When Saagar Enjeti of Breaking Points was on my podcast we addressed the topic of whether ESPN or Fox News is more doomed going forward. I went with Fox News, mostly because I think live sports TV rights constitutes more of a scarce resource than conservative commentary. That seemed like sound enough logic, at least to me.
A couple weeks later, and suddenly one-fifth of ESPN’s American customers are without the service, an instantly precarious circumstance for the ailing World Wide Leader. It’s a classic fight between cable provider and programming network, but a lot of people in the know think it’s different this time, more dangerous for Bristol than in the past. This looks like a potential sea change, the moment when the financial collapse of televised sports and cable writ large gets real.