ESPN gets BCS: Does this change the landscape for good?

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3710477


I think baseball has hurt itself by going with cable all the way to the World Series. Now, the national championship game will be limited only to cable subscribers. Is this the beginning of the end of network sports or will these entitities ultimately bite off the hand that feeds them?

 

Anyone without cable is going to bed at 8 p.m. anyways.

 

Well maybe, but in a tight economic environment, cable becomes an option and premium cable a more costly option. ESPN has tried to push for bigger fees from cable operators and ultimately, I believe, will go premium with some of its top-shelf programming, leaving what's known as ESPN now for high school and gasp - youth league sports.

 

Yes, ESPN is going to start and HBO-style pay channel for its NFL, MLB, NBA and college football and basketball.

Are you serious?

 

Yes I am.

Because Fox Sports is already doing that, asking cable operators to pay more for games involving teams in its region by putting them on premium channels.

 

no ones paying for ESPN Full Court now, why would they on PPV? Its so easy to set up a system to mirror it and broadcast the games on computer, ask Nebraska football fans

 

Guess the other BCS tv thread wasn't good enough?

 

If you get ESPN on your TV, around $3 of your cable or satellite bill each month goes to ESPN. That will go up next time ESPN negotiates with the distributors. So your bill will go up too.

Otherwise, it changes nothing. And, honestly, probably helps the BCS more than being an afterthought to the NFL on Fox.

 

A long time ago, I told a colleague of mine that the NFL would love to make the Super Bowl a pay per view event. He laughed while saying that would never happen to college football.
I think he owes me a drink, or something.

 

Guess not ...