ESPN To Cut Back Baseball/Hockey (More Original Programming,Less Sports)

Variety ^ | 6-22-05 | John Dempsey

[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.

[JohnnyP]

More pool.

[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.

[Patrick1]

More bad sports movies.

[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.

[My Favorite Headache]

The bio-pics should be left on ESPN Classic imo with a showing once maybe twice on the major network or ESPN 2. ESPN ruled in the 80s.

[AmishDude]

So much of this is about the weird economics of cable TV.

About $3 of your cable bill goes to CNN and will continue to do so until 2008, IIRC.

So, by putting the crap on the "flagship", they force cable (and satellite) to take that station as well as the ones people really want. Just like MTV. Gotta go a la carte. I don't think any cable or satellite company should negotiate fees with any commercial station.