Why are ESPN's Ratings Down?

[Mochuf]

To me the answer is simple. Diluted product. No different than the NHL expanding too much, if you take available product, spread over several outlets, each outlet suffers because there is only so much talent/product.
CBSSN
NBCSP
MLBN
RSN's
Tennis
Golf
Fuel
FSC
?BEIN
Various Hunting channels
NBATV
NHLN
And we haven't even had the new Fox programming.

And yet the majority of them want premium fees from pay-tv providers. Hopefully we'll see sports programming dropped from the various tiers and put into it's own package in our lifetime. Sure, dropping sports from the different tiers won't drop pricing, but prices probably won't go up at the current rates either.

 

[Scherrman]

I have to agree with Tampa. Sports are starting to get spread out more with niche channels. Every sport and every conference wants their own channel.

?Right now with football starting I mostly watch the NFL Network so I don't have to sit through all the other sports to get the news I want.

 

[slocoma]

ESPN has gotten to be like MTV for me. ESPN doesn't even show "sports" anymore unless you want to watch bowling and softball. There are more talk shows on there than anything else.

 

[Scherrman]

I use ESPN for background TV most times.

 

[slocoma]

If they didn't have Monday Night Football, I wouldn't even care about ESPN during football season.

 

[Ramy]

Sportscenter shows too many fluff tear jerker segments. Don't get me wrong some of them are interesting, but I don't want to hear about them when I am trying to find highlights of ball games.

 

[Mr Tony]

Apparently ESPN thinks they are NBATV because everytime I turn it on they are talking about NBA summer league...REALLY???
and now its lets go to the Colts training camp so we can see Luck stand there and the 4th string rookie throw a ball to a 7th string WR and stuff like that

 

[Teehar]

Whatever happened to rugby,Australian rules football,kick boxing,monster truck racing,and others.I'd sure rather see that than more sportscenter.

 

[ctrenkamp]

As a baseball fan, I'm tired of watching the Yankees vs the Red Sox's which ESPN covers every time they play!

 

[Jimbo]

Couple more weeks their ratings will return. College football baby.. RTR

Yup, espn's ratings are always low this time of year and pick up considerably when the NCAA football comes along.

 

[Jimbo]

Rey,Scott,and Tampa8,all nailed it imo.
Another annoying thing to me,is the constant scroll at the bottom of the screen.They could do it once or twice per hour,instead of all the time.I really don't understand the need for ESPN news either.

I agree 1000% ...

They use to do it at the top and bottom of the hour, then every 20 minutes, then it went full time.

IF they would go back to the 2 or 3 times an hour would be a huge improvement ...

Just MAYBE , the others that also do this would change thier ways of using the tracker as well and we could have our TV's back.

 

[oldengineer]

Whatever happened to rugby,Australian rules football,kick boxing,monster truck racing,and others.I'd sure rather see that than more sportscenter.

Like Hurling? That used to be good.

 

[Teehar]

Like Hurling? That used to be good.

Heck yea.

 

[CK SatGuy]

I agree 1000% ...

They use to do it at the top and bottom of the hour, then every 20 minutes, then it went full time.

IF they would go back to the 2 or 3 times an hour would be a huge improvement ...

Just MAYBE , the others that also do this would change thier ways of using the tracker as well and we could have our TV's back.

At least they don't run the ticker during Monday Night Football. I'm sure everyone would be PISSED if they started doing that.

 

[dfergie]

At least they don't run the ticker during Monday Night Football. I'm sure everyone would be PISSED if they started doing that.

They (and the other NFL providers) already have enough crap on the screen during football games imho...

 

[madmadworld]

Whatever happened to rugby,Australian rules football.

FOX Soccer Plus $15 month buy it apr - sept for Australian rules football 3 or 4 games a week. to see the other games i buy the internet sub http://afltv.afl.com.au/

 

[Jimbo]

At least they don't run the ticker during Monday Night Football. I'm sure everyone would be PISSED if they started doing that.

They don't ?
I didn't know that.

 

[Jim5506]

Whatever happened to rugby,Australian rules football,kick boxing,monster truck racing,and others.I'd sure rather see that than more sportscenter.

AND Curling! OH the DRAMA!

I used to actually enjoy watching curling.

Isn't hurling what happens after drinking too much watching college football?

 

[Teehar]

AND Curling! OH the DRAMA!

I used to actually enjoy watching curling.

Isn't hurling what happens after drinking too much watching college football?

hehehee I never could get into men with brooms.

 

[CK SatGuy]

They don't ?
I didn't know that.

Well, they run it during halftime but not during the game.