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ESPN: Too Big For Its Own Good?

I hope NBC Sports Network grows to become ESPN's best national competitor for the top professional leagues. I think it can get there if household carriage starts to match ESPN2 or MSNBC, but Comcast is going to have to do something creative and lucrative to get NBCSN out of sports tiers and onto basic cable.

Neither CBS Sports Network and Fox Sports via cable (FSN channels, Speed, FUEL, Big Ten Network) will probably grow as much as NBCSN potentially can, but they'll still keep ESPN honest by being a second refuge for smaller college conferences and pro leagues.

The shared mission for NBC, Fox, and CBS on cable? Make it darned hard for John Skipper to program ESPN2. As such, I think the clock could be ticking specifically for ESPNEWS and ESPN Classic--so much of what they exist for can be replaced online or through on-demand cable platforms.
 
Down the road, it may be in Comcast/NBCUniversal's best interests to ask cable operators to swap existing channel positions currently occupied by their other cable networks to get NBC Sports Network on better tiers. No one is going to advocate taking USA out of the basic cable tier, but arguments could be made that other Comcast/NBC networks like Bravo or SciFi are more niche oriented and could do just as well in lower tiers than a sports counterpart.

I think this may be especially true as NBC acquires more programming for their Sports Network and has to increase subscriber fees and justify it to cable operators. Also, it could very well be a chicken or egg argument as NBC Sports Net will need better positioning to be competitive in acquiring future sports programming.
 
If there comes a day when ESPN, CBS Sports, NBC Sports, and your favorite RSNs are all charging between $3 and $7 a month, won't that increase the drum beat of ala carte from the non-sports people?

If the prices we read on various blogs for cable channels can be trusted, a bit more than 20% of my personal cable bill goes for the ESPNs, Big Ten Network, Fox Sports Midwest, Speed, and Golf.

If NBC Sports and CBS Sports came along charging $3 a month each, that proportion would go up to 30%. At $5 each, its 34%.

Where does it stop?
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
Where does it stop?
Click to expand...

It stops the day the NFL and NCAA stop being licenses to print money, both for themselves and the networks. As long as they can demand the big bucks, somebody will pay them. The NBA, NHL, and MLB don't have that much clout, but they do generate enough interest to also demand huge rights fees.

If CBS, Comcast, News Corp., Disney, and DirecTV ever said "Enough! You'll get 1/10 of what we've been paying and like it," they'd all be in court faster than you can say "collusion."
 
One of the things we used to do on holiday weekends like New Year and Thanksgiving was watch football on FREE television. Now that cable has snatched up so many games, all that is on TV on New Year is infomercials and reruns.
If more people would dump cable and watch free TV exclusively maybe the lower cable ratings would encourage them to come back to free TV. If this keeps up its only a matter of time before cable gets the Superbowl, World Series and every other major Television event. Free TV will become non-stop "Biggest Loser" and hot tub shows.
 
flytrap said:
One of the things we used to do on holiday weekends like New Year and Thanksgiving was watch football on FREE television. Now that cable has snatched up so many games, all that is on TV on New Year is infomercials and reruns.
If more people would dump cable and watch free TV exclusively maybe the lower cable ratings would encourage them to come back to free TV. If this keeps up its only a matter of time before cable gets the Superbowl, World Series and every other major Television event. Free TV will become non-stop "Biggest Loser" and hot tub shows.
Click to expand...

I don't think people are dropping cable in high enough rates. Most cord cutters can probably get by without the sports exclusively on cable but many can't and will continue to pay for channels they don't have time to watch to see their favorite teams. The BCS games had low ratings but got a lot of $ from TV revenue generated by subscriber fees. People can still see their favorite NFL teams on local free TV whenever they're not blacked out.
 
Don't also discount businesses. I work in hotels and you have to have ESPN and other sports networks in your rooms and bars and restaurants, heath clubs and such. Consumer demand this and males that like that programming still make up the majority of business travelers.

So the cost isn't just filtering into your cable bill, it's also in your hotel room bill, your health club membership, the food you eat and the beers you drink.
 
I'm sure all five ESPN networks will be mainstays on hotel room channel lineups when all is said and done.
 
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