And not for sexual harassment, either. Also, this round of employee cutbacks (there have several previous ones in the recent past) was mostly centered on studio production, digital content and technology, with very little, if any, of the on-air talent getting the ax this time.
Looks like the sports channel is still not performing as well as it should financially, and it's also still paying out big on various broadcast rights (such as to the NFL and the NBA) and not generating the viewership/ad revenue it needs. The subscriber base, which is large, has been steadily declining, too, and I think in some regards it's only because the typical cable subscription package almost always comes with ESPN's various channels -- whether you want them or not -- that's it's making the kind of money it does.
You have to pay for the channel, which is bundled in with your cable package fee, in other words, or you don't get the package. There's also a growing number of people who are cord-cutting, unsubscribing from cable and going with digital streaming services for their viewing needs. ESPN was late to that game but is trying to catch up on its digital programming, hoping to sell itself to viewers as a standalone product (unprotected, though, by being buried in the aforementioned cable TV subscriber package).
John Skipper's memo to ESPN employees - ESPN Front Row
ESPN layoffs: Network cuts about 150 more jobs - Nov. 29, 2017
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
Looks like the sports channel is still not performing as well as it should financially, and it's also still paying out big on various broadcast rights (such as to the NFL and the NBA) and not generating the viewership/ad revenue it needs. The subscriber base, which is large, has been steadily declining, too, and I think in some regards it's only because the typical cable subscription package almost always comes with ESPN's various channels -- whether you want them or not -- that's it's making the kind of money it does.
You have to pay for the channel, which is bundled in with your cable package fee, in other words, or you don't get the package. There's also a growing number of people who are cord-cutting, unsubscribing from cable and going with digital streaming services for their viewing needs. ESPN was late to that game but is trying to catch up on its digital programming, hoping to sell itself to viewers as a standalone product (unprotected, though, by being buried in the aforementioned cable TV subscriber package).
John Skipper's memo to ESPN employees - ESPN Front Row
ESPN layoffs: Network cuts about 150 more jobs - Nov. 29, 2017
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."