RIP: ESPN Classic?

I have Comcast and noticed that they've quietly removed ESPN Classic from the lineup. A little digging reveals that it was ESPN that has phased the channel out of its normal lineup, and into a streaming on-demand service like ESPN3.

So I guess it's still around in zombie form, but I wonder what this says about the state of ESPN as a whole. Are things getting so dire that they can't afford to have a rerun channel? It couldn't have been a rights thing, since even if they just showed the games they broadcast themselves they'd have an endless supply of content. Is it an attempt to target cord cutters or an experiment to get ahead of the curve on streaming services?

The digging revealed what happened, but not the why behind it.

 

I had it in my hotel room at the Luxor in Vegas when I was out there a couple of weeks ago. It was nice to go to sleep with old Big East games from the 1980s each night. Also replayed the 1995 Rose Bowl and, two minutes into my viewing, they showed Jerry Sandusky on the sidelines.

 

That spot is expected to become the ACC Network.

 

HD killed ESPN Classic. The hi-def of today makes pretty much all pre-2008 recorded live television almost unwatchable. Blurry, grainy, like watching VHS home movies.

 

Yeah, ESPN Classic is one of those things where I go "What, they're taking that off? How can they do that, those bastards?" And then two seconds later I realize I haven't even watched that channel in ages.

 

We still have it, right next to ESPN and ESPN2 in the channel lineup. I would not be adverse to it being replaced by the ACC Network.

You can only watch so many 15-year-old bowl games where you already know the result.

 

I think I still have a stash of VCR tapes of old games I recorded when we first got the satellite and it was just Classic Sports Network.

 

I remember putting in on during college house parties in March and betting girls on who would win. Plenty of $5 bets won. Some girl was beside herself that Michigan came back to beat Seton Hall.
"How did you know?"
"Because they played like 15 years ago."

 

And that's how it works
It's how you don't get the girl, girl, oh

 

The shorts weren't a giveaway?

 

Classic used to show Dick Enberg's sports quiz show, with his awesome 70s wardrobe. /crossthread/