Wall Street has "been worried about ESPN since August and the concern has spilled over to the TV business in general, which is grappling with cord-cutting, skinny bundles and competition from Amazon.com, Hulu and other online streamers," according to Paul Bond of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Shares of Disney yesterday fell 4% -- a day after "posting quarterly financial results that didn't wow Wall Street -- and might have dragged other entertainment stocks with it, as shares of some of the conglomerates dropped more than the broader markets." CBS sunk 2% yesterday, Fox was off 1.2% and Comcast, Time Warner, Sony and Viacom were each down 1% (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 5/11). VARIETY's James Rainey wrote the problem for Disney is that "winning movies don’t make other challenges go away." Disney observers have been "fixated for the last year on the ESPN subscriber losses." The company’s media networks, of which ESPN is a "major contributor, bring in half the company’s profits" (VARIETY.com, 5/11).
ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION: YAHOO FINANCE's Daniel Roberts wrote the departure of notable ESPN on-air personalities has "led to screaming headlines about the 'mass exodus' and 'major upheaval' at the network." Some of the big names "reportedly jumped ship by choice, lured by mega money, while some were reportedly shown the door by the network over internal issues." But it "doesn’t matter why each person left, or whether ESPN had wished to hold on to them or not, or whether many of them are going" to Fox Sports. ESPN "will be stronger without them." The shedding of expensive talent from ESPN "ought to continue because the kind of television content" that figures like Colin Cowherd and Skip Bayless bring to the table is "a hyperbolic, hot-take style of bloviating that was popular for many years, but there are indications it’s no longer what viewers want." The popularity of a show like Katie Nolan’s “Garbage Time” on FS1 "is a sign that humor, and diverse voices, are more popular now than loud white men arguing" (FINANCE.YAHOO.com, 5/11).
