Time to pull the butt plug on the Longhorn Network (aka: Bucklevision).

Fox sports 1 has some promise. Plus they have Charissa Thompson. I'm in

It's the only channel I watch.

AKA "Hey let's make fans pay to watch our crappy QB play against Florida Atlantic"

I guess I don't like that I had to figure out for myself what happened with the football highlights b/c he couldn't keep up/red the teleprompter/be serious.

They have competition now. NBC Sports network. Fox is doing a sports network. NFL Network. It was inevitable.

ESPN has spent 10,000 hours covering A-Roid and his supplement scandal. I can't even watch ESPN anymore. So fucking sick of that story.

ESPN is the CNN of sports; was groundbreaking and the only game in town and now the competition has crushed them and they have no clue how to grab today's audience.

Both suck!

Does DISH carry Fox Sports 1?

yep channel 150

DTV is 219.

Thanks

Updated sub #s were just released by Disney, and it's even uglier than we thought:

2013: 99 million
2014: 95 million
2015: 92 million


At $6/mo charge, losing 7 million subs is $504m in lost annual revenue.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dis...Link=obnetwork

ESPN sucks. I can't stand the endless self promotion with crap like the ESPY Awards. Total fail. I can't stand their endless promotion of the lefts political agenda (see the espy awards and Bruce/Caitlin Jenner). I can't stand that they continually push the NBA down your throat and completely ignore the NHL. I can't stand that they only promote sports that they feel are important, and stories that they feel are important, and ignore and endless amount of other stories that are truly sports related (one example was their endless coverage of Michael Sam while ignoring other low round picks who are really talented and are making a real impact on the NFL). ESPN is nothing more than another politically slanted media outlet promoting anything and everything having to do with secular/progressive political agenda. The NFL Network is not any better, I get sick of their BS too.

Good riddance! Karma's a bitch. Schadenfreude for me.

The New England market has to factor into that decline.

Aside from MNF, I've probably watched a total of 30 minutes of ESPN in the past 5 years. It's ridiculous how much they charge for it.

I used to like how the scores would be shown quickly at the bottom in a scroll fashion but then they went to show every damn stat for each game and it takes 1/2 hour just to find out the scores for just one league like baseball.

They spend way too much time talking and analyzing and not enough showing highlights. This is a growing problem with the other channels like MLB or NFL Network.

I hate all the female broadcasters discussing mens sports, a total turnoff.

Too many ESPN channels.

They are going down the tubes

You can blame fantasy sports for that.

It's only going to keep going down. People are cutting the cord and accessing almost everything online now. If it wasn't for live sports I would've done it a long time ago

They have sucked the Pats dry for YEARS ROFL Don't cheat if you don't want the negative part of the exposure. What a pathetic fan base and fake fan base.

No offense, but this isn't true at all. One of their most prominent baseball analysts is Curt Schilling, who may be the most politically outspoken former athlete in America. The guy's Twitter is a right wingers' dream.

And you could take Michael Sam or Bruce Jenner, who were a story for about 2 months, and raise you a Tim Tebow. They wouldn't shut up him for 3 years. Non stop coverage about a QB who can't accurately throw a football. They had entire SportsCenters focused on the guy. And when he finally ran out of chances, they hired him as an analyst.

Sorry, that just drives me nuts, but both political parties do it. It's like complaining about Joe Buck. Somebody does something that might appeal to the other side and people go nuts over it. When in reality they're just chasing ratings. Because they do know left wingers will love a story about Michael Sam, and the right wingers will love non-stop Tebow coverage. You don't notice it because you're so brainwashed by one side of the aisle you don't see anything else.

After a decade of telling us want we are supposed to like and forcing it down our throats their ratings are plummeting?

Who could have seen this happening?!

Pretty much this.

ESPN would talk about animal porn if it got them ratings

Before we waxed the Pats last year....

TOM BRADY, ROB GRONKOWSKI, JULIEN EDELMAN, DANNY AMEJDOLA, LEGARETTE BLOUJT AND THE HIGH FLYING PATRIOTS OFFENSE....take on the chiefs. Pathetic network.

I am old enough to remember when the Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl games were all a big deal. Now they have corporate sponsors and are mixed in with 27 other ESPN Garbage Bowls. They have to be losing their ass on those crap games.

Pardon the Interruption is about the only show on ESPN that I watch other than live sports. SportsCenter is unwatchable and although I used to love College GameDay, all it is are analysts that suck up to the blue bloods.

The fans drove the Tebow coverage. Period. End of story. The MEDIA drove the Sam story. Big difference. Huge difference. Say what you want about Tebow, he's a polarizing character, but ESPN covered him because they knew people followed Tebow and whatever he was doing in the NFL.

Meh, I don't care for two people arguing back and forth with raised voices myself.

Interesting how the they both disagree with each other on nearly every subject.

I respectfully disagree slightly with you on this one. I think ESPN drove both stories. I honestly don't know one person who likes Tebow and I have lived throughout the Midwest, South, and West during his time as an athlete. I understand the social/cultural importance of Sam and enjoyed the feel good of breaking a barrier but was turned off pretty quickly with the over coverage. Ultimately there was wayyyy too much coverage on both guys who couldn't land a roster spot in the NFL.

