3. It would be the end of the sports industry as we know it. Payments to ESPN and other sports-related channels are a kind of tax on cable and dish viewers for the benefit of the sports industry. That’s how those fifty-million-dollar salaries and billion-dollar broadcast deals are funded.
For that reason alone, this will not happen.
Ah, here we go, from 2011:
“Viacom’s Chief Executive Philippe Dauman noted that ESPN alone “is double the cost of all our networks combined.””
“Cable executives worry that these high fees [to ESPN et al] will lead to de-bundling, as younger people want cheaper à la carte packages. ESPN is the obvious target for cable execs, given it charges the highest per-household subscription fee of any cable channel.”
“SNL Kagan [an industry research firm] estimates its monthly per-subscriber fees for the flagship channel [ESPN] have risen 42% to $4.69 since 2006, compared to the average cable channel fee, which rose 24% over that same period to 26 cents a month, report Schechner and Peers.”
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2011/12/why-is-your-cable-bill-so-high/45791/
More recently (Feb 2013):
“Some consumers now see separate $2-$3 charges, specifically tied to sports, on their monthly TV bills. At least three pay-TV service providers — DirecTV, Cablevision and Verizon — have done that so far. DirecTV, the first to do so, says in a statement that its $3 monthly fee in select areas is meant to help offset the “skyrocketing costs of sports.””
“Disney’s ESPN, according to the Charlottesville, Va.-based research firm SNL Kagan, charges cable operators by far the industry’s highest fees — $5.13 per month. Virtually all other channels charge less than $1 monthly, such as CNN (57 cents) and MTV (39 cents). And ESPN insists operators carry the channel on basic cable — so they can’t recoup their costs by putting it on a pay tier.”