ESPN is Proving Exactly How Not to Advance into Streaming TV

Great news cord cutters, Disney announced this week that they are going to start offering an ESPN streaming-only option, which seems like a big step in the right direction. While some might argue that this has taken way too long, at least we're finally getting an OTT version of the sports entertainment giant, right?

But the deal isn't as straightforward as it seems, as Disney also commented during their earnings call that this won't be a direct transfer of goods from cable broadcast to digital stream. Instead, the streaming version of ESPN will be scaled back, and won't include many of the ESPN programs that have made the talking heads on the network famous. Instead, the streams will be focused far more on live sports such as MLB and college athletics.

So despite how it seems like ESPN is finally making the jump into the digital age, this move actually represents perhaps why ESPN has seen declining subscriber numbers and falling budgets: no foresight into the future of television.

Over the past few years, the major sport leagues have pushed into digital, with the NFL and MLB making it easier than ever in 2016 to stream online with partnerships with services like Sling TV and proprietary streaming apps. The NFL just recently announced a partnership with Sling TV to bring things like RedZone and The NFL Network to cord cutters. The MLB has been great with their MLB.TV subscriptions, and this is the key: providing access at a reasonable price.

With all these recent advances, it seems as if ESPN is the one that has fallen vastly behind in the push to go digital. ESPN has long been the main reason people hold onto their cable subscriptions, with live sports being the number one reason men say they still have cable. But as we move more and more into the digital age, the network has managed to fall way behind entertainment consumption trends. It has been said that ESPN's contracts with cable providers has been the most lucrative of all television networks, but even this seems to be trending downward.

Disney is flush with cash and not likely that concerned about ESPN, at least not yet. They've got plenty of budget to work with when it comes to presenting a world-class product. But if they can't come around on offering a replicated version of the network digitally, how long can this sustain?