ESPNmageddon on the table

Is this the tipping point for the sports giant?

The scary man, threatening ESPN

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.