(12-21-2015 12:25 AM)CoachMaclid Wrote: (12-20-2015 10:41 PM)LR Eagle Wrote: ESPN's major issues began when they expanded beyond a source for sports journalism and analysis and stated carrying so much live content. That poses an inherent conflict and is a major reason why the midweek MACtion is little more than a three commercial for the weekend's $EC and B1G match ups, with occasional discussion of the teams playing.
Actually. I have the opposite reaction. I want ESPN to be the live content provider... It's the conscious direction to "Embrase Debate" philosophy that I dispise and have turned away from. I want SportsCenter to highlight all the games. Instead, they trimmed back to the highlights of the huge ratings-getters, filled the rest with overanalysis and debate, and provide commentary that the viewer at home is more than able to deduce on their own. I prefer ESPN to simply air the games, and let America react about it without having Stephen A Smith having to give his 8 minute rant about a highlight that used to take 30 seconds. Give me 22 hours of events and contests, and use the 11:00 pm and 1:00 am (EST) SPORTSCENTER to recap the entire world of sports highlights.
FYI, after Marshall's bowl game, I've decided I am joining the cord cutting revolution. We're going to try the start of 2016 without cable television and see how the Netflix/Hulu/over the air channels work for a while.
I cut the cord back in April. Don't miss DIRECTV one bit, I was paying $130/mo for just TV it was nuts. Doesn't make sense, the market is correcting itself with pay TV. It was the equipment fees that became outrageous and not the price of content. I have Sling TV which is $25 a month for me I get the Basic Live TV package ($20/mo) and Sports Extra Pack ($5/mo). It's all I need, I mean I don't even watch that much Sling TV but $25 a month is a kick in the bucket to watch a lot of great games on Saturday.
I also have Amazon Prime, Hulu & Netflix, I use my Mom's Hulu and my Dad's Netflix otherwise I wouldn't use it, the content isn't must-have for me at all. $99 a year for Amazon Prime is great because I have a Kindle Fire & Fire TV Stick so the Amazon Video service and now the companies Amazon Music service are just bonuses because I bought it for the shipping. LOL, I buy a lot of stuff off the website so the 2-day free shipping is great savings.
When you cut the cord it's just what do you really want? For me, it's just sports honestly for when I'm off work which is Saturday, Tuesday & Wednesday. So Sling TV was essential for me so getting Live Sports and since I'm a huge fan of the Walking Dead, it was a no-brainer for me and they've added OnDemand services to it. So $25/mo is great value for me, and if I really want to see something live like Sports, I do have the internet to find it, just usually isn't good quality video but CBSSports.com puts up the SEC Game of the Week and other sites are starting to do that.
Best Internet Package I've seen is Time Warner Cable or Verizon FiOS deal where it's Local TV only & 50/mb Internet Package with HBO & Showtime included for Free for $50/mo. Time Warner Cable will let you just get a CableCard for your service and the TWC TV app is excellent that you don't need equpiment to rent each month. It'll only be time until we get our Cable TV or Satellite TV through Apps on our Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku, or Smart TV and just use a TWC TV app or FiOS TV app.
The market is correcting itself by greedy executives such as ESPN who though they could milk the subscribers teet dry. I guess it finally ran out of milk, because it's not worth it. Hell ESPN kicked themselves in their own ass when they added the companies channels to Sling TV. But it's about time, ESPN, USA Network, TNT and all these other high-subscriber channels could only get so much out of the consumer.