With ESPN signing that huge MLB deal, and what they gave the NFL, they will be asking for a huge increase when contracts run out. It needs to be a premium service like HBO. I would only need it for 4 months of football, and then I could do without it the rest of the year.
Which is a premium they should charge their advertisers. IMO the FCC should step-in and require that all advertiser sponsored programming be distributed free-of-charge to any licensed MVPD like Dish, Comcast, FiOS, etc. Only non-commercial broadcasters are permitted to charge for the programming in which all customers (not MVPDs) pay the same rate. The FCC should then step-out and let the free market system self-regulate itself.
- If ESPN wishes to show commercials they will need to make their channels widely available and sell air time to sponsors.
- If ESPN wishes to charge customers fair market value they need to cease and desist with the commercials.
- If people want to pay $30 per month to watch a commercial-free ESPN...so be it. That's the fair-market price.
- However, if people wish to pay far-less and no longer subscribe to ESPN Classic, ESPN News or the other bandwidth wasters...so be it.