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soggybagel posted:A bit behind here but the stuff about ESPN scaling back baseball coverage feels very much reminiscent to how they slowly peeled back from hockey in the early 90’s to late 90’s/early 2000’s. Where it went from multiple hockey games a week to one and having heavy espn coverage on the fledgling ESPN 2 for a period. Also they go from carrying playoff hockey to nothing. Huh? They have MLB rights to 2028 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fox-sports-major-league-baseball-extend-rights-deal-2028-1158490 As for ESPN, It's clear they only care about NBA/NCAA/NFL so the sooner they rid themselves of baseball, the better.
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Jan 20, 2020 19:13
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MourningView posted:I kinda doubt they'd get out of baseball entirely just because it fills time during an otherwise dead period of the sports calendar Yeah trying to let tennis and golf carry the summer for them doesn't sound like a winning prospect. Baseball ratings aren't really declining any worse than ratings for live television are across the board; jettisoning MLB isn't gonna be the thing that will save ESPN.
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Jan 21, 2020 16:28
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https://twitter.com/sarafischer/status/1219613481600716806 The Athletic says this year they'll be profitable, honest.
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Jan 21, 2020 16:31
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MourningView posted:Their NBA coverage is awful aside from Shea and Netw3rk making jokes. and yet their entire site is built around NBA coverage and laser-focus on how great one HBO show is (currently Succession, formerly Game of Thrones) they're lucky that right now people lap up NBA minutiae with a soup spoon, because once people get tired of the NBA there's not much left to hold up the Ringer unlike Grantland. hell that site had Holly Anderson, Rafe Bartholomew, Down Goes Brown and Katie Baker, and look at where they are now: Aunt Stabby's back at SB Nation, Sean and Rafe are at The Athletic, and Katie Bakes fell off the earth and doesn't even do the New York Times Vows reviews anymore.
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Jan 21, 2020 16:42
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It's being propped up by podcasts mostly, which is why Spotify wants it. The site is mostly a vanity thing and isn't trying to do the same thing Grantland was.
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Jan 21, 2020 16:47
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Front Office Sport says Simmons' asking price is $200 million, and other sites have mentioned a 9-figure asking price, which tells me Bill would rather not sell at all because holy poo poo that's a massive ask.
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Jan 21, 2020 17:03
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Troy Queef posted:Katie Bakes fell off the earth and doesn't even do the New York Times Vows reviews anymore. bakes hasn't done the Vows reviews since Grantland died I think, but she is reliably churning out a new feature every couple of weeks. The story about why Eugene Melnyk sucks looks interesting.
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Jan 21, 2020 18:03
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I'm a big fan of The Watch, the podcast about TV where neither host really watches TV anymore.
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Jan 21, 2020 18:25
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DJExile posted:Front Office Sport says Simmons' asking price is $200 million, and other sites have mentioned a 9-figure asking price, which tells me Bill would rather not sell at all because holy poo poo that's a massive ask. “gently caress you money” as the aging gen x-ers say sports podcasts are one of the few podcasts that still really do numbers (which makes a lot of sense given the transitional market from radio) so as an advertising investment it makes sense; i think bill might be overvaluing it and/or doesn’t want to give up the creative freedom he has
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Jan 21, 2020 18:39
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If he's enjoying it and making bank, seems reasonable that he just put forward an out there asking price. If they bite then great, if not he's still in a good place going forward. Sort of like if somebody wants to buy your house that you're not really interested in selling.
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Jan 21, 2020 18:51
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Declan MacManus posted:“gently caress you money” as the aging gen x-ers say I mean, he might just not really want to cash out so you just ask up front for the money it would take for you to even consider it. Spotify has been clearly trying to be a big podcast destination for a little while now so outright owning that whole network is an obvious move for them.
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Jan 21, 2020 19:02
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The Athletic really needs the ability to mute reporters because they've now hired at least two guys who I originally came to the Athletic as a refuge from and seeing them all in my notifications sucks.
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Jan 21, 2020 19:16
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The $200M may be just the opening bid in a negotiation. Ask for $200M, they counter for $60M, you go back and forth and settle around $125M.
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Jan 21, 2020 19:35
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you love to see it https://mobile.twitter.com/IWWFJU/status/1219713656369418245
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Jan 21, 2020 21:20
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I'm glad the labor board actually did something about it but I don't know if that qualifies as fuuuuuuuuuuuucked
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Jan 21, 2020 21:33
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Yeah, deleting 2 tweets and a video doesn't exactly scream "lol get owned"
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Jan 21, 2020 21:35
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also, the damage is very obviously done already so this is a bunch of nothing.
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Jan 21, 2020 21:44
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The biggest thing this does is create an actual pattern and consequences for his anti-union stance, which will help the next time something happens. But yeah, not exactly the stiffest of consequences.
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Jan 21, 2020 22:28
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Unless I'm reading it wrong, they have to post it at work for all of their employees to see, which is sure to piss off management while most of the employees never even notice.
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Jan 21, 2020 22:34
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https://mobile.twitter.com/WallenderAndrew/status/1219738286895267841
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Jan 21, 2020 23:50
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AsInHowe posted:you love to see it Dave Portnoy's girlfriend by a soulcycle instructor? I would blow Dane Cook fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Jan 22, 2020 |
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Jan 22, 2020 00:29
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I would blow Dane Cook posted:Dave Portnoy's girlfriend by a soulcycle instructor?  But how many Barstool employees work from the office? Most of them probably work from home.
