ESPN has lost 25 million viewers over the past 10 years. This is partly due to conference and regional sports networks such as Big Ten Network and Fox Sports Detroit. But it is also because many fans are fed up with ESPN's barrage of left-wing propaganda and blowhard woke commentators who try to force-feed their garbage down viewers' throats.
One thing that's nice about the rapid advance of technology is that it gives consumers greater choice -- not just in formats, types of media and myriad specs, but in editorial content. Back in the stone age, when it was just ABC, NBC and CBS (and quite possibly, a massive, homely antenna mounted to the rooftop), consumers were slaves to just a few voices as well as designated programming and show times. The content variety was as exciting as choosing between a black Model T Ford and a black Model A Ford.
Now, we have hundreds of TV stations (in actuality, probably thousands), plus the Internet, talk radio, podcasts, streaming video and untold opportunities to purchase movies, sports and other entertainment in a variety of packages and formats. If we don't like leftist blowhards on one network, we can choose to watch other networks.
Conversely, if stupid-ass networks like CNN and ESPN find that their ratings are in the toilet because they're chock-full of inane hosts parroting progressive nonsense, they may well choose to adjust their content accordingly to avoid losing billions of dollars (see CNN under its new owners, although the change is agonizingly slow). The free market at work. It's a beautiful thing.
Bob Costas, a former NBC sportscaster, was particularly notorious for spouting his smug and arrogant bullshit; too stupid to realize that millions of people turn to sports, music and other forms of entertainment to escape the fetid cesspool of politics.
News flash: If I go to a night club, I don't want a preacher screaming in my face about hellfire and brimstone. And if I am in church, seeing someone swigging a Jim Beam and passing a joint around is a bad look. DON'T try to combine politics and sports! Is that so hard?
The Big Ten, which recently announced that USC and UCLA are joining the conference, has decided to end its business arrangement with ESPN after an incredible 40 years. Fox, NBC and CBS have swooped in like vulchers to chow down on the meat at a combined price that’s expected to exceed $1 billion annually. Ah, capitalism.
These networks have some left wing blowhards, too, but I doubt any of them will be as bad as ESPN. I don't have enough knowledge as to how qualified their analysts and commentators are, since I've often been known to watch football games with the volume turned down. (I almost always enjoy reading more than watching -- watching anything, including videos, news, sports, movies, whatever.)
We'll see how it all shakes out. But as college football and the NFL draw near, all I can say is: Thank God for the free market and technological advances. Even on my 12-year-old MacBook Pro, I can enjoy my hand-picked sports buffet any way, any day.
I haven't had ESPN on my Roku feed for years, and I don't miss it at all. Good riddance.
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