YOUR Quarterly ESPN Sucks Thread

[Bored 0]

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111792466...11&cs=1&s=h&p=0

ESPN gets less sports-centered

Cabler to broaden its field with more series, telepix

 

By JOHN DEMPSEY

 

Less hockey and baseball. More original movies and series.

That's one big equation on the mind of Mark Shapiro, executive VP of programming and production for ESPN, who's gung ho about broadening the audience for ESPN by reaching beyond the stereotypical potbellied sports nut, stretched out in his undershirt on a Barcalounger with a can of beer in one hand and a remote in the other.

 

ESPN and ESPN2 aimed the National Hockey League games it carried from 1999 through 2004 squarely at this viewer, but Shapiro says the NHL's ratings had fallen to such a depressed state by the 2003-04 season (a labor dispute obliterated the 2004-05 schedule) that he won't pay cash license fees anymore.

 

And Shapiro is negotiating a new contract with Major League Baseball but says, "I'm not interested in carrying five games a week unless I get full network exclusivity," a concession baseball seems unwilling to grant except for the traditional ESPN game of the week on Sunday night.

 

And that's where scripted programming comes in. Shapiro says one of the reasons ESPN's scripted series about Las Vegas poker players "Tilt" failed to find an audience earlier this year is that the only free night not saturated with live sports commitments was Thursday, where, at 9 p.m., the show had to go up against such strong series as "CSI" on CBS, "Will & Grace" on NBC and "Extreme Makeover" on ABC. Against those odds, "Tilt" never really had a chance.

 

By contrast, ESPN's other scripted series "Playmakers," a warts-and-all look at the members of a fictional pro-football team, fared much better with audiences in 2003's late summer and fall because the network was able to carve out a weekly primetime slot on Tuesday, where the competition was not so fierce.

 

Despite solid ratings, "Playmakers" got a reluctant cancellation notice after its first 13-episode season, falling victim to the hostility of the National Football League, most of whose owners hated the portrayal of some athletes as drug users, wife beaters and other unsavory types.

 

The mistakes ESPN made in shepherding "Playmakers" and "Tilt" onto the schedule have only reinforced Shapiro's goal of coming up with one or two hit series in the next few years and with at least four highly exploitable original movies a year, starting in 2006.

 

The man who created "Playmakers," John Eisendrath, is working on an untitled drama pilot set in the world of boxing, which is slated as ESPN's next series.

 

Shapiro says he has 30 movie projects in the works, with two in production: "Four Minutes," a docudrama about Roger Bannister, the first athlete to run the four-minute mile, and "The Code Breakers," a script based on the 1951 West Point scandal in which the school expelled 83 Army cadets, including most of the football team, for cheating.

 

Sports-media consultant Kevin O'Malley applauds Shapiro's push to get ESPN into scripted movies and series.

 

"These shows are already getting more women and younger men to watch the network," O'Malley says.

 

Getting different kinds of people to watch ESPN, says Neal Pilson, a sports consultant and former president of CBS Sports, will help to pump up the network's advertising revenues.

 

Kagan Research says ESPN already harvests more ad revenues than any other cable network, projecting a record $869.2 million in 2005, a 9% gain over those of last year.

 

ESPN should look at the example of MTV, says David Carter, a principal with the Los Angeles-based Sports Business Group.

 

"MTV became an integral part of the pop culture," he says, "by morphing from a musicvideo network to a channel carrying a wide range of programming."

 

However, Mike Trager, former head of Clear Channel Entertainment, says ESPN "has to walk a fine line between reaching out for new viewers and alienating its core audience."

 

Or, as another sports analyst puts it: "Women may watch an episode of one of the series, but that doesn't mean they're going to abandon Lifetime to become devotees of the NFL and the NBA on ESPN."

[Crimson Platypus 0]

If they want to do that, they should start a new channel for it. At some point I will be watching ESPNews ONLY.

 

On a related note, is it just me or is more and more of espn.com becoming insider content? Check the NBA draft section. There is hardly anything there that is not insider content. Do people actually pay for this?

[Slayer 0]

"ESPN has become to sports what MTV is to music"

[Crimson Platypus 0]

Is that supposed to be a good thing?

[nl5xsk1 0]

"Hey, you know that network that used to be really popular but is now just a joke and a punchline? Let's emulate them!"

 

There was a point in my life that ESPN meant something to me. Now they do such a poor job of entertaining me that other than football season I really have no reason to watch any of their networks (occasional viewings of Cheap Seats excluded).

[Guest Fishyswa]

Yikes, how confident can you be about where your going when you openly want to be like MTV.

 

Thank god for YES and the internet.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Ugh. I will not watch any ESPN "scripted" programming. I do not watch ESPN because it is "hip" and "cool." I watch ESPN for baseball coverage, because I am a baseball fan. If they do not have baseball coverage, I will watch elsewhere. Local cable sports channels such as Comcast Sports Net and the YES Network provide a surprisingly good alternative, more highlights and discussion, and less fluff.

