Posted on 09/07/2023 2:10:43 PM PDT by jeannineinsd
In the summer of 2014, the cable and satellite bundle peaked. One hundred million households were subscribed to ESPN, the most successful channel in the history of cable, and the apex of the greatest business in the history of media had been reached.
But no one knew it.
Cable, satellite, and media executives were all blissfully unaware of what was coming. Fox Sports FS1 had launched the prior year — yours truly appeared on the very first show in the history of the network, a 2013 college football preview show. In the summer of 2014 the SEC Network would make its debut. The SEC Network was, in fact, the single most successful cable and satellite channel debut in the history of the cable industry. With the launch of the SEC Network, ESPN, the channel’s owner, stood at the pinnacle of its power, the company seemed indestructible, a gold plated money minting machine.
Billions of dollars in profits flowed off ESPN each year, enabling all of Disney to flourish. It was the crown jewel of the company, a profit spigot, the Titanic of the cable fleet.
But an iceberg loomed ahead.
And almost no one saw it coming.
The era of cable and satellite cord cutting began in the fall of 2014.
Quietly, at first.
So quietly, in fact, that most at ESPN and in the cable industry refused to acknowledge what was occurring. A few million here, a few million there, slowly a trickle turning into a stream and then the stream turning into a river and before long there was a flood of cord cutters.
(Excerpt) Read more at outkick.com ...
I got ad blocker too. The video that ‘floats’ in the bottom right, was not an ad. It was silent but I found it constantly dragging my read attention away from the content.
fyi
Read an article couple months ago about Barstool sports positioning themselves to step up as the new ESPN.
One and the same.
“I’ve pretty much switched to just watching the highlights, can’t sit through whole games anymore, especially with all the woke commercials you have to deal with.”
we pre-record the football games we care about and then skip everything but the 13 actual minutes of play in each game ...
“At least half of the sports programming I watch is with the volume completely off. The wokester announcers are insufferable. “
ditto ... esp. since most sports announcers don’t know squat about the game they’re announcing and just parrot numbers and stats whispered in their ears by their producers ... and Sean McDonough is absolutely the worse for that since he drones on about all of that useless information in a coma-inducing monotone ...
Haven’t watched any TV for YEARS in this household
What a shame, there goes your dance moms.
Be a player, not a watcher.
I used to be a crazed college football fan, and now, meh, i think i’ll go for a hike, or yard work. It’s just entertainment that no longer entertains, so it’s not worth my time.
Go Dawgs, Go Noles, Had to hate Shiny Pants Head Ball Coach. Now, meh.
Ditto
Hahaha - I was at an airport sports bars last week - and some kind of professional KICKBALL was on TV
No, it’s not..........
Please explain to me how the college football team is not part of or affiliated with the college. Is the coach not employed by the university? Do the players not attend classes at the school? Who grants the players their scholarships?
Please explain to me how the sports teams “engaging in woke anti-American activities” as you suggested about the schools.......
Teams supporting BLM, a Marxist anti-American organization that has committed terroristic crimes.
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