(05-25-2022 02:17 PM)johnbragg Wrote:  DirectTV and YoutubeTV and the other cable-bundle-alternatives have all ditched the Sinclair / Diamond Sports / Ballys RSNs. And what it ESPN but an RSN that covers the whole country?

No, it's not the same. RSNs are in trouble because each has 4 hours of live sports on a good day, no live sports on half the days or more, and everything but a live sports broadcast has as close to zero viewers as you can possibly get. There's no value there. Sinclair or Bally or whomever charges cable companies a premium price for 3 or 4 hours of live sports 100 to 200 days a year. ESPN channels offer far more live sports, and what they offer has more general appeal to sports fans. There's no comparison.

You are probably right that ESPN, Fox, and everyone else who charges cable/satellite/streaming providers more than about $1/month/subscriber has hit their ceiling or very close to it. Per-subscriber prices won't rise and the number of subscribers will keep on dropping. But as others have said, that's a dilemma for every broadcaster, not only Disney.

For that matter, cable will hang on for longer than we think because there are a certain number of diehards who won't switch, ever. It's like big supermarket chains -- why haven't they died out, given that groceries are (a) much less expensive at Walmart, Target, and Costco, and (b) better quality at some specialty food stores? The answer is that there are people, mostly older people, who have always shopped at Safeway or Kroger and don't buy groceries at big-box stores. Those people keep supermarkets and cable companies going.