John Canzano is noticing the ESPN-Disney job cuts and the various attempts at cost-cutting going on within ESPN’s walls in Bristol, Connecticut. ESPN cut loose a lot of prime talent in a major reorganization. The company, according to most industry experts, is making the calculation that for a large percentage of its broadcasts and programming, fans care less about who is behind the microphone or camera. They care more about being able to watch games and access the inventory ESPN has.
Canzano is absorbing all of this and asking questions about the Pac-12’s media rights explorations. Are the changes at ESPN and Disney affecting the speed of the media rights negotiations?
Canzano wrote and reported the following at his Substack:
“(Disney CEO Bob) Iger spoke on a number of topics in a wide-ranging conversation on CNBC. The CEO said he now has ‘a good idea’ when ESPN will transition to a direct-to-consumer business but declined to say when.
“I heard that interview and wondered how the shifting sands in the TV industry might dovetail with the Pac-12 Conference’s ongoing media-rights negotiation. Is it fair to say that the pivot has affected the pace of the Pac-12’s negotiation? Or is that a reach?
“One member of the conference’s CEO Group told me on Thursday: ‘Not a reach. Disney and others going through serious shifts in last months.’”
So there you have it. That’s a valid reason for the Pac-12 to move at a slower pace than a lot of fans had hoped it would. Pac-12 media day is next Friday, July 21, in Las Vegas.
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