 

I am well past the age where I felt any need to watch "hip" and "cool" television.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Just more reasons to not watch ESPN. Oddly enough, the only time I watch that station is when they televise a sporting contest...

[Slayer 0]

Going back and re-reading the article

 

Shapiro says one of the reasons ESPN's scripted series about Las Vegas poker players "Tilt" failed to find an audience earlier this year is that the only free night not saturated with live sports commitments was Thursday, where, at 9 p.m., the show had to go up against such strong series as "CSI" on CBS, "Will & Grace" on NBC and "Extreme Makeover" on ABC. Against those odds, "Tilt" never really had a chance.

But certainly not because the promos for the show were horrible, both in their apparent characterization and portrayal of poker

 

By contrast, ESPN's other scripted series "Playmakers," a warts-and-all look at the members of a fictional pro-football team, fared much better with audiences in 2003's late summer and fall because the network was able to carve out a weekly primetime slot on Tuesday, where the competition was not so fierce.

 

Despite solid ratings, "Playmakers" got a reluctant cancellation notice after its first 13-episode season, falling victim to the hostility of the National Football League, most of whose owners hated the portrayal of some athletes as drug users, wife beaters and other unsavory types.

The NFL was pissed that the show broached their monopoly of such portrayal

 

(yeah it's been said before, but it needed repeating)

 

"MTV became an integral part of the pop culture," he says, "by morphing from a musicvideo network to a channel carrying a wide range of programming."

Wow. Revisonist history at it's finest

[Black Lushus 0]

Just more reasons to not watch ESPN. Oddly enough, the only time I watch that station is when they televise a sporting contest...

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PTI and ATH?

[snuffbox 0]

Why dont they eliminate some of the many hours dedicated to billiards, bowling, golf, and tennis...and leave the baseball coverage alone?

[MrRant 0]

Well here is to hoping that Comcast Sports Net becomes what we hope it will be....

[Red Baron 0]

Hopefully this doesn't happen to TSN.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Well here is to hoping that Comcast Sports Net becomes what we hope it will be....

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And Im happy that I will finally be able to ditch Comcast SportsNet next year...hopefully for Mid Atlantic Sportsnet (MASN). When the Orioles leave in 2006, they wont have any quality sports programing during the summer..ooh WNBA Mystics and MLS United coverage whoohoo. As much as I could care less about the Nationals, the way they are handling the situation by not carrying MASN for the Nationals games right now is rediculous.

 

I still find it funny that CSN is on Directv (the one for Baltimore/DC that used to be HTS) but Comcast ruined it just like they ruined TechTV.

[MrRant 0]

You obviously don't know what is going on then Marv.

[Precious Roy 0]

Going back and re-reading the article

 

Shapiro says one of the reasons ESPN's scripted series about Las Vegas poker players "Tilt" failed to find an audience earlier this year is that the only free night not saturated with live sports commitments was Thursday, where, at 9 p.m., the show had to go up against such strong series as "CSI" on CBS, "Will & Grace" on NBC and "Extreme Makeover" on ABC. Against those odds, "Tilt" never really had a chance.

But certainly not because the promos for the show were horrible, both in their apparent characterization and portrayal of poker

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Certainly not. And the c-level writing and d-level performances provided little indication that this was a cheap ploy to exploit the fad-like popularity of poker. Why, anyone who contends that must not be cool OR hip!

 

It's funny, the only original ESPN program I actually liked was Playmakers, and of course it's the one that they killed. I gotta admit though, I kind of enjoyed Hustle in a perverse, "I can't believe that dude who beat up Heidi Fleiss is playing Pete Rose like a DeNiro impersonation" kind of way

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

You obviously don't know what is going on then Marv.

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Is there anything going on?

 

I have Comcast Philly, which carries a decent half-hour sports news program, Daily News Live, and of course Phillies, Flyers and Sixers games.

[mike546 0]

Don't you get bored watching Yankeeography and Yankee classics Al? I mean, they have that round table thing with Berra, Clemens and a couple others sometimes, but besides that, its those two shows, Yankee Magazine, Yesnetwork magazine, ULTIMATE ROAD TRIP~!, Running, Center Stage, or History of the Yankees.

 

[The Czech Republic 0]

Good to know that the show that inspired the Everest Scale is ushering in more similar programming for ESPN.

[Matt Young 0]

Eh.... ESPNews, SportsCenter, Around the Horn, and Pardon the Interruption are still essential viewing.

[MrRant 0]

You obviously don't know what is going on then Marv.

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Is there anything going on?

 

I have Comcast Philly, which carries a decent half-hour sports news program, Daily News Live, and of course Phillies, Flyers and Sixers games.

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We would like to have our own National/Regional sports network. I think we will get in on the bidding for the Thursday night games.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

well fuck.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

You obviously don't know what is going on then Marv.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Is there anything going on?

