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ESPN announces 300 layoffs, cites 'tremendous disruption' due to COVID
ESPN announced 300 layoffs and that it would not fill another 200 open positions.
ESPN layoffs
- Thread starter mike012
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Been a tough year for live sports. Hope all are taken care of.ESPN announces 300 layoffs, cites 'tremendous disruption' due to COVID
ESPN announced 300 layoffs and that it would not fill another 200 open positions.www.wfsb.com
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The cord cutting continues.
Waquoit
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Yeah, Connecticut people.
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With live sports disrupted by Covid, sure, ESPN is losing big time revenue and having layoffs
And the virus is killing industries and changing others...
....airlines...major layoffs and limping badly
....hotels...ditto
....online shopping booming...in-store retail not...closures and layoffs at brick and mortar establishments.
"Will the pandemic be the end of department stores? Department stores have held strong to their fashion and apparel categories, but with apparel sales in a free fall across the board, many department stores are hurting as a result of COVID-19. Many major chains are being forced to file for bankruptcy or even liquidate entirely."
The shift to e-commerce was accellerated by 5 years...the closure of mall based retail chains was also accellerated....
The herd is being thinned...adapt or die out.
And the virus is killing industries and changing others...
....airlines...major layoffs and limping badly
....hotels...ditto
....online shopping booming...in-store retail not...closures and layoffs at brick and mortar establishments.
"Will the pandemic be the end of department stores? Department stores have held strong to their fashion and apparel categories, but with apparel sales in a free fall across the board, many department stores are hurting as a result of COVID-19. Many major chains are being forced to file for bankruptcy or even liquidate entirely."
The shift to e-commerce was accellerated by 5 years...the closure of mall based retail chains was also accellerated....
The herd is being thinned...adapt or die out.
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Confluence of many factors. But, we cant close down the economy to keep everybody healthy and then starve to death.
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They are also paying a price for their political activism. The NBA season and finals had a massive drop off in the ratings even when people were supposedly starved for live sports content. The NFL is down ratings wise significantly this season.
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I wonder if the power five conferences down the road will utilize the over the air networks and then use their conference networks to televise the rest of the games? This way here they can control almost everything.
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That would be a huge financial risk for the conferences. The current pressures that ESPN is facing are the same pressures being faced by the conference networks and regional sports networks. What is unclear is how consumers will watch sports in the future and how they are going to pay for it. And, the recent poor tv ratings for sports is chilling for all parties.
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The NBA was playing out of season while baseball and football were going on. I have seen very little politics out of the NFL.
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2 lines come to mind.
"Hard times come and hard times go, hard times come and hard times go, just to come again"
"they say these jobs are goin boys and they ain't coming back"
There is a total reboot going on with the economy and covid accelerated it. There will be much damage as a result.
"Hard times come and hard times go, hard times come and hard times go, just to come again"
"they say these jobs are goin boys and they ain't coming back"
There is a total reboot going on with the economy and covid accelerated it. There will be much damage as a result.
gtcam
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My sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost their job
However, Covid has ZERO to do with this decision
The decision that the network decided to become a political platform over the past 5 years has killed them in ratings heavily within the demographic that is their traditional draw
The NFL, NBA and MLB has seen a likewise hurt is viewership and with that goes the advertising dollars
Just as politics and the office doesn't mix, sports and politics doesn't work well either - the King James political platform is a perfect example -
However, Covid has ZERO to do with this decision
The decision that the network decided to become a political platform over the past 5 years has killed them in ratings heavily within the demographic that is their traditional draw
The NFL, NBA and MLB has seen a likewise hurt is viewership and with that goes the advertising dollars
Just as politics and the office doesn't mix, sports and politics doesn't work well either - the King James political platform is a perfect example -
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I don't think you can judge TV ratings based on one strange COVID season. Politics isn't what is killing ESPN, it's cord cutting. When there was a captive customer through the cable bundle, ESPN was doing great, but those day are over. ESPN's cable subscribers peaked around 100 million and they are now about 85 million and continuing to decline. Those 15 million lost subscribers would have produced almost $2 billion in revenues this year for ESPN. That hurts. And, ESPN has locked in a ton of content for the long term at high rates. So, their revenues are flattening as their content costs are rising. That is a very bad combination.
As a side note, how has adding Pitt and BC helped the ACC and ESPN? The cable systems in both markets do not carry the ACC Network. I think adding UConn would have made more economic sense.
Waquoit
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Yet racist old men see it differently.
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All white people are racist so what does either being old or men have to do with it. Get with the program. All White People are Racist
Chin Diesel
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ESPN will continue to do fine with their live sports overall. It's all the other stuff between. The pregames, the postgames, Sports Center, PTI..... All of that is cratering. Fans are getting more efficient with their time and have little desire to hear talking heads yap. But they'll still tune in for a quality or compelling match up.
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I generally agree with your points, but the current ESPN business model is not really driven by ratings. The model is driven by subscribers. There are millions of subscribers, because of the cable bundle, who never watch, but pay for ESPN.
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