[My Favorite Headache]

Oh please.If they are going to use MTV as a model to follow by I might as well just skip ESPN forever from now on. Less sports on the total sports network. They suck now. All you see is poker for 9 hours a day and sportscenter recaps for another 9 with barely 3-4 hrs to cover a live sports event.

Give me 1982 ESPN any day of the week over the crap they push now.

[Patrick1]

More poker.

[SaveTheChief]

The new ESPN - 1 hour of sports news, 3 hours of sports, and 20 hours of "reality" television programming.

[Rodney King]

I wish they would just close down so I don't have to pay 5 bucks a month for a station that I don't watch.

[Petronski]

...the stereotypical potbellied sports nut, stretched out in his undershirt on a Barcalounger with a can of beer in one hand and a remote in the other.

But we ARE their audience. You're right, they're going to MTV this thing until the "entertainment" and "sports" are nowhere to be found.

Disney sucks.

[pollyannaish]

I've noticed the phenomenon on TVLand as well. Original programing like top ten shows and the horrible Farrah reality show and fewer old shows which is why we watched it in the first place. Very sad.

[John W]

"Kagan Research says ESPN already harvests more ad revenues than any other cable network, projecting a record $869.2 million in 2005, a 9% gain over those of last year."

Doing what they're doing now.So, lets mess it up.

[Cyclopean Squid]

Sigh. MTV model is right. They aren't going to improve their ratings; they're going to push away loyal viewers in exchange for fickle ones. I want to watch a ballgame on ESPN, not a soap opera about the players' wives. I cannot understand specialty cable networks abandoning their raison d'etre.

[GSWarrior]

I think more bio pics would work, but please leave the original series and movies behind. I'd rather watch 24 hours of Stump The Schwab than a series about poker players.

[discostu]

Maybe Tilt didn't find an audience because it sucked. Watched half an episode and was bored to death.

I can see his point though, with labor disputes in NHL NBA and MLB, sinking ratings in the NHL, lack of exclusivity with MLB, and the NFL keeping a lot of stuff for their own network, ESPN is now big enough to want revenue that's safe from the leagues.

[BigBadWolf]

No kidding. The ammount of poker they show is crazy. Who the hell just sits around watching people play cards? What's next, Celebrity Solitaire?

[Redmen4ever]

They can do with ESPN what they did with MTV ... cut out sports, like they cut out music ... but, when the start messing with CSPAN's formula, well, let's just say a man can only take so much!

[GOP_Raider]

I ping VERY begrudgingly.

[B Knotts]

I cancelled my satellite service, as all the sat/cable channels are getting just as bad as broadcast TV. What's the point?

[dfwgator]

What's next, The Movie Channel, stop showing movies?

[jordan8]

Politically, this will mean a further shift to the left on ESPN.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Shapiro says one of the reasons ESPN's scripted series about Las Vegas poker players "Tilt" failed to find an audience earlier this year is that the only free night not saturated with live sports commitments was Thursday, where, at 9 p.m., the show had to go up against such strong series as "CSI" on CBS, "Will & Grace" on NBC and "Extreme Makeover" on ABC. Against those odds, "Tilt" never really had a chance.

WRONG!! "Tilt" failed because it sucks. Period.

[Betaille]

I think their problem is the exact opposite, not enough live sports events. Even if there is nothing on, I'd like to watch old world series games, etc...

Who wants to see more fruity soap-operas? I don't care if theyre about sports.

[ElTianti]

What the heck are they talking about? Good baseball teams get good ratings. The (GO!) Red Sox vs. (Evil) Yankees game that open the season was got some of the best ratings in ESPN history.

The desire to attract female view is not surprising, since nearly all of television has been given over to women.

[wolfman]

I can see filling time with sportscasts and such at odd hours, but to run it instead of a live sports events is ludicrous. If I want talking heads and hollywood garbage, i'd watch all the other channels.

[Spirited]

Time to switch to Sirius or XM.

[Luddite Patent Counsel]

Couldn't they just start ESPN/Lifetime? "Original" crap programming alternating with sports-themed chick-flix like "A League of their Own" and "Bull Durham". If they want to go after the bulldyke WNBA demographic, fine. Just don't expect real sports fans to follow.

