ESPN is dead, long live ESPN.
There was a lot of worry that the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader in Sports was being lapped by competition a couple years ago, right around the same time the Walt Disney Company itself went into a rare down cycle. ESPN was seen as fatty, overloaded, and with a lack of real programming aside from live sports and documentaries — 19 or so hours of the day was empty calories.
Whether that’s still true or not from a viewing experience is up to you, but ESPN is back on top of the broadcast business. They opted out of the remainder of their deal with MLB earlier this year, only to be on the cusp of a brand-new deal with the league, specifically a $450 million license for MLB.tv, for my money still the best sports streamer. This comes on the heels of similar deals