Almost never watch it. i used to begin every sunday with NFL gameday and end each sunday with the Berman recaps. There's only so long you can listen to that guy doing the same schtick. It was funny 20 years ago. Plus the NFL kind of sucks now.

I go to the Web for scores, highlights etc because I can skip the garbage and see what I want when I want. Espn is so early 90s

I gotta disagree. Both came about and where driven the same way. Tebow didn't just become the story it was because of the fans and then ESPN just happened to follow along. There was a day that ESPN did a count and Tebow was said on the network like 65 times in an hour.

You can't have watched ESPN during the Tebow hype and not seen that ESPN was loving it and pushing it as hard as possible.

I hear what you are saying. Was Sam a story? Yes. Did anyone really care about the Sam story? Did you care about it? Honestly, who here really gave a crap about the Sam story other than he was the first openly gay player to go into the NFL? My contention is that the NFL was basically forced to draft Sam, regardless of if Sam was really a good player for the NFL. The media basically cornered the NFL into making Sam an NFL caliber player when the reality was, he was a "tweener" (not really a defensive lineman and not really a linebacker) who had a good college career, but did nothing in the combine to set himself apart.

Tebow, OTOH, was always going to get drafted, but he was not (arguably) a first round talent and when the Broncos took him in the first round, welp, the media exposure went through the ruff. Then, because Orton sucked so bad, and many Broncos fans wanted to see what Tebow could do (remember the fans in Denver who put up billboards calling for TT?), Tebow got into the Broncos starting lineup and the Broncos ended up winning enough games to go to the playoffs. The Tebow games were also very exciting to watch because of some of the amazing finishes to games. Even I admit that the year TT came in and the Broncos started winning, it was fun to watch. Then the playoff win and the whole Elway/Tebow story and how all of that panned out (with the Broncos ultimately getting Manning and trading Tebow away) was a big circus.

Two very different stories, one fan driven, the other media driven. Both were stories, but the Tebow story was a legitimate circus full of actual NFL games that were played, while the Sam story was a forced issue that most (I'd guess 99%) football fans really didn't care about and once Sam was drafted, the story should have been over.

Have any of you guys seen that show First Take?

Good lord, what a ****ing shit show. But it's been on for a while now. And I've even seen them try the exact same format but with different hosts. ****ing Stephen a smith and that skip Bayliss jerkoff are horrible.


And when did it become a good idea to have like 7 mother****ers at a desk for pre game. How many people do you need. Lol. I used to love watching game day then the wrap up show at night. I can't even stomach it now. I don't watch any preface on any network.

No one would have known about Sam had the media not made a big deal about him being the first openly gay player to go into the NFL. Tebow, arguably, is one of the best known college football players of all time. He won 2 national championships and was in contention for the Heisman trophy (which he won) every year he played. Tebow was a big football story.

when you have great talents like Stuart Scott, Kenny Mayne, Rich Eisen and Dan Patrick leave and replace them with Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless, this is what happens.

Even Jim Rome and Colin Cowherd had a big following and that following has left when they did.

The only potentially great talent left there is Scott Van Pelt. I only watch his show from time to time

^^^I hate every one of those people you mentioned. Just a bunch of hacks doing the same lame shtick for decades.

This.

SVP is the only one I turn on, and that's mainly for background noise while I'm working on something else. After that's over, I switch over to NHL Network.

I wish someone would nuke Mike and Mike from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

IF they have good shows i will watch it. I love watching intentional talk. I watch it almost every day during the MLB season. I dont touch espn anymore outside of live sports.

ESPN went to much TMZ for me. Once that started happening with Favre and Tebow, i was out.

Yep.

I bet that their radio shows are tanking, too. SVP and Russillo were awesome together, and that ended. Russillo and Kannell are decent, but nothing like before. Bomani Jones takes over at 3 central, and it's a complete abortion.

They also replaced Cowherd with Lebetard.......:facepalm: Just terrible.

ESPN is still on? Who knew? LMAO

In all seriousness, their programming has become very terrible and politically driven. Hard to watch...

ROFL ok

The decline also happened before your team cheated. So that makes no sense.

Yup. Fox has taken away the talent, primarily all the babes that ESPN was underpaying

Olbermann getting back onto the network was also a dumpster fire

Mostly nobody wants to watch these filler shows anymore. The internet has completely destroyed the market for talking heads.

What ESPN needs is more shows like College Gameday. An NFL version would be completely awesome.

Like live venue to venue every Sunday mornings?

That would be kinda cool. Tough though they don't have the Sunday night game to make the game of the week and twlevise.

I trident listening to Jones recently, god it was terrible.

The cool thing is that there is alot more competition in sports channels these days. Every Pro league runs a channel, plus you have FoX Sports1, NBC Sports network, CBS Sports, etc......there is no reason to watch ESPN.

But where do you find MNF, Major League Baseball, NBA, college basketball and football......seriously they have a shitload of premium content.

