Re: ESPN opts out of broadcasting baseball

On 2025-02-22 22:56:57 +0000, anim8rfsk said:

Ian J. Ball <ijball@mac.invalid> wrote:

On 2/22/25 1:31 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

 Apparently the breakup of ESPN and major league baseball has been
brewing for some time. ESPN would have paid $550 million a year for the
next three years, and exercised their opt out effective March 1.
 My cable tv fees are going to drop since this is charged to basic cable
fees, right?
 Or am I delusional?

 If we can ever convince Disney to pull ESPN entirely out of cable, yes -
cable rates *should* drop when that happens.
 The question is whether we can ever convince Disney to pull ESPN
entirely out of cable...

 Nah.  Cox renamed the huge ESPN surcharge to just a generic sports
surcharge. It’s not going anywhere.

For Sky TV here in New Zealand the sports channels are an optional extra, so thankfully we don't have to pay for those. The movie channels and a few others are also an optional extras. Occasionally they run a free period, so we record any movies we are interested in then and watch when we get time.