Is ESPN Doomed?

[WhiteTrash]

Definition of doomed
(I'm old enough to remember the early 1990s when CNN was a primary reason people wanted to ditch the antenna for cable)

September 20, 2023
https://www.thestreet.com/entertainment/cnn-recorded-the-lowest-key-demo-primetime-ratings-in-network-history

CNN garnered just 55,000 viewers for its coveted weekend lineups, which include "State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash," and "Fareed Zakaria GPS."

Its Sunday primetime shows, which include "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper" and "Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy," fared worse, bringing in just 43,000.

The key demo is considered viewers between the ages of 25-54 and is highly coveted by advertisers and network bosses.

The ratings, which were first recorded online in 1991, are CNN's worst since the ratings began being tracked in '91.

I was a dedicated viewer of CNN HLN morning show for a long time, but they ended the show last year due to budget cuts. (HLN only shows simulcast of CNN and Forensic Files now) I really liked the show because they only reported the news, no commentary or spin. CNN lost this 10+ year viewer.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Definition of doomed
(I'm old enough to remember the early 1990s when CNN was a primary reason people wanted to ditch the antenna for cable)

What?

[Not A Serious Person]

What?

Yes, it was way more important than ESPN has ever been. This station was the primary catalyst for getting cable in the early 1990s

So important a force was CNN that TIME Magazine named Ted Turner its 1991 "Man of the Year"

History As It Happens
Linking leaders as never before, CNN has changed the way the world does its business.
https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,974614,00.html

[Uncle Rico]

Yes, it was way more important than ESPN has ever been. This station was the primary catalyst for getting cable in the early 1990s

So important a force was CNN that TIME Magazine named Ted Turner its 1991 "Man of the Year"

History As It Happens
Linking leaders as never before, CNN has changed the way the world does its business.
https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,974614,00.html

My house got cable in the early 80's so we could watch MTV and own the conservatives

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Yes, it was way more important than ESPN has ever been. This station was the primary catalyst for getting cable in the early 1990s

So important a force was CNN that TIME Magazine named Ted Turner its 1991 "Man of the Year"

History As It Happens
Linking leaders as never before, CNN has changed the way the world does its business.
https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,974614,00.html

Watching the first Gulf War on CNN was nuts.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Yes, it was way more important than ESPN has ever been. This station was the primary catalyst for getting cable in the early 1990s

So important a force was CNN that TIME Magazine named Ted Turner its 1991 "Man of the Year"

History As It Happens
Linking leaders as never before, CNN has changed the way the world does its business.
https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,974614,00.html

LOL, you are using Time naming him "Man of the Year" as evidence for that?

Regardless, CNN was never the "primary reason" people got cable television. That's nonsense.

[Uncle Rico]

LOL, you are using Time naming him "Man of the Year" as evidence for that?

Regardless, CNN was never the "primary reason" people got cable television. That's nonsense.

FCC loosening of restrictions was the biggest reason.  It allowed entities like HBO, ESPN and yes, TBS, to get off the ground. 

By the end of the 80's, cable was in over half of American households.

CNN was an important part of cable and American history.  We can argue about the benefits of CNN outweighing the bad from its inception if we'd like as well.  CNN begat our other news channels and its debatable if that's good or not

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

FCC loosening of restrictions was the biggest reason.  It allowed entities like HBO, ESPN and yes, TBS, to get off the ground. 

By the end of the 80's, cable was in over half of American households.

CNN was an important part of cable and American history.  We can argue about the benefits of CNN outweighing the bad from its inception if we'd like as well.  CNN begat our other news channels and its debatable if that's good or not

Right. But the primary reason people got cable was because they were tired of only seeing the four broadcast networks.

[Jockey]

Right. But the primary reason people got cable was because they were tired of only seeing the four broadcast networks.

Most of us understand this.

[Not A Serious Person]

Right. But the primary reason people got cable was because they were tired of only seeing the four broadcast networks.

I think you just made my argument.

TV viewers wanted more specialized programming, and in the early 1990s, as the TIME article says, CNN and round-the-clock cable news was a huge draw.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I think you just made my argument.

TV viewers wanted more specialized programming, and in the early 1990s, as the TIME article says, CNN and round-the-clock cable news was a huge draw.

You said CNN was "the primary reason." Now you are saying it was "a huge draw."

Those aren't the same thing.

[Skatastrophy]

Who cares about cable news? The median age of viewers is 60+, they're all doomed.

[Not A Serious Person]

You said CNN was "the primary reason." Now you are saying it was "a huge draw."

Those aren't the same thing.

They are, and if the Sultan is semantics doesn't know this, change your handle

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

They are, and if the Sultan is semantics doesn't know this, change your handle

Nope.

Your nonsense has been exposed again. You never learn to take the L. Always come back for another beating.

[WhiteTrash]

I think you just made my argument.

TV viewers wanted more specialized programming, and in the early 1990s, as the TIME article says, CNN and round-the-clock cable news was a huge draw.

We got cable for CSPAN.

