SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
ESPN, which laid off 100 people this week, has a multitude of problems, but the basic one is this: It pays too much for content and costs too much for consumers.
That didn't used to matter because, thanks to the way the cable industry "bundled" channels, cable customers were forced to pay for it even if they never watched it. Now, however, as the cable bundle slowly disintegrates, it matters a lot.
[...] But it's a pipe dream to think that ESPN will ever make the kind of profits ($6.4 billion in 2014) that it once did, for two reasons. First, as is the case with so many other industries, the internet has both shined a light on the flaws of the cable model and exploited them. What was the main flaw of the cable model? It was that consumers had to pay for channels they never watched.
And now they don't.
It turns out that there were lots of people, including sports fans, who resented having to pay for the most expensive channel in the bundle. The popularity of streaming led to "cord cutting," but it also caused cable companies to begin offering less expensive "skinny bundles," some of which don't include ESPN.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday May 02 2017, @03:39PM (2 children)
Maybe instead of watching sports, people could play sports. It's a lot more exciting, because you're part of the action. The outcome matters to you, because you're the one putting the effort in. Wearing the team jersey means something, because you earned it. Having your friends and family cheering you on from the sidelines boosts you, because you don't want to let them down. You form real bonds with your teammates, because you share experiences.
And pretty much any kind of sport that you would do in that way would cost you less and win you more than a subscription to ESPN.
That's how I see it. I loved playing sports as a kid and all the way up through grad school. I would rather gouge my own eyes out than watch ESPN or sports on TV through any other provider; I cannot possibly think of a bigger waste of time, more filled with vapid idiocy, than watching and listening to talking heads blather stupid shit about shit that doesn't matter.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 4, Funny) by VLM on Tuesday May 02 2017, @03:52PM
I cannot possibly think of a bigger waste of time, more filled with vapid idiocy, than watching and listening to talking heads blather stupid shit about shit that doesn't matter.
Slashdot wasn't that bad, was it? Well, yeah, the slashvertisements for e-ink, or slashvertisements for anything else, sure, but ...
(Score: 2) by Kromagv0 on Tuesday May 02 2017, @05:02PM
Then add in people who don't like anything that isn't a major sport because it is weird to have hobbies out of the main stream. I had one friend question me taking up German Long-sword and HEMA [wikipedia.org] because it is such a niche sport. My response was that it doesn't really matter how small the sport is so long as there is a community that supports it. If shin-kicking [wikipedia.org] can be a sport, not my cup of tea, and have a following they why not others.
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone