the tournament.

Not Lebron, but Favre and Manning.