ESPN Is Laying Off Hundreds While Al Jazeera Is Laying Off (1) Thousands...

[obumazombie]

Thanks owebuma, and not the satirical sarcastic thanks I usually mean.
I mean sincere thanks owebuma, but the owebumaconomy still stinks...

Word on the street is that ESPN is planning to lay off "200 to 300" employees in the coming months.
The go-to euphemism surrounding the impending layoffs, according to Variety's Brian Steinberg, is "the changing media landscape," primarily the "cord-cutting" phenomenon.

In July, the Big Lead blog, in discussing Keith Olbermann's expected departure from ESPN, explained that "millennials are eschewing expensive cable TV bills and streaming everything online."
While that might explain flat viewership or even a modest decline, cord-cutting is only a minor part of the problem.

Someone needs to explain why ESPN's ratings have fallen by a stunning 30 percent in the past 12 months.
In August 2014, ESPN came in fifth in prime time with 1.631 million viewers.

In August 2015, the formerly unstoppable sports juggernaut was ninth, with nearly a half-million fewer viewers:


The situation in the full-day metric is just as bad:

24 hours, August 2014 — 10th place; 752,000 viewers
24 hours, August 2015 — 15th place; 524,000 viewers (down 30 percent in 12 months)
John Nolte at Breitbart has explained how "cord-cutting" has affected ESPN financially (bolds are mine):

For every cable and satellite subscriber, ESPN receives $6.61 per month, or nearly $80.00 per year.
Whether you watch ESPN or not, if the left-wing network is part of your cable package, that’s how much money  YOU are giving ESPN to spread its left-wing gospel.

It’s built into your cable bill.
And due to this racket, ESPN grosses over $7.3 billion per year.

And there’s nothing you can do about it, except ...

Cut your cable cord.
This is what 3.2 million Americans have done over the last year or so.

... ESPN is poisoning 7.2% fewer U.S. households.

Nolte's numbers tell us that the 3.2 million decline in cable and satellite subscribers translates to a $254 million revenue loss ($6.61 x 12 x 3.2 million), or about 3-1/2 percent of ESPN's gross revenues.

That's all fine, except it doesn't explain why EPSN has lost only 7.2 percent of its subscriber base while losing 30 percent of its viewers (in turn, surely affecting ad rates, increasing the hemorrhaging in revenues).


Here's how.
The network has become so insufferably politically correct that it's turning off viewers who just want scores and highlights while being entertained along the way.

Such people are going elsewhere: to their local TV and radio stations, Fox Sports, the Sporting News, and other outlets.

Here are just three recent examples of ESPN's in-your-face treatment of apolitical sports enthusiasts:

Curt Schilling's suspension from Major League Baseball broadcasts and analysis for comparing the percentage of Muslims who are extremists to the analogous percentage in Germany in the 1930s in a personal tweet — and then having the temerity to defend himself, insisting that "I did not, and will not apologize for the content of the tweet."

Its saturation coverage of football player Michael Sam, the openly homosexual football player who failed to make the cut in the NFL and walked away from the game after a brief attempt to play in the Canadian Football League.

Its decision to give its annual "Courage Award" to Bruce/Caitlin Jenner, the 1976 Olympic decathlon winner who has decided to undergo a sex change — passing up genuine profiles in courage like the late Lauren Hill and Noah Galloway.
The network admitted that the selection of Jenner was based in culture and politics and not courage as normal people define it: "... we are proud to honor Caitlyn Jenner embracing her identity and doing so in a public way to help move forward a constructive dialogue about progress and acceptance."


There's only so much of this garbage sports fans will tolerate before going elsewhere.
Based on the numbers (30 percent decline in viewership vs. 7.2 percent decline in cable subscribers), it's reasonable to claim that three-quarters of the network's 12-month decline is due to the network's adherence to and intensely irritating proselytizing on behalf of "left-wing gospel."

It's safe to say that the network will see more bleeding if it insists on continuing down that path.

An anti-Western propaganda network is reportedly letting go a quarter of its workforce.
But this time it’s not MSNBC.

On Tuesday, The Guardian reported that falling oil prices are forcing the Qatari emir to cut expenditures.
So rather than cut his funding of Hamas, 800-1,000 al-Jazeera employees are on the chopping block worldwide.

“Broadcasters, journalists, technicians and other support staff working in both English and Arabic language channels are all expected to be told of the planned cuts over the coming days,” the paper said.
(Where does one go professionally after AJ? The Beheading Channel?)

According to The Guardian, al-Jazeera America “is expected to be protected from most of these cuts.”
Which is odd, since AJA is mired in personnel problems and lawsuits, and its ratings are competitive with 3 am Bedazzler infomercials. 


Still, AJA has brought us all that good journalism New York Times-types longed for, like it’s wildly pro-Hamas reporting during the 2014 Gaza war or allowing a “vegan food maniac” and “friend to all animals” anchor to report on the chicken industry.
We can only hope oil prices stabilize before the merciless axe of economic necessity reaches Al Jazeera English editor and executive producer Salah-Aldeen Khadr, who cut through the post-Charlie Hedbo attack “free speech” spin.

Or AJE executive Carlos van Meek, who told employees not to use the terms “extremist,” “Islamist,” “militant,” and “terrorist” in their news coverage to “avoid characterizing people.”

ESPN layoffs full article...
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tom-blumer/2015/09/23/impending-layoffs-espn-arent-only-about-media-landscape#sthash.fAjBuliv.dpuf




Al Jazeera layoffs full article...
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/matthew-philbin/2015/09/23/al-ja-seeya-massive-layoffs-coming-qatari-owned-network#sthash.rVgY3br0.dpuf

[Ralph Wiggum]

ESPN has been getting progressively worse the past 5 years or so.  I perhaps have lamented about it here, can't remember.

Nothing to do with Olbermann.  He is & was great at sports. Yeah, he screwed up there again, by delving into politics.

Expand more later...

[obumazombie]

I keep hoping that someday these TV producers who imagine themselves to be the smartest people ever to grace the planet earth will someday break the code.
The code is, no one cares about infantile and puerile lib comments by anchors.
And no one cares about the anchors agendas.
Viewers tune in to get what is advertised, not to get anything extra.

[franksolich]

I don't watch television that much--I've probably seen about half an hour of ESPN the past twenty years, total--but of course I'm always reading about television in the newspapers.

It seems to me that as long as ESPN keeps that jerk Herb Kirkstreit or whatever his name is, on the payroll, ESPN is going to suck big time.