We could be one step closer to "The Ocho"... ESPN Classic to become ESPN3?

[SirFozzie]

The guy writes for ESPN Soccernet, so it's a bit more then just idle speculation. Wonder if this fits in with the rumors a while back that ESPN was looking to buy a stake in Setanta Sports (both the UK version and the North American version..)

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/05/post-10.html

RS- Any more new info on ESPN looking to get Premier League rights starting in the 2009-2010 season? If anybody can find out some new info on this, it's you. Thanks Ives.

IVES- The word I just got from a source at ESPN is that ESPN is definitely interested and the feeling around the network is that a large bid is coming because ESPN has big plans for expanding ESPN Classic into potentially an ESPN3, with the English Premier League as one of the station's marquee draws. That whole scenario may wind up being wishful thinking but what is clear is that ESPN is interested in the EPL rights.

They could move things like MLS, Arena Football, WNBA, that kind of stuff off the main networks and put it over there. Plus ESPN Classic has slowly been moving away from All Classic Sports all the time, with American Gladiators, some live college basketball and football, etcetera. Hopefully this means Aussie Rules comes back to free TV :)

EDIT: If this happens, you might as well stick a fork in Fox Soccer Channel, and probably Setanta Sports North America as well.

[General Mike]

I thought ESPN U was ESPN3

[SirFozzie]

I thought ESPN U was ESPN3


The U would be ESPN4, it's the most recent ESPN network

[General Mike]

What is ESPNEWS then?

[flounder]

One step closer to televised lawn mower racing. I approve.

[JonInMiddleGA]

One step closer to televised lawn mower racing. I approve.

That's so retro.

[JonInMiddleGA]

What is ESPNEWS then?

A way to generate extra advertising inventory that can be packaged up as added value and/or sold on the cheap to bring the average cost-per-point of an ad buy down.

[ISiddiqui]

They could move things like MLS, Arena Football, WNBA, that kind of stuff off the main networks and put it over there.

Due to the new TV deal, I don't think they be putting MLS on an ESPN3. I don't know how the other TV deals are set up either. Probably of all those, MLS has the best deal.

[kcchief19]

They could move things like MLS, Arena Football, WNBA, that kind of stuff off the main networks and put it over there. Plus ESPN Classic has slowly been moving away from All Classic Sports all the time, with American Gladiators, some live college basketball and football, etcetera. Hopefully this means Aussie Rules comes back to free TV :)
I don't think that's enough to free ESPN Classic from the digital tier it has been banned to, and I would imagine that would be ESPN's goal. Our Time Warner digital tier is loaded with ESPNews, ESPN Classic, ESPNU and the Fox Sports channels. They have tried to shift some premiere college games to ESPNU to get cable systems to make it a basic channel with little success. And with apologies to soccer fans, The Premier League isn't enough to get ESPN3 onto basic cable. They'll have to move some bigger name sports there too, meaning college basketball, MLB and NBA games. Maybe freeing the NHL from purgatory would help fill out the lineup too.
What is ESPNEWS then?
Good question. ESPNews is a waste of bandwidth, especially now that ESPN is going live with its morning SportsCenters with plans of going to a 24-hour live format. If SportsCenter is live 10 hours a day on ESPN, why have ESPNNews? Other than as Jon mentioned as cheap ads to get people to buy higher priced ads on the main networks?

[RainMaker]

It's sad because ESPN Classic had so much potential. I don't know if it's the fact they were never able to get the rights to old games or not, but the station just plain sucks. Basically American Gladiators or Poker 24/7. I would have loved to have seen some old NBA playoff games, NFL games, etc. Maybe I'm the only dolt out there that would actually watch that stuff.

And ESPN News isn't all bad. During the football season they do a lot of fantasy stuff and live press conferences. If they could do more specialized stuff like that, they'd be golden.

[Galaxy]

What about the Dodgeball championship?

[Butter]

Problem with ESPN Classic is, now every sport is getting a specialized channel. You want to watch Classic NFL? Turn over to the NFL Network and actually watch the old broadcast instead of the NFL Films stuff. NBA? Same thing. Baseball has got to be planning a channel, you would think. And all of the regional sports networks show classic stuff from time to time, because, well, they've got lots of space to fill, and those Ab Lounger infomercials can only go so far.

