ESPN President John Skipper discussed the future of the network, as well as plans for its different shows in a Q&A session after ESPN’s annual upfront presentation on Tuesday. Below is an excerpt from a Q&A with SI.com’s Richard Deitsch.
Q: Why have you gone to a two-man booth on "Monday Night [Football]?"
Skipper: What we are mostly trying to do is we want to ride [Jon] Gruden. Gruden is a star. … There was some concern that he and [Ron Jaworski] sounded a little bit the same in the booth.
Q: Last year you announced two new programs at the upfronts -- "Dan LeBatard Is Highly Questionable" and "Numbers Never Lie." How would you evaluate where these shows are?
Skipper: For the LeBatard show, we as a company need to get a higher participation by Latino viewers in the U.S. We under index with Hispanic viewers. They are 12 to 14 percent of the population and our average show is more like 6 to 8 percent Hispanic. The LeBatard show immediately has the highest composition of any show we have among Hispanic Americans. So that show has the purpose of beginning to help Latinos understand that ESPN is for them.
Q: Why does "First Take" work as a four-hour daily play for your brand?
Skipper: We have kind of a "SportsCenter" vibe on One (ESPN) and a "First Take" vibe on ESPN2. It works off current events. ... [Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless] actually have chemistry. They actually love each other. They are good pals, they like the sparring, and I think that comes across.
Q: So editorially and philosophically, you like the direction the show has headed?
Skipper: We are frequently accused of, "Oh my Gosh, ESPN is a whole bunch of shouting." We don't have a whole bunch of shouting. For the most part, we have toned down a lot of what we do. We try to insist people have informed opinions, smart opinions and people do their homework.
Q: Magic Johnson is now a part owner of the Dodgers. He has long been a vice president with the Lakers. How should viewers view an analyst who has business ties with sports that you cover?
Skipper: I think the main thing we have to be is transparent. I am not sure what we have done relative to making sure what we have disclosed with Magic. He is not likely to be doing anything on our air relative to the Dodgers, and we would be pretty careful around what exposure we provide there. … We can't be doing anything that feels like it's a conflict. But it is a reasonable thing for us to be concerned about (SI.com, 5/16).
EN ESPAÑOL POR FAVOR: ESPN Deportes held its upfront last night and unveiled new programming and multimedia initiatives that included the launch of a digital destination, new soccer programming, two original news and information studio shows, more original programming and new Miami studios (ESPN). Meanwhile, In L.A., James & Villarreal reported Spanish-language Univision at its annual upfront “touted something that its English-language broadcast rivals cannot: Prime-time ratings at its flagship TV network, Univision, have grown 7% during the current season.” Ratings gains “in an era of shrinking TV audiences are uncommon.” Univiison execs said that "much like the Latino population, its viewership was young, growing and steadily advancing on the establishment.” Univision execs Tuesday stressed that “many of its viewers were not only bilingual but also technologically savvy and young.” The median age of its audience “is 36 -- a decade younger than that of Fox Broadcasting and at least 14 years younger than the median age of the audiences for NBC, ABC and CBS” (L.A. TIMES, 5/16).
