Longtime ESPN anchor Linda Cohn says politics to blame for network problems...
- Thread starter Mojocat
- Start date
There may be a modicum of truth to what she says, as far as it goes. But ESPN's major problems are financial, which is why they are laying off people now. ESPN is owned by Disney, and ESPN has been the major loss leader in the Disney empire for years. So these layoffs are not unexpected, and I don't know why anyone is surprised.
You are clearly correct about ESPN not caring what their audience thinks. This is evident by them doubling down on the root cause of the problem. Also evident by the fact that they are going through massive layoffs and are still in major financial distress. These layoffs won't cure that.
They do run the SEC network but it's hard to tell that. The SEC network is almost 100% sports coverage and yes I do watch that.
Also the fact that I will continue to watch UK games is not going to save them. Me watching a 2 hour game once per week on only one of their 20 or so channels is the problem. Most of the time on all their channels they are filling network air time with crap that has no audience. Again layoffs won't fix the fact that 90% or more of your air time is unwatchable.
Because these other channels haven't paid megabillions for NFL/NCAA/MLB/NBA/SEC/Longhorn/ACC rights. It's basically overextending yourself.
omg...antonio mcdyess is on right now discussing jazz/clippers. so political.
Here are the facts...they are still very profitable. If they were in the dire straits that you claim, Disney would have dumped them a while ago. That's not happening. They are dumping the old and boring personalities, mainly the white folks in favor of your Lebatard, SAS, SC6 and other, more favorable personalities.
The thing you seem to gloss over is whether you watch 1% or 99%, you are still watching and paying for their liberal slant. Watch the SEC network, you're subsidizing their liberal slant. Watch any 30 for 30, once again, you're subsidizing their liberal slant. Watch UK games on ESPN, once again you are subsidizing their liberal slant.
ESPN is bundled with every single cable and streaming package. Want to avoid ESPN and watch one of the competitors? Well, FS1 and NBC Sports are always bundled in a cable and steaming package with ESPN. So whether you watch it or not, you are subsidizing their liberal slant.
Business models change and what ESPN has learned over the years is they don't need to be heavy with on-air personalities. They are doing just fine without Simmons, Whitlock, Patrick, and countless others. If they were really in financial troubles, they would have shuttered some of their lesser known channels...but that is not happening as they are not in that much trouble.
Stop pretending your boycott is going to change anything. ESPN clearly is laughing at your attempt to sway how they decide to move forward. Our society is addicted to sports and will continue to be. Good luck not watching sports. And guess what, there is a reason why ESPN is the Worldwide Leader in Sports.
Wow. Just simply wow. You sound like someone on ESPN's board of directors if not for the fact that parts of this sound like it was written by a 15 year old. "dumping the old and boring personalities, mainly the white folks". Yeah that was a great point there.
It clearly won't do much good going into the details of this but there is plenty written on the subject. News of ESPN's financial whoas is major news for a reason. They have financial liabilities that they can't cover. The cost of programming is going through the roof while subscribers is going down. They have lost 15 million subscribers already. They are also not in a position to correct that. They are already charging more than 5 times per subscriber more than what similar channels are charging. They can't increase their rates as they are already past their price point. They also are not able to do what HBO has done with alacart offerings. They have tried but there is no appetite from consumers for it. Again this is a discussion for a reason. It's not just people complaining about their liberal slant. Google the subject and you'll see. ESPN is in bigger trouble than we are discussing.
And I never stated I was boycotting anything. Frankly I don't have to. ESPN has taken care of that by offering programming that isn't worth my time.
Does ESPN have financial issues because of cost cutter - Absolutely
Does ESPN have financial issues because they are liberally slanted - NO, just NO
Those networks you mentioned along with many others have found cheap programming to compensate for the loss of money/subscribers. It's cheap and easy for those networks to throw reality show after reality show on TV and keep viewership. Espn doesn't have that luxury. The cost to broadcast all the different college conferences, NBA, NFL and MLB have gotten crazy. Just look at the money UK and other SEC teams get from the SEC network and that just 5% or so of their annual obligations. The only way Espn can stay relevant is to broadcast games that people want to see. They could go back to strongman, rodeo and lumberjack competitions to save a lot of money but no one will watch.
It tickles me to see people dig in this way. Human nature, I suppose. Some say "this has nothing to do with poloitics, its economics only!" Then we have what should be an acknowledged expert - a 20+ year employee of ESPN, widely liked and respected, presumably has access to market research and various other studies - who says "politics absolutely has something to do with this, if you don't agree you're blind." So, does that cause people to simply acknowledge they've lost the argument? Of course not! They dig in. "Politics has nothing to do with it! I don't care what she says." Heh. People are funny. Stubborn, and funny.....
Too bad you are too immature and trollish to understand context and their own leadership's admissions. You do you tho..
People that deny it only do so because they agree with the ideology.
ESPN has taken a position of far left politics. Yes, people are quitting them also in part due to that. Yes, they over extended themselves. It's both.
CNN and MSNBC has some of the worst ratings anywhere most years while fox blows them out of the water. Liberal talk radio and TV does not sell.
This is not a political statement, it's a simple observation.
Exactly, Bob Iger or John Skipper could log onto catpaw and proclaim their goal to be the next msnbc and the same liberal troll collective would be spinning some lame ass argument.
