Not that ESPN is totally blameless here, but, for what it's worth, if my Dish bill goes up, I'm going to blame Dish, and not ESPN. Why? Because Dish makes a healthy profit margin and could eat the cost of a few channel increases without raising rates while still operating in the black. I don't deal with ESPN directly, I deal with Dish, and it's Dish that ultimately decides what to charge me. They can use being charged more for channels as rationale for raising prices, but, in the end, they are raising the prices to preserve a profit margin they've arbitrarily decided they have a right to.
I basically have cable for sports, primarily, so Dish dropping ESPN would be a blow to their value to me. They'd have to not only not raise prices, but cut them by an awful lot to compensate for losing ESPN and retain my business. Losing either of my two RSNs would likely mean they could cut prices $20 a month and I still wouldn't stay- and I'm poor and very cost sensitive. It's just that to me having satellite or cable without sports programming is like having a shower that's not hooked up to running water- not very useful.
Not that I don't sometimes watch other stuff- news, shows, etc.. Already with television shows I like, though, I don't bother to watch them as they air and just rent the discs from Netflix when Netflix gets them in, so if I'm watching a show through Dish that's not sports or news it's usually because I am bored and looking for a comedy or something that I could easily sub to the Netflix streaming subscription for, or buy DVD sets of for the price I am paying Dish. Dish to me is no longer about television programs- it's sports and news and that's basically what I am paying for.
Now, if Dish were to toss us all free DVRs like they apparently used to do, that could get me back into watching new programs "as they air" (or within a week of airing anyhow). But I'm not paying extra for a DVR, so no dice. I don't feel like penciling in several days a week where I'm glued to the tv at a specific time or else I missing my program and have to watch out of order the following week. Easy just to Netflix DVDs.