[JonInMiddleGA]

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/58375

Pretty good (but longish) article that talks about the pros & cons of ESPN's multi-platform approach. If you read it, try to make it to the end since the negative stuff is front-loaded but the mitigating factors come at the end. And one pretty important snippet towards the end

ESPN still is rolling out widely impressive numbers, particularly with ad sales. More than 70 percent of ESPN’s $2 million-plus ad buys have a medium other than television, which is proof that the multiplatform approach that is causing such angst among buyers is getting through to those buyers.

Though the number of households dropped for the flagship channel last year, ESPN’s four main networks — ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ESPNews — still performed well when aggregated together.

ESPN’s total-day audience dropped 6 percent in 2006 to 869,000 viewers, and ESPN Classic dropped 8 percent. But ESPN2 (up 5 percent) and ESPNews (up 23 percent), helped ESPN’s four main networks average more than 1 million viewers at any particular time during the day for the sixth straight year.

In 2007, Americans watched nearly 11.2 billion hours on the four ESPN networks.

[Honolulu Blue]

ESPNews is a waste of bandwidth, especially now that ESPN is going live with its morning SportsCenters with plans of going to a 24-hour live format. If SportsCenter is live 10 hours a day on ESPN, why have ESPNNews? Other than as Jon mentioned as cheap ads to get people to buy higher priced ads on the main networks?

I loathe SportsCenter and refuse to watch any of the ESPN networks that feature it. ESPN News I can take in small doses. And like Headline News and The Weather Channel, it's useful when I'm looking for one score or one piece of news and can't be bothered to surf the Net.

From Flounder:

One step closer to televised lawn mower racing. I approve.

Y'know, I've actually seen a few broadcasts of lawn mower racing (on Speed) and they weren't too bad. I kinda miss it. Jim could do worse for his next game.

[Dr. Sak]

I watch ESPN for college football and that's all. Now that I got the NHL Network, I am fine with not watching ESPN from January to August.

[Mustang]

I watch ESPN for college football and that's all. Now that I got the NHL Network, I am fine with not watching ESPN from January to August.

Except for championship week for college basketball and the NFL draft. Other than that, ESPN is about as relevant as MTV for me.

[cuervo72]

Problem with ESPN Classic is, now every sport is getting a specialized channel. You want to watch Classic NFL? Turn over to the NFL Network and actually watch the old broadcast instead of the NFL Films stuff.

Actually, that would be a complaint of mine about the NFL Network - they don't show enough old broadcasts OR NFL Films stuff. At least, not good ones. Like today's schedule. They're showing a few games from....11/11/07. I could care less about those games. The rest of the time is NFL Total Access. The next two days show some NFL Films stuff, but it's basically two shows repeated every three hours. I'd rather have an NFL Network Classic that shows broadcasts and wrap-up shows from the 60s and 70s rather than rehashing stuff that happened last year.

[SirFozzie]

Update: This fits with the history, and would be a definite lever to move ESPN Classic off the digital tier, especially considering if they got EPL, etcetera


One scenario that has been discussed would involve combining the NFL Network with the ESPN Classic network, which has relatively low ratings but wider distribution. ESPN would broadcast eight more games per season on ESPN Classic, and then attempt to wring higher subscription fees than the 16 or 17 cents it currently receives for the channel, according to Derek Baine, a senior analyst for SNL Kagan.

Under such a scenario, ESPN and the NFL could form a joint venture and share revenue, or ESPN could take an equity stake in the channel.

[ISiddiqui]

If they can do this and move ESPN Classic to HD in place of NFL Network, that'd be very nice... especially if they got the EPL... EPL in HD, WOOT!

[Tekneek]

ESPN Classic is such a misnomer anyway. The channel has sunk below what it was before ESPN acquired it, and it was only low back then due to a lack of resources. ESPN just doesn't want to put any good programming on it.

[Tekneek]

If they can do this and move ESPN Classic to HD in place of NFL Network, that'd be very nice... especially if they got the EPL... EPL in HD, WOOT!

ESPN would have no say in the displacement of a channel owned and operated by the NFL.

[ISiddiqui]

Of course they would... they'd tell Comcast, Time Warner, etc, that there is no reason for them to be carrying NFL HD when all the games are now on ESPN3 and they need to give ESPN3HD the spot that NFL HD used to occupy.

[molson]

Am I the only one who constantly finds classic sports on ESPN Classic? I've been watching a ton old NBA Playoff games lately.