People not watching equals bad ratings which means they sell TV commercials at a cheaper rate than stations with more viewers. This has no doubt lessened revenue by some margin but none of us have that information so we are just guessing.
People cutting the cord and the cost of TV rights for college conferences, MLB, NBA and NFL no doubt have a bigger impact but to what extent no one knows.
Both have had a negative effect maybe someday we will see the exact numbers. For now I'm guessing it's probably 80/20 with TV rights and cord cutters being the 80 and slanted political commentary being the 20. I don't know though it could be 60/40 or 90/10 but both have taken their toll on the world wide leader.
People cutting the cord and the cost of TV rights for college conferences, MLB, NBA and NFL no doubt have a bigger impact but to what extent no one knows.
Both have had a negative effect maybe someday we will see the exact numbers. For now I'm guessing it's probably 80/20 with TV rights and cord cutters being the 80 and slanted political commentary being the 20. I don't know though it could be 60/40 or 90/10 but both have taken their toll on the world wide leader.
I wouldn't call Linda Cohn an acknowledged expert. Her opinion doesn't get to be irrefutable while others that work there are considered loud mouthed liberal idiots.
Just working somewhere doesn't give you any insight into their revenue. She basically gave the same obvious opinion that everyone from my mother to Catspause posters share. Politics played a (likely very) small part but no one knows how much.
Somehow, that's supposed to be the end of the debate for Conservatives who think they've toppled the liberal monster by only watching when UK plays.
ESPN is riding a slide built from poor financial decisions to overpay for the rights to major sports leagues and cord cutting. Shifting to the left politically was grease on the slide to accelerate the descent.
Yep.
I'm a diehard Conservative, but that's not even the point. I don't want conservative, liberal, communist, socialist, or any other political crap, when I'm trying to watch sports.
I watch sports to get away from news of any kind.
Matt's boyfriend showed up
Longtime ESPN anchor Linda Cohn says politics to blame for network problems...
^ Thread title. Same dude obsessed with Jones goes on another rant about MJ in another random thread. Calls other posters Jones g/f. Try prying his nuts out of your mouth?
Havent read whole thread.
But Id love to lay the lumber to linda cohn
Im slightly buzzed by the way
But Id love to lay the lumber to linda cohn
Im slightly buzzed by the way
True, but the political thing isn't helping them except with the black audience.
Doesn't it depend on what they are talking about? I think the reason you hear a lot about "loud mouthed liberal idiots" is the perception that they are sports guys who are preaching about political issues, about which they have no particular expertise. Same with Curt Schilling on the conservative side. If someone wants to call Collin Cowherd or Curt Schilling an idiot for not staying in their lane, fine by me. That's not what Cohn is doing. She is giving an opinion about the struggles of her employer. My presumption, by the way, is that she's politically liberal - Jewish voters are the second most reliable voting block, if I recall correctly. Since she's not giving a political opinion, don't think it matters.
I've worked in some very large organizations, and generally you are right. Most employees have tunnel vision, they know their job and the periphery as is necessary or is convenient for them to understand. Usually no understanding for grand strategy, no global perspective, etc. There is an exception to that, in my experience, and that is a large, formidible, fundamental threat to the company's viability. For something like that, even the rank and file become familiar with the basic concepts. My guess is Cohn may not have any real understanding of the strategy over the next few years for digital content, but when it comes to the basic reason why ESPN had to let go of 100 of her colleagues, she's heard plenty, and not just around the water cooler. We're all guessing to an extent, but she's guessing less than we are. And if she thought the percentage of trouble attributable to politics was negligible, would she even bring it up, or accuse someone of being blind if they disagree? Doesn't make sense to me to think she would.
I don't think her comment ends the debate, there is plenty to discuss on this topic. But surely, at a minimum, when someone affiliated with the network gives an opinion about the network counter to what someone has been saying, that ought to be enough to make that someone pause and reflect. As I said it humors me that people don't even do that. Nature of politics, and of the Internet....
Why must everythang we watch or read be politicized? Get off your b&w, Rep/Dem, right/wrong, FB/Twitter high horse and treat people like you want to be treated. Why is this so hard?
so... what i learnt in this topic is...
People are sick of political views on sports show, so they decide to start political threads inside KY sports thread.
Sweet..makes sense.
Liberal or conservative...whatever party you are, you are still people. Can't even see the irony of it all.
So hey, let's go back to talking UK Basketball, just a thought.
People are sick of political views on sports show, so they decide to start political threads inside KY sports thread.
Sweet..makes sense.
Liberal or conservative...whatever party you are, you are still people. Can't even see the irony of it all.
So hey, let's go back to talking UK Basketball, just a thought.
Yeah that's totally not a good comprehension of this topic at all.so... what i learnt in this topic is...
People are sick of political views on sports show, so they decide to start political threads inside KY sports thread.
Sweet..makes sense.
Liberal or conservative...whatever party you are, you are still people. Can't even see the irony of it all.
So hey, let's go back to talking UK Basketball, just a thought.
Agreed, but the cord cutters are finding ways to watch their sports without signing up to the 15 million different ESPN channels--and are generally paying little to nothing for it. That's what ESPN (and everyone else who makes their money off subscriptions) has to worry about in the future. The kid that can get your content for next to nothing.
You know that lowered viewership, for whatever reason, leads to financial losses....
