Employees at ESPN, a brand synonymous with sports broadcasting for nearly five decades, face an uncertain future.
According to John Ourand of Puck, an “unexpected revenue dip” will trigger imminent layoffs at ESPN.
“I can now confirm that another round [of layoffs] is approaching,” Ourand wrote.
In June 2023, ESPN announced that it had parted ways with NFL reporter Suzy Kolber, NFL draft analyst Todd McShay, and nearly two dozen other familiar faces.
Unlike its most recent purge, this time, the network will not slash on-air talent.
“I’m told the number will land near 30, with cuts expected in the coming weeks, primarily in off-camera departments,” Ourand added.
Though technically “unexpected,” the recent “revenue dip” did occur at least partly due to ESPN’s own actions.
Last fall, the network found itself in what Ourand called a “brutal carriage dispute” with YouTube TV. As a result, ESPN “went dark on the platform right in the middle of football season.”
In the heady days of the late-20th and early-21st centuries, when ESPN enjoyed a virtual monopoly on cable-sports programming, the network would have had considerable leverage over nearly any negotiating partner.
Even today, ESPN’s rights to college football and the NFL’s “Monday Night Football” make it a formidable name in broadcasting.
Nonetheless, times have changed.
“ESPN has shed 40 percent of its cable and satellite subscribers over the past decade, declining from 100 million households to 60 million,” Ourand wrote.
Moreover, the NFL’s ever-expanding popularity means that any acquiring network will pay handsomely for the next “Monday Night Football” package.
Above all, however, ESPN found itself in a disadvantageous position relative to the digital juggernaut YouTube.
In this case, “YouTube TV had the juice — it was, after all, a privileged shingle of the world’s largest media company, YouTube, which itself was a shingle of Alphabet, a nearly $4 trillion market-cap colossus,” Ourand wrote.
As a result, ESPN went dark on YouTube TV for 15 days. Thus, subscribers lost out on two full weekends of marquee football games, both college and pro.
Disney, ESPN’s parent company, reported $100 million in losses due to that dispute with YouTube TV. Those losses at least partially account for the coming layoffs.
Of course, in recent years, ESPN has also embraced woke ideology. So has the NFL.
Looking forward, if the broadcasting giant hopes to avoid financial losses and another purge of employees, it will rely heavily on its relationship with the NFL, which includes full control of NFL Network for ESPN and a 10 percent equity stake in ESPN for the NFL.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
