Unbundle ESPN

They can keep all their trash channels. Congress should change the ownership rules...they were in place for decades and worked well until "deregulation" in the 90's destroyed media.
Change those rules to what ?

You know that if you want ABC you'll also have ESPN and vice versa ... BUY Disney ... then you can drop those channels you don't want.
ALL the networks work this way, not just ESPN/ABC
 
Change those rules to what ?

You know that if you want ABC you'll also have ESPN and vice versa ... BUY Disney ... then you can drop those channels you don't want.
ALL the networks work this way, not just ESPN/ABC
It's how ViacomCBS operate. Discovery is the same. This is how they bargain for carriage. Fox forced Comcast to keep Yes if they wanted Fox News.
 
Is ESPN so unpopular that the only way they can get people to subscribe to it is to bundle it with other channels? I always thought ESPN had enough ratings on its own.
It’s not a case of popularity at all. It’s a case of Disney wanting income from every subscriber whether that subscriber cares about ESPN or not.
 
ESPN is THAT unpopular with me. First I am not a huge sports fan, I would watch an occasional game, and they would have some auto racing events that I would watch, but when they started getting political that was the last straw. Sports should be neutral, after that I could not dump them quick enough.
 
ESPN is THAT unpopular with me. First I am not a huge sports fan, I would watch an occasional game, and they would have some auto racing events that I would watch, but when they started getting political that was the last straw. Sports should be neutral, after that I could not dump them quick enough.

Sports has never been "neutral". In fact, sports has been the tool of politics for hundreds of years. A few of the most recent Olympic examples come to mind. Jesse Owens humiliated the Aryan champion Adolf Hitler in 1936. In 1968, a couple of American athletes raised a hand in Black Power. The 1972 Munich event where Palestinian terrorists kidnapped athletes. Sports analysts are just a reflection of the times.

Probably to get into this any deeper would require a trip to the Pit.
 
Sports has never been "neutral". In fact, sports has been the tool of politics for hundreds of years. A few of the most recent Olympic examples come to mind. Jesse Owens humiliated the Aryan champion Adolf Hitler in 1936. In 1968, a couple of American athletes raised a hand in Black Power. The 1972 Munich event where Palestinian terrorists kidnapped athletes. Sports analysts are just a reflection of the times.

Probably to get into this any deeper would require a trip to the Pit.

I don't want politics with my sports, plain and simple. The crap ESPN has done has been VERY unnecessary and I will leave it at that. If I want to watch a game or race, that is all I want.
 
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So I'm sure you accept the playing of "God Bless America" (politics AND religion) at MLB games acceptable? Your idea of politics is just plain hypocritical.

There is a HUGE difference between the National Anthem/God Bless America and sports announcers making political commentary.
 
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I don't watch ESPN anyway, but I really object to being forced to pay for ESPN when they are showing "pit spitting" and "marble racing".

I'd do the flex pack, but some channels I do want aren't available.
How do you feel about QCV, the Latino core channels, the Christian channels, and any others that you don't watch or is it only ESPN that you can't ignore?

If you could combine the cost of ALLLLLL the other channels you don't watch and the cost of ESPN, which one do you think would be higher?
 
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There is a HUGE difference between the National Anthem/God Bless America and sports announcers making political commentary.

I agree. No comparison. Don't want to hear the National Anthem for some reason? Fine for those two minutes turn it off. With commentators there is no turning it off unless you turn off the whole event sometimes.
Why do you think Sports Center at 6PM - their premiere show of the day sunk so low they had to replace the anchors. We all turned it off, and that includes if you agree not only disagree with the politics.
There is 100% a need for and reason for politics and sports because they do converge. That should be in programs designed for that, not during the event or perhaps much more limited than it has become. Further during the event there is no competing view given which would make it even worse so back to keep politics to a real minimum.
As for a show like Sports Center politics where it converges with Sports is certainly understandable to be discussed but not throughout the broadcast. It would be nice to have a competing view sometimes. That does happen btw in shows designed for that on ESPN. Those shows do a very credible job often. Stephen A Smith comes to mind.
Again to be very clear I feel that even if I am hearing something I agree with I am watching the game for the game and to get away from politics, and maybe other everyday things. But that is becoming harder and harder in Nationally broadcast games, so far not so much in local broadcasts.
 
I don't want to hear the commentary either. That's why I don't watch pre-games or half times, and I turn the volume all the way down unless something controversial happens and I want to hear the officials' explanation of it. I don't need some analyst explaining to me what I just witnessed.

You have choices.
 
I am sorry you feel that our National Anthem or God Bless America are political. I do not consider love of country political personally.

I agree. No comparison. Don't want to hear the National Anthem for some reason? Fine for those two minutes turn it off. With commentators there is no turning it off unless you turn off the whole event sometimes.
Why do you think Sports Center at 6PM - their premiere show of the day sunk so low they had to replace the anchors. We all turned it off, and that includes if you agree not only disagree with the politics.
There is 100% a need for and reason for politics and sports because they do converge. That should be in programs designed for that, not during the event or perhaps much more limited than it has become. Further during the event there is no competing view given which would make it even worse so back to keep politics to a real minimum.
As for a show like Sports Center politics where it converges with Sports is certainly understandable to be discussed but not throughout the broadcast. It would be nice to have a competing view sometimes. That does happen btw in shows designed for that on ESPN. Those shows do a very credible job often. Stephen A Smith comes to mind.
Again to be very clear I feel that even if I am hearing something I agree with I am watching the game for the game and to get away from politics, and maybe other everyday things. But that is becoming harder and harder in Nationally broadcast games, so far not so much in local broadcasts.
Do you go to church?