OT: Tough Times @ ESPN
ESPN announces 300 layoffs, citing 'disruption' amid virus
ESPN announced Thursday it is laying off about 300 employees and cutting about 500 jobs from its global workforce.
The cuts amount to about 10% of the employees at the sports network and are due largely to the impact of the pandemic on its business and the “tremendous disruption in how fans consume sports.”
“In the short term, we enacted various steps like executive and talent salary reductions, furloughs and budget cuts, and we implemented innovative operations and production approaches, all in an effort to weather the COVID storm,” Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN’s chairman, wrote in an email to employees. “We have, however, reached an inflection point.”
In addition to the layoffs, the company is planning to leave about 200 vacant positions unfilled.
ESPN did not say how many of the job cuts would come at its Bristol, Connecticut, campus, but said they would not be concentrated in any one area. On-air talent, the vast majority having personal contracts, is not expected to be heavily affected. But some of those contracts could be allowed to expire.
The company said it has more than 5,000 employees, including about 4,000 in Bristol.
The Disney subsidiary has recently been moving toward more direct-to-consumer offerings, including its ESPN+, a streaming service that has grown to about 8.5 million subscribers.
Pitaro said the discussions on how to reposition the company in a changing media landscape predate COVID-19, but said the pandemic had accelerated those discussions.
– and, as always, in the most efficient way possible — is by far the most challenging job of any leadership team.”
The layoffs come three years after ESPN cut about 250 jobs, including journalists and on-air talent.
https://www.startribune.com/espn-announces-300-layoffs-citing-disruption-amid-virus/572980322/
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
Stopped watching ESPN years ago when their on-air personalities started interviewing each other and calling it content. I think they were up to about half a dozen variant channels by then.
A few years later I cut the cord so couldn't watch if I wanted to. 25 years ago they were the shit but time marches on.
@"Vikergirl" said:@"JimmyinSD" said:@"Hawkvike25" said:@"JimmyinSD" said:@"StickyBun" said:@"purplefaithful" said:@"JimmyinSD" said:@"purplefaithful" said:@"StickyBun" said: Viewing habits are different, people consume things on many platforms and traditional cable TV is shrinking. The idea of watching Sportscenter seems laughable now and it was their flagship product not that long ago. Disney, their parent company, is also suffering. Also: their on-air staff seems to be about the most un-cool group ever that are trying desperately to be so. ^^^This is very true...Viewers are flocking to streaming platforms which means far less eyeballs and $ for live tv.
Disney + is actually a pretty good platform and we're enjoying that along with HBO Max, Apple TV+, Hulu and Netflix.
Outside of sports and election coverage, live viewing is less than 50% in our hh now - and trending downward.
i know I am cutting my dish down ( picture Clark Griswold with a chain saw fixing the newel post) the day i get that shiny new fiberoptic cable into my house ... its sitting there coiled up on the back of my house just taunting me, teasing me, with the promise of lightning fast internet for an awesome streaming experience.No more chiseling ice, or sweeping snow off the dish after every winter storm, no more losing signal with every thunder storm, no more adjustments after major wind events, no more sitting on hold for hours on end trying to renegotiate my damn bill every year just to get it back to a number higher than what they give new users... I will be so fucking happy to see that fiber get up and running I can even tell you. ( I wont even need that herbal stuff to make me happy)
I hear you on that.We're this close to sending Dish back their hardware and just going forward with Amazon Fire Stick and Dish Streaming App. With just a limited programming too. Everything else pretty much is streamable.
I'm cutting the cord at the beginning of December: my son and his gf will be in town visiting for Thanksgiving and I'm going to get the scoop on which streaming services to get (already have Netflix and Amazon Prime). Not sure if I need anything else? I'm guessing I do.
Ive got netflix and prime currently, i think i will be adding youtube tv though for the DVR and local channels aspect unless I come across something better that does that and has fox sports north so I have my Twins, Wild, and Wolves when the urge to scream at the TV strikes me in the nfl offseason.
I have Prime and Netflix and use YoutubeTV for live TV. I just dont care for Hulu's home screen as I dont find it very user friendly. YoutubeTV isn't bad, under $70 per month and it carries the sports channels that I want, minus Fox Sports North. I would recommend it for those looking to switch off Dish, Directv, etc.
you dont get fox sports north on youtube? is that the fox sports you would normally get with a dish or cable for your network?
It used to be on there but now it's not.
Correct. I lost it this past year and had to watch Twins games on other teams' network. Outside of that, I dont really have a problem with YoutubeTV. It's also a benefit to be able to pull it up at work if stuff like The Masters is on as you can watch it on up to 6 devices at once I believe
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