The Street: Why Cash-Cow ESPN Is Becoming a Drag on Disney

[junglehusky]

The Street article

Maybe a catchy headline more than anything else. I am not a business guy but these are not unanticipated costs, right? Maybe this has more to do with echoing from the giant stink bomb that was John Carter on Mars.

 

[SubbaBub]

Espn's threats are strategic and not on the balance sheet.

If bundled cable goes the way of the dodo, or content providers self distribute they have some reason to worry.

The have a lot of content rights locked up for a long time and the promotional leverage they have over every other distribution platform is still huge.

Can anyone tell me the name, location, time and channel for this past weekend's NASCAR race? You all would if it were on ESPN.

 

[Exit 4]

Espn's threats are strategic and not on the balance sheet.

If bundled cable goes the way of the dodo, or content providers self distribute they have some reason to worry.

The have a lot of content rights locked up for a long time and the promotional leverage they have over every other distribution platform is still huge.

Can anyone tell me the name, location, time and channel for this past weekend's NASCAR race? You all would if it were on ESPN.

The Ipad changed the game for laptops - didn't make them obsolete - but has dented sales in a major way and forever changed how we value a laptop. After years of hype, cable cutting is poised to do the same with video media. Everyday I meet ever more cable cutters thanks to the ever improving capabilities of web based tv.

Unbundling will have interesting consequences. Regional baseball networks (YES/NESN/SNY) could see a big reduction in $$ over the next decade along MLB tv, NHLtv, ESPN, etc. The question every tv channel will be forced to explore is after they lose there [10-70%] HouseHold penetration under the old bundled model, can they make up the lost revenue by increasing their effective monthly price on the remaining HHs. That is the big unknown.

 

[Exit 4]

Can anyone tell me the name, location, time and channel for this past weekend's NASCAR race? You all would if it were on ESPN.

I respectfully disagree. It seems to me its (tv channel loyalty) all eroding so fast. People are becoming more accustom to surfing a broad spectrum of channels to find the sport they want to watch and increasingly we are all watching different stuff including different sports.

 

[SubbaBub]

I respectfully disagree. It seems to me its (tv channel loyalty) all eroding so fast. People are becoming more accustom to surfing a broad spectrum of channels to find the sport they want to watch and increasingly we are all watching different stuff including different sports.

If you are saying that the AAC should have passed on ESPN and launched it's own distribution network it's hard to argue, but I think the visibility and cross promotion offered by ESPN, still carries a lot of weight in the market and at the bottom line for leagues and advertisers.

The question is will people pay $5/mo for Watch ESPN access when the major league all push content through their own streaming sites. It's a long term concern.