Did Joe Schad get the shaft?

[Reason2succeed]

https://twitter.com/schadjoe/status/740348384049922048

Is this the curse of reporting the OM NOA?!?

Until further notice I'm blaming it on that little twerp from Oxfart Ed Aschoff.

[Buliwyf]

ESPN is hemorrhaging money due to subscription losses with huge contracts to pay TV rights and laying off people left and right. I saw where Chris Berman is gone after this year as well. My guess is we will be seeing more "women" reporters and the flagship of sports media will sink into obscurity.

[starkvegasdawg]

ESPN is hemorrhaging money due to subscription losses with huge contracts to pay TV rights and laying off people left and right. I saw where Chris Berman is gone after this year as well. My guess is we will be seeing more "women" reporters and the flagship of sports media will sink into obscurity.

Them taking a hard left political stance on everything has hurt them, too. People don't watch sports and sports related shows to get force fed a political agenda left or right. They just want to watch sports while enjoying a cold beer. Once they came out to the extreme of one side of the political spectrum they started to alienate those in the middle to the other side of the spectrum.

[Jack Lambert]

Them taking a hard left political stance on everything has hurt them, too. People don't watch sports and sports related shows to get force fed a political agenda left or right. They just want to watch sports while enjoying a cold beer. Once they came out to the extreme of one side of the political spectrum they started to alienate those in the middle to the other side of the spectrum.

Agree 100%. They should stick to sports and let CNN and Fox news handle the insanity.

[lefty96]

Agree 100%. They should stick to sports and let CNN and Fox news handle the insanity.

Yep. I'm not so sure it is costing them much $$, but it sure drives me nuts.

[DudyDawg]

Yep. I'm not so sure it is costing them much $$, but it sure drives me nuts.

No the big killer is people cutting cable all together. But their agenda has made me stop watching unless it's a live game.

[Commercecomet24]

Them taking a hard left political stance on everything has hurt them, too. People don't watch sports and sports related shows to get force fed a political agenda left or right. They just want to watch sports while enjoying a cold beer. Once they came out to the extreme of one side of the political spectrum they started to alienate those in the middle to the other side of the spectrum.

You nailed it! They have gone absolutely extreme in their politcal stance. I used to watch Sportscenter and Baseball Tonight and some other programming, but now I only watch ESPN for the games. It's sad what they've become. And all the women thev have doing games now. I respect women but having them announcing and analyzing football and baseball games just don't work for me.

[mic]

used to be my Tv would be on ESPN no matter what else was on..
Now it's on ESPN when nothing else is on tv...

[DanDority]

I will only watch ESPN if the STATE is on that is IT! I LOATH ESPN!

[fishwater99]

No the big killer is people cutting cable all together. But their agenda has made me stop watching unless it's a live game.

This... They need to adapt or go broke. Cable TV is changing and ESPN won't be able to get the $$ they want from cable companies.
They will have to offer standalone ESPN access to make their money along with advertising.

[Dawg61]

No the big killer is people cutting cable all together. But their agenda has made me stop watching unless it's a live game.

This might be me soon too. My cable bill is more than my electric bill and phone bill COMBINED. Comcast is ****ing Satan. Good luck ever getting it fixed either. I'd rather shave my balls with gorilla glue than make a phone call to Comcast to try and fix my bill.

[iPat09]

Last year, I cut the cable and switched over to Sling TV and I HIGHLY recommend it. It's a television streaming service with no contract. You pay month to month and can cancel anytime. Think Netflix with live TV. The basic package is $20 a month and you can add the sports package for an extra $5. And, once you are a Sling customer, not only can you watch the live streams of ESPN, SEC Network, etc., you can also enjoy watchespn. The only drawback right now is you can only have 1 stream going at a time, but they are running a beta to allow multiple ones, so hopefully that will become the norm sooner rather than later. This is the route I took a year ago and I have not looked back since.

[dawgoneyall]

Them taking a hard left political stance on everything has hurt them, too. People don't watch sports and sports related shows to get force fed a political agenda left or right. They just want to watch sports while enjoying a cold beer. Once they came out to the extreme of one side of the political spectrum they started to alienate those in the middle to the other side of the spectrum.

The left just can't help themselves. They are what they are.

[starkvegasdawg]

This might be me soon too. My cable bill is more than my electric bill and phone bill COMBINED. Comcast is ****ing Satan. Good luck ever getting it fixed either. I'd rather shave my balls with gorilla glue than make a phone call to Comcast to try and fix my bill.