 

I have Comcast Philly, which carries a decent half-hour sports news program, Daily News Live, and of course Phillies, Flyers and Sixers games.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

We would like to have our own National/Regional sports network. I think we will get in on the bidding for the Thursday night games.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I dont really care, but I can see the problem being that Comcast will want to keep the channel exclusive to Comcast cable subscribers which cuts off a lot people. If Home Team Sports hadn't been on Directv and grandfathered in when Comcast bought it, it wouldn't be on Directv just like CSN Philly isn't. And although Directv doesn't have the bandwith to carry it, I can't see them giving up exclusivity of the HD feed.

 

And about ESPN..I watch it somewhat now that its in HD, although it sucks that a lot of times the games they have aren't in HD. Directv doesn't even have ESPN2 in HD yet, but word is they will by the end of the year (along with TNTHD and some other channels). 99% of the time, when the Os have been on ESPN its been blacked out because the game is on CSN.

[The Czech Republic 0]

I must be the only one who doesn't give a rat's ass about HD. I'm not a TV junkie, my bedroom televisions are usually close to my own age. Yeah, it's cool and all, but it's nothing really essential for me. I'm getting by.

 

That said, my only concern is getting more Cubs games on WGN. I don't understand how the Cubs are making more money broadcasting half their schedule to a much smaller audience.

[MrRant 0]

You obviously don't know what is going on then Marv.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Is there anything going on?

 

I have Comcast Philly, which carries a decent half-hour sports news program, Daily News Live, and of course Phillies, Flyers and Sixers games.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

We would like to have our own National/Regional sports network. I think we will get in on the bidding for the Thursday night games.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I dont really care, but I can see the problem being that Comcast will want to keep the channel exclusive to Comcast cable subscribers which cuts off a lot people. If Home Team Sports hadn't been on Directv and grandfathered in when Comcast bought it, it wouldn't be on Directv just like CSN Philly isn't. And although Directv doesn't have the bandwith to carry it, I can't see them giving up exclusivity of the HD feed.

 

And about ESPN..I watch it somewhat now that its in HD, although it sucks that a lot of times the games they have aren't in HD. Directv doesn't even have ESPN2 in HD yet, but word is they will by the end of the year (along with TNTHD and some other channels). 99% of the time, when the Os have been on ESPN its been blacked out because the game is on CSN.

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I like you Marv, but please don't talk about why CSN Philly isn't on DTV if you don't know the reasons.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

You obviously don't know what is going on then Marv.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Is there anything going on?

 

I have Comcast Philly, which carries a decent half-hour sports news program, Daily News Live, and of course Phillies, Flyers and Sixers games.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

We would like to have our own National/Regional sports network. I think we will get in on the bidding for the Thursday night games.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I dont really care, but I can see the problem being that Comcast will want to keep the channel exclusive to Comcast cable subscribers which cuts off a lot people. If Home Team Sports hadn't been on Directv and grandfathered in when Comcast bought it, it wouldn't be on Directv just like CSN Philly isn't. And although Directv doesn't have the bandwith to carry it, I can't see them giving up exclusivity of the HD feed.

 

And about ESPN..I watch it somewhat now that its in HD, although it sucks that a lot of times the games they have aren't in HD. Directv doesn't even have ESPN2 in HD yet, but word is they will by the end of the year (along with TNTHD and some other channels). 99% of the time, when the Os have been on ESPN its been blacked out because the game is on CSN.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I like you Marv, but please don't talk about why CSN Philly isn't on DTV if you don't know the reasons.

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Well the FCC has rules that say that any channels delivered by satellite have to be offered to the sat companies for them to carry. Since CSN Philly isn't, Comcast doesn't have to offer CSN-Philly to the sat companies if they don't want to, which obviously they don't want to as long as they dont have to, because they'd lose customers that they are only able to keep because of the current exclusivity of CSN-Philly.

 

See..I know some stuff cause I'm also a member of DBStalk.com (Marvin) and there are some really knowledgable people over at their forums that have had to answer the "Why isn't CSN-Philly on Directv/Dish Network?" question about 884,993 times.

[MrRant 0]

DBSTalk.com is just about as bad as AVSForums for "Knowledgeable" people about anything that is going on in the industry.

[Dr. Tom 0]

Then why not provide the actual reason it's not available, instead of just saying that no one knows and people at another forum are stupid?

 

Considering the incompetence with which Comcast handled my cable install when I recently moved, I'm skeptical about them having a national sports network...

[Guest DaGoodz]

as long as espn keeps rolling out more quality programming like "stump the schwab" i will be thoroughly entertained. i bet the schwab's crotch smells like stale pretzel's, beer and piss.

[Guest Smues]

Yuck Stump the Blob, that show is terrible. Is there a claus in Stuart Scott's contract that he gets to host everything he wants? Those best 25 of the last 25 shows, DreamJob, Stump the Blob, Teamates, and probably more. Uck. Oh and my current biggest problem with ESPN is having Rome is Burning on five days a week, and right before Around the Horn so what happens is I turn over at like 1:58, see Rome and turn away, then forget to turn back and miss the first few minutes.