The sports telecasting juggernaut, otherwise known as ESPN, is expanding and shows no sign of slowing down. Its stranglehold over all things sporty seems to be growing as it extends its coverage of College Football Bowl games now. Consider this, out of the 34 games in the December – January period, ESPN covered 24. They also provided radio coverage for five of the games that were not telecast by them. Within this year, the only Football event, they will not cover is the Rose Bowl, but every other Bowl championship will be telecast over the Disney-owned channel.
ESPN’s near-monopoly on sporting events is not necessarily a bad thing, as they have excellent coverage and in-depth analysis of every sporting event. They have even started launching market-focused websites such as espnlosangeles.com, which puts them in an invincible position in the market. Their economic clout is such that, they can even impose their will in kickoff times and game schedules.
However, the coverage overkill and its strategic positioning in cable package offerings, where you pay for ESPN even if you do not watch it, among other things have come in for a lot of criticism. This is why many people hope that Comcast will be able to challenge the juggernaut.
Comcast’s new acquisition of NBC U will bring in NBC sports, which in addition to the Golf Channel and Versus, could form a decent threat.
However, that seems unlikely at the moment. The manner in which this decade will pan out will be an interesting watch, especially if ESPN is dethroned as the undisputed champion of sports broadcasting.