Why Should Non-Sports Fans Have To Pay For ESPN?

Cable and satellite subscribers “effectively paid” ESPN $650 million earlier this month for the critically acclaimed 10-part documentary The Last Dance at a time when live sports are absent from the airways because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to an analysis by LightShed Asset Management.

The research firm estimates life sports costs consumers between $40 to $50 of the average $100 monthly pay-TV bill, including ESPN’s hit series on Michael Jordan’s last year with the Chicago Bulls.

Broadcast and cable networks charge fees to pay-TV providers and digital rivals such as SlingTV to recoup costs such as the billions they pay annually for the rights to broadcast college and pro sports games. They appear on consumer bills as “Broadcast and RSN (Regional Sports Network) Fees.” Advocates have complained about them for years.

Media companies are increasingly reliant on sports programming at a time when media consumption has become increasingly fractured because of the audience it draws 

“Over the past decade, sports programming costs have risen to absurd levels, damaging the price/value of the multichannel video bundle and helping to accelerate cord-cutting/cord shaving (quitting or scaling back cable and satellite services),” the report says. ‘Virtually all sports programming costs (are) embedded in the base bundle rather than tiered as they are in other countries. Charging exorbitant fees for sports networks without sports takes the absurdity to a whole new level, especially during a global pandemic/recession.”

According to LightShed, it is doubtful that major live sports will return for a couple of months. The National Basketball Association, the first league to suspend operations in the wake of the pandemic, reportedly expects to restart its season “later than June,” which would push back the start of the new season to the fall. Major League Baseball reportedly is mulling several options to start its season, including playing all of its games in Arizona. The National Hockey League aims to return as well.

The National Football League, by far the most popular U.S. professional report, reportedly has a contingency plan to start the season on October 15 with a Super Bowl set for February 28.   The 3-day NFL Draft attracted a record viewership of more than 55 million viewers on ABC, ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and the NFL Network along with various digital channels. Doubts are emerging about whether the college football season will even happen.

“One would think that sports network programmers would credit distributors for channels paid for when they can’t deliver the content that was promised,” LightShed says. Unfortunately, “distributors such as Comcast have to pay sports network programmers regardless if what content airs, and in turn, the consumer is the loser.”

 The report goes on to say, “it just feels wrong for consumers to be paying for content they are not receiving.”

 According to LightShed, content distributors need to stand up the programmers to protect their subscribers.

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