[WhiteTrash]

Who cares about cable news? The median age of viewers is 60+, they're all doomed.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...... we're all doomed.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Nope.

Your nonsense has been exposed again. You never learn to take the L. Always come back for another beating.

Keyboard warriors unite!

[Not A Serious Person]

We got cable for CSPAN.

You might want to keep this to yourself

[Not A Serious Person]

Sports will splinter over many streaming services that will follow what MAX is doing starting later this week and charge extra for it. Getting everything you get on cable now will cost hundreds of dollars annually.

Why?

Because, under the cable business model, 75+% of sports are paid by people who do not watch it. Non-sports watchers are heavily subsidizing the sports watchers.

Now, under the streaming model, 100% of sports are going to be paid by sports watchers, and the cost to the sports watcher is going to skyrocket.

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Max Streaming Service Unveils $9.99-a-Month Sports Tier With NBA and MLB Games
'Bleacher Report Sports' add-on tier will be available starting Oct. 5, with a promotional period through February
https://www.wsj.com/business/media/max-streaming-sports-tier-nba-mlb-1c845ba

Live sports including NBA and MLB games are coming to the Warner Bros. Discovery increase; green up pointing triangle-owned streaming service Max next month and will cost interested subscribers an additional $9.99 a month, the company said Tuesday.

The charge for the "Bleacher Report Sports" add-on tier—named after the company's digital sports platform—is a 62% premium over the $16-a-month average subscription fee for the most popular version of the service, which includes content from HBO and Discovery and the Warner Bros. television and movie library.
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The approach Max is taking differs from other streaming platforms such as NBCUniversal's Peacock and Paramount Global's Paramount+, both of which carry live sports that air on their broadcast networks at no extra charge to subscribers. Media companies pay huge sums for the rights to air live sporting events.

"Our peers are essentially giving away sports for free. That is not the right model," said JB Perrette, chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery global streaming and games.

There has been tension between pay-TV distributors and programmers over the movement of high-value content in the cable bundle, including sports, to streaming services. The distributors say that is encouraging people to cut the cable cord, destroying a lucrative business.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2023/10/espn-finishes-2023-fiscal-year-with-networks-best-overall-viewership-since-2019-fiscal-year-key-demo-persons-18-49-also-best-since-fiscal-year-2019/

Scoop's George Costanza with another good call.

[Jockey]

https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2023/10/espn-finishes-2023-fiscal-year-with-networks-best-overall-viewership-since-2019-fiscal-year-key-demo-persons-18-49-also-best-since-fiscal-year-2019/

Scoop's George Costanza with another good call.

Yes, we all laugh at him.

[WhiteTrash]

https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2023/10/espn-finishes-2023-fiscal-year-with-networks-best-overall-viewership-since-2019-fiscal-year-key-demo-persons-18-49-also-best-since-fiscal-year-2019/

Scoop's George Costanza with another good call.

I'm curious what the 10 year trend lines are.

[Not A Serious Person]

https://espnpressroom.com/us/press-releases/2023/10/espn-finishes-2023-fiscal-year-with-networks-best-overall-viewership-since-2019-fiscal-year-key-demo-persons-18-49-also-best-since-fiscal-year-2019/

Scoop's George Costanza with another good call.

You quote ESPN's press release spinning its numbers. 

This is what serious people think about these numbers.
tl:dr Disney's stock has been slammed down 5% in the last week based on these numbers. Because it is a dying business with ever-declining numbers.


(Background: one week ago, Disney published separate numbers for ESPN for the first time.)

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https://www.barrons.com/articles/disney-stock-espn-value-buy-sell-668a51f7

At a first glance, the figures don't suggest Disney is in line for a windfall. 

KeyBanc analyst Brandon Nispel said the figures were negative for his previous estimation of ESPN's value at about $30 billion, saying investors would likely be disappointed by its midteens percentage operating margin.

"We suspect it will be difficult for Disney to drive much better operating income given rising sports costs, including the upcoming NBA renewal," Nispel wrote in a research note.

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Growth rates are what matter and ESPN has lost 40% of its income in recent years.

https://puck.news/the-2-9-billion-espn-valuation-question/

2.9 billion: That's how much operating income ESPN, the legacy sports television network, made in fiscal year 2022, according to financial data that Disney broke out separately for the first time on Wednesday. Until last week, ESPN's exact financial performance was a mystery. Now, with those numbers in hand, Wall Street can finally take a stab at determining what ESPN is worth these days, as Bob Iger weighs the costs of owning and operating a still massively profitable but swiftly declining business. To share some idea of the decline, I'm told that between 2012 and 2018, ESPN made $22 billion in profits, with $4.4 billion being the most it made in one single year.

So what is the true value of a linear TV network that appears to have made $2.9 billion in operating income last year but that once upon a time made $4.4 billion?

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[Uncle Rico]

I like watching the NFL on ESPN and texting friends about the game on my iPhone

[Not A Serious Person]

I like watching the NFL on ESPN and texting friends about the game on my iPhone

Yes, and?