It's true I can watch the Royals on FSKC, but where do I get MNF? College basketball? Nowhere. It's not worth $70/year? You blow that on one Chiefs tailgate

No, MNF is not worth $70 per year.

ESPN has been bad for years.

Exactly.

NFLN for NFL
MLBN for MLB
FSKC for Royals
SECN, FS1, NBCSN, CBSSN, BTN for everything else.

Exactly right! :clap:

I was shocked they brought back that blowhard but this is what happens when the media is blind to what is really going on. It's like bringing back Wink Martindale to host a game show to improve it's ratings. :shake:

Not according to the numbers you posted:


Spygate-2007
2013, 2014,2015 follow the year 2007

Deflatgate-2015
Alleged start of 2015

A lot of NE fans despise ESPN—for good reason.

But my "team?" I had no idea all 53 players, 10 something coaches were accused of cheating too. What I know is one coach and one player alleged to have cheated who was found not guilty.

JFC

Bottom line is they try to force basketball down your throat. Most sports fans aren't in to basketball. The level of play at both the college and professional level has been going downhill for the last two decades.

It is for me.

Parking at a sports bar near my home is a minimum of $10 dollars. A round trip Uber would likely be $7-10 dollars. Neither includes food or drink, which would run $30-40 dollars without a tip.

Add in KU BB, bowl games and the occasional Royals game and it's a steal, IMO.

Bullshit.

You don't live in an NBA town so your perception is skewed.

Tell people in NY, LA, SF, Miami, San Antonio, Dallas , Clevelansd and Indy that they aren't NBA fans and towns.

Good grief. The myopia on this site is at an all time high.

W.T.F.?

Exactly.

The NBA is on the verge of a historic TV deal because viewership and interest is at an all time high.

March Madness is an insane ratings grabber in which CBS pays $1 billion per year to the rights and they actually earn revenues!

His post was silly and uninformed.

Fair enough. I don't watch any of those and could easily spend my Monday nights doing something more productive if it came down to it.

LMAO

Some of you are cheap bastards.

No shit.

Basketball has become a minor sport but because ESPN paid so much for it...it gets shoved down our throats. Overkill.

For me, it's less about being "cheap" than it is about optimizing value. I cut the cord 6 months ago not because I can't afford it, but because I'd rather spend my money (and time) on better forms of recreation and entertainment. I simply don't get enough out of watching random NFL games these days to consider something like ESPN to be worth it.

Nonsense.

EVERYTHING is driven by advertising dollars.

If viewers weren't watching, ad money would be decreasing and ESPN would be losing money on their investment.

That's not happening.

I can understand March Madness getting the ratings but not the NBA.

Look at the threads that get started on here about the NBA games it's like non existent at best. Even the local sports stations don't spend much time on them what does that tell you.

I have to say I totally agree. Especially the NBA.

But you don't live in an NBA city!

Do you realize that there are more people in California (40 million) than all of Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Kansas and Missouri combined (26 million)? Hell, the Los Angeles basin alone has 22 million.

I hate to break this to you all and I don't want to come across as a dick but the bottom line is that the networks couldn't give two shits what your area numbers are for the NBA.

It's ALL about the West Coast and Upper Northeast. That's where the population, therefore viewership and ad revenues, are in this country. Networks don't even bother re-broadcasting TV shows to the Central time zone at their designated time slots on the East or West coasts.

And NBA basketball is huge in those regions, which is why they're nearing a record TV contract.

You came across as a dick....

LMAO

First take and the show with Lebatard and his dad are perfect examples of why ESPN now sucks. Nobody wants to watch that shit. It's terrible, boring television.

And SC isn't fun anymore. Only SVP really appeals to people nowadays bc he seems like a solid talent ready to take off.

As far as the NFL goes, NFL Network beats the living shit out of ESPN. Mike Mayock, Rich Eisen and Daniel Jeremiah are awesome for draft content. ESPN simply can't compete there and it's a huge loss for them considering people love the NFL draft process from the senior bowl to the combine to draft day.

Then you have Kurt Warner, LaDanian Tomlinson, Terrell Davis and Michael Robinson who are good former players with enough entertainment and intelligence to captivate an audience whereas Trent Dilfer, Ray Lewis and Herm Edwards are terrible, and so is the Monday night countdown crew outside of Tom Jackson.
Also consider that the teaming of CBS has really done NFLN a lot of good as well. Having Bill Cowher and Tony G join your team is a huge huge boost.

Oh, and last but not least, looking at Erin Coacarelli on TV is a luxury everyone will agree with.

NFLN obliterates ESPNon NFL coverage.

Yes

Espn blows I rather find scores myself and for any sport info I'll research it. Plus ill watch online and not pay for espn crap.

Basketball ****ing sucks now. Seriously, compare March Madness to the days when great players stayed 3 or 4 years. It isn't even close. Those same players now get to the NBA and usually scrub it up in the developmental league until they are ready. There is a reason more and more talent is coming from overseas.

Basketball is much better during the tourney and the NBA playoffs.


The regulars seasons suck in college and the pros.