I just had to call DTV and threaten to leave if they didn't all of a sudden decide I qualified for some rebates. Miraculously, they discovered I did. Amazing how that happens. My bill went from $113/month to $67 just like that. It wouldn't be as bad if they didn't hide the 15 channels we watch on a regular basis in packages that 250 channels that I'm not sure how they get enough viewers to remain solvent.

[lefty96]

This might be me soon too. My cable bill is more than my electric bill and phone bill COMBINED. Comcast is ****ing Satan. Good luck ever getting it fixed either. I'd rather shave my balls with gorilla glue than make a phone call to Comcast to try and fix my bill.

4 years and running w/o cable here. Other than live sports, I don't miss anything. And to be honest, as much as I tend to yell at the tv during live sports - my whole family maybe better for it.

[Dawgface]

I dropped cable and kept Comcast internet. I use Playstation Vue as my cable substitute. You will need an Amazon Fire box. But it performs great for me with a good quality picture. I have the mid level $35/mo package.

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/network/vue/#4

[BulldogBear]

Last year, I cut the cable and switched over to Sling TV and I HIGHLY recommend it. It's a television streaming service with no contract. You pay month to month and can cancel anytime. Think Netflix with live TV. The basic package is $20 a month and you can add the sports package for an extra $5. And, once you are a Sling customer, not only can you watch the live streams of ESPN, SEC Network, etc., you can also enjoy watchespn. The only drawback right now is you can only have 1 stream going at a time, but they are running a beta to allow multiple ones, so hopefully that will become the norm sooner rather than later. This is the route I took a year ago and I have not looked back since.

This is my plan when my two year pricing contract ends next year.


I just had to call DTV and threaten to leave if they didn't all of a sudden decide I qualified for some rebates. Miraculously, they discovered I did. Amazing how that happens. My bill went from $113/month to $67 just like that. It wouldn't be as bad if they didn't hide the 15 channels we watch on a regular basis in packages that 250 channels that I'm not sure how they get enough viewers to remain solvent.

I had to give up the package that contained ESPNU, Science Channel, Military, and a few others a step "above" the standard cable networks like ESPN, ESPN2, Animal planet, and History Channel. But the thing is that it cut my bill in half. If cable is to survive they're going to havw to start offering certain networks as stand alone or a la carte. I might pay $15 extra for ESPNU and Science.....but not $100 for the next pa lage that includes them because I may barely watch anything else in the package. Most people really only watch about 15-20 channels.

[Dawg61]

Last year, I cut the cable and switched over to Sling TV and I HIGHLY recommend it. It's a television streaming service with no contract. You pay month to month and can cancel anytime. Think Netflix with live TV. The basic package is $20 a month and you can add the sports package for an extra $5. And, once you are a Sling customer, not only can you watch the live streams of ESPN, SEC Network, etc., you can also enjoy watchespn. The only drawback right now is you can only have 1 stream going at a time, but they are running a beta to allow multiple ones, so hopefully that will become the norm sooner rather than later. This is the route I took a year ago and I have not looked back since.

Does it have DVR and what if I have two TVs I watch different games on?

[starkvegasdawg]

This is my plan when my two year pricing contract ends next year.



I had to give up the package that contained ESPNU, Science Channel, Military, and a few others a step "above" the standard cable networks like ESPN, ESPN2, Animal planet, and History Channel. But the thing is that it cut my bill in half. If cable is to survive they're going to havw to start offering certain networks as stand alone or a la carte. I might pay $15 extra for ESPNU and Science.....but not $100 for the next pa lage that includes them because I may barely watch anything else in the package. Most people really only watch about 15-20 channels.

I wonder if a cable/satellite company offered all channels ala carte for $2-$5 each/month what would happen. I'm betting their profits would explode because all of a sudden they'd be capturing almost the entire market. Yes, I'm sure it would put the fern channel or the paint drying channel of business, but no one would care. Channels with abysmal viewership that are only surviving by being propped up by other channels in the package need to go. Keep the movie channels packaged at their $10-$15/month, but have all the other channels priced as above depending on popularity. That would have most people bill down where they want it to be and give them the satisfaction of them only paying for what they want.

[Dawgface]

Does it have DVR and what if I have two TVs I watch different games on?

I've had Sling. No DVR when I used it. Playstation Vue does have DVR and can stream for up to 5 users I believe. Their website will tell you.

[iPat09]

Does it have DVR and what if I have two TVs I watch different games on?

