While whacking 100 people saves roughly $20MM annually, I saw a report today that ESPN pays $100MM per each Monday Night Football game. IOW, this staff reduction, is not exactly going to make a real material difference. But once again, we are reminded how the Cable TV business model for funding sports is if not dead yet, at minimum, can no longer deny it has a terminal illness it can't survive.
And once again, it brings up the issue of the Pac-12 Network. Does anyone honestly think its subscriber base is going to increase while its foundation is the Cable TV business model? Literally, there is a net loss of cable/satellite TV subscribers annually now, and it isn't going to ever recover. How can the Pac-12 Network do anything but contemplate getting out of its current contracts, so it can sell its content directly to consumers on demand? Or, at least, it has to be able to re-negotiate those contracts to allow on-demand access to Pac-12 Network content absent a cable or satellite TV subscription.
What is wrong with using two different distribution channels? It would be as simple as when someone goes to log on to watch Pac-12 content online, they would be old to login with their cable/satellite TV provider account, OR subscribe to Pac-12 on-demand. In the former case, the Pac-12 Network can be bought through the cable/satellite provider. In the latter it can be bought directly online.
The reality is ESPN and FOX have totally f*cked themselves over. They continued feeding this monster until it became so big it collapsed on the weight of its own hubris. This idea that league revenues, and therefore athlete and/or coaching salaries and money for facilities, are immune to market forces (and technological evolution), is what leads to the creation of economic bubbles. Now the professional sports business - and included in that are major college conference sports - is that bubble. It might not pop at once, but the air is definitely starting to escape.
And once again, it brings up the issue of the Pac-12 Network. Does anyone honestly think its subscriber base is going to increase while its foundation is the Cable TV business model? Literally, there is a net loss of cable/satellite TV subscribers annually now, and it isn't going to ever recover. How can the Pac-12 Network do anything but contemplate getting out of its current contracts, so it can sell its content directly to consumers on demand? Or, at least, it has to be able to re-negotiate those contracts to allow on-demand access to Pac-12 Network content absent a cable or satellite TV subscription.
What is wrong with using two different distribution channels? It would be as simple as when someone goes to log on to watch Pac-12 content online, they would be old to login with their cable/satellite TV provider account, OR subscribe to Pac-12 on-demand. In the former case, the Pac-12 Network can be bought through the cable/satellite provider. In the latter it can be bought directly online.
The reality is ESPN and FOX have totally f*cked themselves over. They continued feeding this monster until it became so big it collapsed on the weight of its own hubris. This idea that league revenues, and therefore athlete and/or coaching salaries and money for facilities, are immune to market forces (and technological evolution), is what leads to the creation of economic bubbles. Now the professional sports business - and included in that are major college conference sports - is that bubble. It might not pop at once, but the air is definitely starting to escape.