[BlackRazor]

ESPN and ESPN2 aimed the National Hockey League games it carried from 1999 through 2004 squarely at this viewer, but Shapiro says the NHL's ratings had fallen to such a depressed state by the 2003-04 season (a labor dispute obliterated the 2004-05 schedule) that he won't pay cash license fees anymore.

And the women's college softball world series (which filled the TV slots originally reserved for the NHL playoffs) drew higher ratings than last year's hockey playoff games. The rights to women's college softball are a lot cheaper than the rights to the NHL.

[pepperhead]

As a hockey fan I knew about the decision to show less hockey about a month ago. At that time I emailed ESPN to tell them how I felt about that decision. I also told them I didn't like all the movies and non sports they were showing when the could be showing sports. Tilt, Playmakers, Cold Pizza, Mike and Mike and Cheap Seats Programming and the rest of the garbage needs to go. I have yet to hear back from them. So I am going to email them again about them shrinking their baseball coverage as well. If ESPN doesn't want to show sports they should give up their spots on cable and satellite and let FOX do it. If you would like to email ESPN to complain their email is askespntv@espn.twdc.com

[Biblebelter]

One of the Fox Sports Channels had a darts tournament on the other night. Riveting television, absolultely riveting.

[Labyrinthos]

If they are going to use MTV as a model to follow by I might as well just skip ESPN forever from now on.

I was thinking more like the Discovery Channel, which has gone from science, nature, history, and culture, to hotrods, choppers, and bounty hunters, 24/7.

[Diddle E. Squat]

FESPN...

[Ulysses]

Then I guess you can't wait for September 6...

Drum Corps International (DCI), the world leader in producing and sanctioning touring marching music competitions, today announced that its dynamic and award-winning World Championships television program will be broadcast on ESPN2 this fall. This is the first prime-time broadcast of the program on commercial television, and it will be available to more than 88 million households.

[kidd]

ESPN - The all poker channel
The Weather Channel - The all tornado chasers channel
Bravo - The all homosexual channel
MTV - The all soft porn for teens channel
History - The all WWII channel
ABC Family - The all Drew Carey channel
Discovery - The all motorcycle shop channel
Lifetime - The all female victim channel
CNN / MSNBC - The all pretty-white-girl-abduction channels
BET - The all female butt shaking channel

I think I'll read a book tonight.

[LS]

I used to turn to ESPN as my first show of the day, to get the scores. No more. They are constanly into "programming" and special features. It's terrible.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

So ESPN is going to draw more viewers by destroying the very premise that they used to form the network in the first place? In their attempt to attract new viewers, they're going to tick off their current viewers and, in the end, it will be counterproductive and result in a loss. Not good.

8 hours of poker, 8 hours of Sportscenter reruns, and 8 hours of Pimp My Ride/The Hoop Life/Drink Martinis at Vince Carter's Pad/Clubbin' with Shaq is not what I need. See ya, ESPN. Wouldn't wanna be ya.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

...one of the reasons ESPN's scripted series about Las Vegas poker players "Tilt" failed to find an audience earlier this year is that the only free night not saturated with live sports commitments was Thursday, where, at 9 p.m., the show had to go up against such strong series as "CSI" on CBS, "Will & Grace" on NBC and "Extreme Makeover" on ABC. Against those odds, "Tilt" never really had a chance.

Sure. It had nothing to do with the fact that most people find watching other people sitting on their butts playing cards to be about as entertaining as watching paint dry.

Despite solid ratings, "Playmakers" got a reluctant cancellation notice after its first 13-episode season, falling victim to the hostility of the National Football League, most of whose owners hated the portrayal of some athletes as drug users, wife beaters and other unsavory types.

The NFL doesn't want the truth about it's criminals being shown. Besides, if you want to hear about players acting like asses on the field, beating their wives, using drugs, and killing people in DUI accidents, you don't need to watch a fictional TV series. All you have to do is watch Sportscenter and read the local paper.