ESPN Loses 621,000 Subscribers

[Cougarfan87]

I dropped my $89 Direct TV for $35 Playstation Vue with no contract. I get virtually all the sports I can handle with the upcoming game against Cincinnati being a rare exception from the past 2 years...

Yup. It is a rare exception indeed. You can handle the rare game missed on sling TV by going to buffalo wild wings or just listening to it on byu radio while you do something else. It happens so rarely that I quite like the fact that I have cut the cord.

[YNot]

What do you cord-cutters use to record live shows? Does Sling have a DVR function?

[Gunk]

The problem with cord cutting is that sooner or later you're going to run out of other people you can watch sports with. Right now I don't know a single person who can reliably get every sporting event that even a basic cable subscription allows on their own. It's always, "Oh, my parents give me their comcast login so I can stream that," or "I go watch this at my neighbors house," etc.

I'm very much considering dropping my DirecTV subscription when my contract ends, but that means that many of the away games that I host will no longer be available.

Very true. It' kind of like anti-vaccers. Not vaccinating your kid "works" as long as everyone else is vaccinated.

I suspect something is going to give soon. ESPN/Disney won't sit by and watch revenue disappear. Sports are basically keeping cable businesses in the black. I suspect, most broadcasting companies will become mini-netflixes.

I'd be willing to pay $10 - $15 per month during the season to watch games. I'd even shell out $5 to watch a specific game. It's still cheaper than $100/month for cable, and the sports networks actually wouldn't lose any money. People would still watch sports but rather than having to go through a provider, we'd be going directly to the source.

[mormonrasta]

What do you cord-cutters use to record live shows? Does Sling have a DVR function?

Sling doesn't but PlayStation vue does.

[byufan4ever]

What do you cord-cutters use to record live shows? Does Sling have a DVR function?

Sling doesn't but PlayStation vue does.

Yep, I had Sling and moved to Playstation Vue. It has a cloud DVR so you don't need any special equipment like for a TiVO. As far as I can tell there's no storage space limit, but there is a time limit, it keeps everything for 30 days then auto deletes. As far as recording shows, I am unable to record very far into the future. The guide (and this might be different if you have an actual Playstation, I don't) only shows the next 7 upcoming shows so you can't record anything beyond that. However, once you've added something to "My Shows" the cloud DVR will auto record all shows of that type on that channel. For example, after adding one of BYU's football games that was on FS1 to My Shows, I now have ALL college football games on FS1 set to auto record.

And you get WatchESPN which has replays of virtually all games played on ESPN/ABC that you can access whenever you want (and often with less commercials).

[YNot]

I'd be willing to pay $10 - $15 per month during the season to watch games. I'd even shell out $5 to watch a specific game. It's still cheaper than $100/month for cable, and the sports networks actually wouldn't lose any money. People would still watch sports but rather than having to go through a provider, we'd be going directly to the source.

The sports networks will lose money. Right now, ESPN makes 75-80% of its subscription fees from cable users who do not watch ESPN.

That's why the cable subscriber losses are such a big deal.

To break even, ESPN would need to charge $35 or so per month for its sports package alone. The market doesn't seem to support that. SlingTV offers ESPN plus other ABC channels, HGTV, etc. for $20 per month.

[BroncoBot]

The problem with cord cutting is that sooner or later you're going to run out of other people you can watch sports with. Right now I don't know a single person who can reliably get every sporting event that even a basic cable subscription allows on their own. It's always, "Oh, my parents give me their comcast login so I can stream that," or "I go watch this at my neighbors house," etc.

I'm very much considering dropping my DirecTV subscription when my contract ends, but that means that many of the away games that I host will no longer be available.

Very true. It' kind of like anti-vaccers. Not vaccinating your kid "works" as long as everyone else is vaccinated.

I suspect something is going to give soon. ESPN/Disney won't sit by and watch revenue disappear. Sports are basically keeping cable businesses in the black. I suspect, most broadcasting companies will become mini-netflixes.

I'd be willing to pay $10 - $15 per month during the season to watch games. I'd even shell out $5 to watch a specific game. It's still cheaper than $100/month for cable, and the sports networks actually wouldn't lose any money. People would still watch sports but rather than having to go through a provider, we'd be going directly to the source.

It'll transition at some point. Someone is going to figure out how to make money from the cable cutter whether it be through payments or ads or something and make a killing. I'd bet all the major cable companies see the writing on the wall and have contingency plans, just haven't rolled em out as they are profitable from you suckers still paying for cable.

I haven't had cable for 10 years.....

[Gunk]

I'd be willing to pay $10 - $15 per month during the season to watch games. I'd even shell out $5 to watch a specific game. It's still cheaper than $100/month for cable, and the sports networks actually wouldn't lose any money. People would still watch sports but rather than having to go through a provider, we'd be going directly to the source.

The sports networks will lose money. Right now, ESPN makes 75-80% of its subscription fees from cable users who do not watch ESPN.

That's why the cable subscriber losses are such a big deal.

To break even, ESPN would need to charge $35 or so per month for its sports package alone. The market doesn't seem to support that. SlingTV offers ESPN plus other ABC channels, HGTV, etc. for $20 per month.

Good point. I forgot all the people paying for cable that don't want sports. That's "free" money for ESPN. Those viewers are the ones more likely to cut their subscriptions. The days of gluttony may be behind.

I heard somewhere recently the NFL is starting to lose a lot viewers as well.