ESPN is caught in strategic limbo as Disney moves slowly toward streaming

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https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/07/espn...streaming.html

• ESPN is caught in an awkward strategic time as traditional pay-TV customers decline while the network continues to bring in billions in revenue.
  Disney covets NFL Sunday Ticket but will likely need to wait until DirecTV’s contract with the NFL runs out after the 2022 season, sources say.
  There are two factions within ESPN with differing viewpoints on the correct direction of the network -- one that favors SportsCenter and another that favors more personality-driven programming. ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro may try to balance the two.

The linear network’s future
This reality has created a dilemma for Disney. ESPN’s ratings almost by definition can’t improve in the long term as fewer people will watch live TV. But ESPN isn’t ready to fully embrace a streaming future as the network’s revenue continues to rise.

In the near term, ESPN’s ratings continue to perform well, with several shows, such as “Pardon The Interruption” and “First Take,” consistently showing month-to-month ratings growth. ESPN is the top network, cable or broadcast, with males 18 to 34 during “First Take’s” time slot, weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon E.T., which stars Molly Qerim, Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman. A handful of “SportsCenters,” including “SportsCenter AM,” have also shown consistent recent ratings growth.

The strong performances of “SportsCenter” led ESPN executive vice president Norby Williamson to recently replace the daily “Outside The Lines” half-hour show with an extended “SportsCenter.” The network has also recently asked that another personality-driven show, “High Noon,” hosted by Pablo Torre and Bomani Jones, be “focus grouped” -- industry lingo for learning more about who is watching and what people think of the show, according to people familiar with the matter.

But “SportsCenter” has also been undercut by technology, reviewing games whose results are readily available all over the Internet. ESPN.com, Twitter and other Internet sites often already have access to many of the highlights ESPN features by the time “SportsCenter” airs.

Keeping ESPN as more than simply a factory for games and highlights is important to many at the network, including almost everyone associated with executive producer Rydholm’s trio of shows “Around the Horn,” “Highly Questionable” and “High Noon,” the people said. Jones, Torre and Dan Le Batard, host of “Highly Questionable,” all come from the Rydholm tree and have helped ESPN reach different audiences over the past decade.

Pitaro, who took over as ESPN president last year, replacing John Skipper, will likely try to continue to appease both camps as he leads ESPN into the next decade. Le Batard remains close with Pitaro after breaking company policy and discussing politics on his radio show in July, according to people familiar with the matter. He has remained with the network and wasn’t suspended.

But as ESPN’s audience continues to decrease, or potentially skews older and wealthier, Pitaro may decide that linear programming that worked 20 years ago actually makes more sense returning to the airwaves.

An ESPN spokesperson declined to comment on the network’s show choices or future strategy.

All of this is a prelude. The biggest shoe to drop in the transition from cable to streaming will probably be the de-bundling of ESPN completely, allowing anybody to subscribe to it on an a la carte basis.

While Disney may be years away from making that call, the company has two clear choices: protect the golden goose or prepare for what’s to come. For now, Disney is trying to do both.

[Hawkee]

In sports channels ESPN has always been number one when it comes to watching sports such as boxing football tennis baseball golf bowling and racing but ever since it's debut in the 70's ESPN has always been toying with several ideas and innoventions to attract their audience. With Disney launching the Disney+ streaming service this Tuesday I think ESPN will be hurt and will go broke in a few years and will team up and partner with Disney to create a sports streaming service called DisneySports and with it sports fans can watch NFL games NASCAR races tennis boxing and more and would also feature talk shows with interactive interviews where fans can submit questions to sports stars and feature sports themed trivia game shows and a sports show called DisneySports World that would be hosted by George Michael "not the late singer but you might remember sports commentator George Michael's show The George Michael Sports Machine that debuted in the 90's" and believe me DisneySports would be huge. But since the demise of ESPN The Magazine in September ESPN has hit hard times. And if there was a streaming sports service it would bring ESPN out of limbo and becoming huge again
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