lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Because that comment wasn't directed at you.
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A Spirited Perfect Ten
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
flynnibus
Premium Member
AEfx
Well-Known Member
That's a valid question, but the truth is - the "core" would pay much more. I'm sure that any pricing system would be tiered because some folks would gladly pay $50 or more a month if they got little bells and whistles (sports fans seem willing to put their $ where their mouths are).
That's why the "Free to Play" gaming industry is so successful right now. Because while 95% may be playing for "free", 3-4% may be spending $5-10 a month, then the "whales" that spend $300-400 a month are the ones who pay the bills. Since there presumably won't be a "free" level, it is somewhat different - but the smaller population paying the larger amounts for the most deluxe experience is where a lot of the money is coming from with digital services.
Cesar R M
Well-Known Member
you mean just like how normal every day TV is, but with 30 minutes of ads for every 5 minutes of shows?
Cesar R M
Well-Known Member
id say the percentages are higher.. 60% free.. 30% the occasional buyer who buys a rare item or "skin". and then.. the 10% "chunker" group who have too money but too little time to "farm" the special items.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
First ESPN has been overpaying for content relative to the market and firing popular on-air talent making their product overly expensive from the cost side and losing eyeballs and ears on the other side.
Because maintaining that much cable plant is expensive, Headend and distribution gear are not free and every time a significant storm blows around a bunch of that gear is destroyed and needs to be replaced immediately if not sooner.
rael ramone
Well-Known Member
What would ESPN have to offer 'the whales' to get them to fork over big $$$ that they can't get from regular over the air TV or other cable offerings (whether ESPN or not)?
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
The problem for ESPN is the sports leagues are figuring out how to cut out the middleman (ESPN) cord cutters will be able to watch Football on NFL.COM, Baseball on MLB.COM, Basketball on NBA.COM, FutBol on FIFA.COM. What role is left for the ESPN's of the world?
the.dreamfinder
Well-Known Member
Bob Weis to replace Bruce Vaughn as head of WDI.
https://twitter.com/boss_angeles/status/688150291301060612
Bruce Vaughn is leaving as creative lead of WDI. Weis to replace him.
https://twitter.com/boss_angeles/status/688150291301060612
Bruce Vaughn is leaving as creative lead of WDI. Weis to replace him.
SosoDude
Well-Known Member
ESPN still OWNS college football. And I mean owns it. May not be enough though.
PhotoDave219
Well-Known Member
It wont be because of their revenue model. (Someone posted a graphic detailing this a few pages back)
The problem is that 55% of ESPN's revenue comes from Cable Subs. Cable subs go down, revenue goes down.
doctornick
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure how to answer in regards to differentiating a "regular" product versus a "fully loaded" one for "whales". Bujt the nature of sports broadcasting is that you can't just "get" the games you want from other offerings. If a game you want to watch is being broadcasted by ESPN, then you would need ESPN to see it. Just because OTA channels or other sports channels carry some sports doesn't mean they isn't additional content that you could only get on ESPN.
If you are a hardcore fan of an SEC team, for example, between the football/basketball games on ESPN networks and the SEC Network (owned by Disney), you'd miss out on a lot of your teams' games without having access to ESPN's networks. Now, sure, you might be able to catch a few games on other channels like CBS, but a lot of fans want to see most/all of the games. That's what will drive subscriptions when the time comes.
ESPN owns all of the ACC rights, the bulk of the SEC rights, a good chunk of the Pac-12Big 12/Big Ten rights (though Big Ten rights are coming up again soon). They own a bunch of other conference's games in basketball. They own a number of NBA games, including playoff games. They own MNF. They own the college football playoffs and virtually all the bowl games. They own some significant soccer properties like US national team games and the Euro Cup. They own the British Open and part of the Masters. They own Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open. Some of these games are on ABC, but the vast majority are not. If you want those specific games games, you'll need to get ESPN in some fashion*. That's a lot of programming to leverage to sell to consumers.
We have yet to see what will happen to ESPN in the future. But they definitely have a lot of valuable content. People do pay for sports and advertises pay to be seen with them. Many cord cutters will be glad to never have to be suckered into paying for ESPN because they don't care about sports. But many others will turn to sports broadcasting as the first "add on" they buy for their TV watching because they cannot live without it. There's definitely significant opportunity for ESPN to sell directly to consumers. It may be different tiers or different packages, but they have a lot of flexibility.
*I might be off on some of the broadcast rights. Don't bother to correct me, cause the point is that ESPN owns a lot of different sports' rights.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
The college leagues are already starting their own networks, Best example is the The Big 10 and BTN2GO.COM respectively. ESPN is a content aggregator no more than that and their business model is going the way of the buggy whip.
Iger needed to get ESPN online 3years ago to remain relevant going forward. It's too late now the major sports are now putting their OWN content online and with the advent of digital broadcasting they will be able to get their product on cable systems as well for far less money than ESPN needs to charge.
BTW the Big Ten network is hosted by Fox
BTN2GO.COM
primary name server = ns01.foxinc.COM
responsible mail addr = hostmaster.fox.COM
serial = 19
refresh = 10800 (3 hours)
retry = 3600 (1 hour)
expire = 2419200 (28 days)
default TTL = 900 (15 mins)
ns01.foxinc.COM internet address = 216.205.226.46
Last edited:
Rteetz
Well-Known Member
But you still need a cable provider in order for BTN2GO to work. I use it all of the time and have to enter my cable provider in, in order to watch anything.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
The so called 'cord cutters' are dumping linear TV and wired telephone service, But they are keeping and in most cases upgrading the internet pipe because without that how DOES one view online content.
jakeman
Well-Known Member
I like that you edited this post once you realized that ESPN is the progenitor of the SEC network.
HauntedMansionFLA
Well-Known Member
The Big Ten has their own network and I'm sure most other conferences do too. It will be just a matter of time till they figure out how to cut ESPN out and do it on their own and get the advertising revenue all to themselves.
Cesar R M
Well-Known Member
its interesting how business are again evolving back to square one.
before, each company sold, adverticed and moved their own product.
then we came into a "big distribution" model, where every company was specialized.. and thus gave the logistics and ads to secondary companies... now big companies are so big, that they prefer to cut down intermediaries and go back to a "we own and control all" model.
doctornick
Well-Known Member
The Big Ten Network is co-owned between the Big Ten and Fox. They can "cut out" ESPN for that, but would not run it on their own. That said, it only has their tertiary game rights, with their primary and secondary rights -- the better games -- going to other networks (currently, ESPN & ABC for football and CBS & ESPN for basketball). Fans wouldn't consider that to be an adequate replacement when they can't get the major games.
The SEC Network is owned and run by ESPN. Disney owns virtually all the SEC's rights, except for some football games on CBS. No way to cut out ESPN.
All of the ACC's TV rights are owned by ESPN. Some games are sublet to Raycom but ESPN can pull them back. Again, no way to avoid ESPN.
The Big 12 has their rights split between ESPN and Fox. Sure, some games could be seen even with "avoiding" ESPN, but the customer would still have to deal with Fox. Also, some teams have tertiary rights packed on other networks -- like the Longhorn Network owned and operated by... ESPN.
The Pac-12 has their primary and secondary rights split between ESPN and Fox. But, finally, we get someone who actually fits your point -- the Pac-12 Network is owned by the conference. They are the only example of a major college conference that could be supplying direct to consumer themselves. Ironically, they also have had the worse distribution deal since they are not as popular a conference, so much fewer people get the P12N. I guess we'll see them test your theory in upcoming years, but it has not an easy ride yet.
Looks like ESPN is starting to diversify.