No DVR at this time. I believe has only been around for two years or so. Young company, but growing and appearing to do things right. They are constantly adding channels. They also offer a 7 day free trial to see if it's what you like.

Right now, you can only stream on one device at a time. They do have a multi-stream option that is in beta and costs no different than the single stream option, but it doesn't include the sports channels except for Fox Sports. If that is successful, who knows? Maybe they will incorporate it into ESPN and other channels.

I really only have it to watch sports. I can pay $25/month and watch any game that comes on the espn networks. And the best thing about it is once the college baseball season is over, I can cancel until football starts up to save some money.

To echo what others have said, I think a la carte is the way TV should go, along with month-to-month subscription instead of all these insane contracts.

[Dawg61]

I've had Sling. No DVR when I used it. Playstation Vue does have DVR and can stream for up to 5 users I believe. Their website will tell you.

I'm an Xbox One owner. Thanks though.

[LanceHarbor]

Inquiring minds 'n Shit...


No DVR at this time. I believe has only been around for two years or so. Young company, but growing and appearing to do things right. They are constantly adding channels. They also offer a 7 day free trial to see if it's what you like.

Right now, you can only stream on one device at a time. They do have a multi-stream option that is in beta and costs no different than the single stream option, but it doesn't include the sports channels except for Fox Sports. If that is successful, who knows? Maybe they will incorporate it into ESPN and other channels.

I really only have it to watch sports. I can pay $25/month and watch any game that comes on the espn networks. And the best thing about it is once the college baseball season is over, I can cancel until football starts up to save some money.

To echo what others have said, I think a la carte is the way TV should go, along with month-to-month subscription instead of all these insane contracts.

[RougeDawg]

Apple TV is also stepping up their Apps and program availability. My advice is to go in with buddies and split up Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, HBOGo, and the other available subscriptions. Each one allows multiple users. I only pay for Amazon currently and have access to just about every other one because we share logins. I'm sure that will eventually get stopped after everyone cuts the cables, but it works for now. Still have directv but am close to cutting it off.

[Dawgface]

Even Comcast is suppose to offer something later in the year similar to Sling and Vue. I think there will be a ton of options a year from now.

[iPat09]

I have Apple TV and I believe there is a Sling app on there. I know there is one for iphone, ipad, etc. I just use the watchespn app though.

I have Netflix while my brother has Hulu, so we share log ins for that. And then I already have Amazon Prime because I do so much shopping on there anyway, it pays for itself pretty quickly. If you want to cut cable, it's not too difficult. A lot of options out there, and as more and more people do it, I believe the options will only get better.

[HardyStreetAlumniClub]

ESPN is hemorrhaging money due to subscription losses with huge contracts to pay TV rights and laying off people left and right. I saw where Chris Berman is gone after this year as well. My guess is we will be seeing more "women" reporters and the flagship of sports media will sink into obscurity.

They have shown enough women's softball in the past month to have already sunk into obscurity.

[AROB44]

When ESPN revenues drop so will SEC Network revenues......directly affecting our athletic budget. Sure hope our AD realizes this and plans accordingly.

[Martianlander]

This might be me soon too. My cable bill is more than my electric bill and phone bill COMBINED. Comcast is ****ing Satan. Good luck ever getting it fixed either. I'd rather shave my balls with gorilla glue than make a phone call to Comcast to try and fix my bill.

+1 on that!

[Apoplectic]

I will only watch ESPN if the STATE is on that is IT! I LOATH ESPN!

Bingo!!!!

[Taog Redloh]

This cable cutting stuff doesn't have near the effect some of you think it does. Eventually, ESPN and everybody else will just make their money by internet streaming limits and what not.

I think journalists are getting fired because nobody trusts them anymore, thus no need for the bad ones. You don't need a big media conglomerate, people get their news from various sources.

[IMissJack]

used to be my Tv would be on ESPN no matter what else was on..
Now it's on ESPN when nothing else is on tv...

ESPN has forgotten what their golden demographic is....young males who will watch any sport, but not listen to a editorial. Give me the highlights and make me laugh (Craig Kilborn). ESPN started considering themselves a news organization instead of entertainment.

[Commercecomet24]

ESPN has forgotten what their golden demographic is....young males who will watch any sport, but not listen to a editorial. Give me the highlights and make me laugh (Craig Kilborn). ESPN started considering themselves a news organization instead of entertainment.

This is it completely! They've decided they want to be cnn and we just want sports, you know like they used to do it! Great post!