Most Would Dump ESPN

If you groan every time you pay your pay-TV bill, consider that the most expensive item bundled into it is Disney’s ESPN, which adds $8/month to the average bill. Can ESPN survive in the dawning age of skinnier cable bundles? Most pay-TV viewers would dump it like a sack of dirt, according to a study by marketing company Civic Service commissioned by financial services company BTIG.

Asked if they would drop ESPN and ESPN2 to save the eight bucks, 56 percent of 1,582 respondents said yes, including 60 percent of women and 49 percent of men. Asked if they would subscribe to ESPN’s standalone streaming service, announced at $20/month, only 6 percent responded in the affirmative.

Writes BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield: “The price/value [ratio] of ESPN and ESPN2 is simply too high for a majority of U.S. consumers today.” But if ESPN gets trimmed to make way for less expensive cable bundles, it probably won’t make up the difference in streaming revenue, despite deals to carry the service on Sling TV and PlayStation Vue.

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