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Jan 22, 2020 01:13
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The X-man cometh posted:
That's why you have https://mobile.twitter.com/hassankanu/status/1219738837209034752
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Jan 22, 2020 04:17
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https://twitter.com/mollylambert/status/1220084597125332992?s=20 Also had a deleted tweet blaming the death of Grantland on "backstabbing cowards": https://twitter.com/Rafeboogs/status/1220087226350153728?s=20
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Jan 22, 2020 22:13
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I was thinking about the Spotify/Ringer thing again and I don't get why the Ringer brand is substantially more valuable than the talent. Maybe I'm wrong but isn't podcasting primarily driven by hosts/on air talent? I get that you may try out a few podcasts if they're somewhat related but are people really listening because of a brand and not because the hosts are entertaining ? This is all to say, why would a company buy the whole thing when they can just poach the shows and hosts who do the best work?. It's like if the Athletic decided to pay a premium to buy Yahoo Sports instead of just stealing the people who everyone was going there to read. Then again maybe I'm underestimating The Ringers ability to launch new podcasts and grow the business better than Spotify would after the initial poaching. Please advise. Or does Bill Simmons think that the money would be for him as "the talent" the way Howard Stern got that satellite radio deal ? BWV fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Jan 22, 2020 |
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Jan 22, 2020 22:34
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BWV posted:I was thinking about the Spotify/Ringer thing again and I don't get why the Ringer brand is substantially more valuable than the talent. Maybe I'm wrong but isn't podcasting primarily driven by hosts/on air talent? I get that you may try out a few podcasts if they're somewhat related but are people really listening because of a brand and not because the hosts are entertaining ? This is all to say, why would a company buy the whole thing when they can just poach the shows and hosts who do the best work?. It's like if the Athletic decided to pay a premium to buy Yahoo Sports instead of just stealing the people who everyone was going there to read. Then again maybe I'm underestimating The Ringers ability to launch new podcasts and grow the business better than Spotify would after the initial poaching. Please advise. Spotify has been silently gobbling up podcast networks for the last year or two and letting them keep their original branding to be some sort of imprint label while turning into their exclusive distributor. They got Parcast, Anchor, Gimlet, and Last Podcast on the Left from what I remember.
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Jan 22, 2020 22:40
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Another recap of the Death of Deadspin, this time from Samer: https://www.cjr.org/special_report/deadspin-gawker-gomedia.php
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Jan 22, 2020 22:41
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BWV posted:I was thinking about the Spotify/Ringer thing again and I don't get why the Ringer brand is substantially more valuable than the talent. Maybe I'm wrong but isn't podcasting primarily driven by hosts/on air talent? I get that you may try out a few podcasts if they're somewhat related but are people really listening because of a brand and not because the hosts are entertaining ? This is all to say, why would a company buy the whole thing when they can just poach the shows and hosts who do the best work?. It's like if the Athletic decided to pay a premium to buy Yahoo Sports instead of just stealing the people who everyone was going there to read. Then again maybe I'm underestimating The Ringers ability to launch new podcasts and grow the business better than Spotify would after the initial poaching. Please advise. I think association with Bill Simmons is a pretty big part of why most of the other shows do well. Some of them are probably big enough now that they could be fine otherwise but the Simmons connection and having him promote their stuff a ton on his show probably helps a whole lot. Unless you mean they should be trying to buy Simmons without the rest of the ringer but I don't know if he'd do that.
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Jan 22, 2020 22:47
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A bunch of these podcasts might have contracts, its not unusual to sign that kinda stuff if Ringer is bootstrapping you. It's like the old Conan deal, instead of waiting for someone who is not legally allowed to talk basketball in a podcast's contract to run out, just buy the company. $200m seems like an awful, awful lot for that but what do I know.
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Jan 22, 2020 22:56
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OJ MIST 2 THE DICK posted:Spotify has been silently gobbling up podcast networks for the last year or two and letting them keep their original branding to be some sort of imprint label while turning into their exclusive distributor. Is it possible that this is related to why some podcasts I listen to refuse to download in certain locations but will work when I get on a different wifi? Probably not but I have been at a loss to explain this and its difficult to google for so I figured I'd try.
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Jan 22, 2020 23:02
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Lockback posted:A bunch of these podcasts might have contracts, its not unusual to sign that kinda stuff if Ringer is bootstrapping you. It's like the old Conan deal, instead of waiting for someone who is not legally allowed to talk basketball in a podcast's contract to run out, just buy the company. For reference Spotify just spent around that on a podcast network I've never heard of: quote:GIMLET MEDIA (ACQUIRED FEBRUARY 2019). DEAL PRICE: $195M.
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Jan 22, 2020 23:03
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morestuff posted:https://twitter.com/mollylambert/status/1220084597125332992?s=20 iirc, I think there's some sentiment among certain factions of ex-Grantlanders that what truly doomed the site was Sean Fennessey turning down the top chair and then jumping ship to found the Ringer with Ryan and Rubin. And I think the people who never hooked up with The Ringer are still bitter about being left out. Also doesn't help that biggest congregation of former Grantland writers -- Mark Lisanti's MTV News relaunch -- got pivoted to video about a year later.
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Jan 22, 2020 23:12
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howe_sam posted:iirc, I think there's some sentiment among certain factions of ex-Grantlanders that what truly doomed the site was Sean Fennessey turning down the top chair and then jumping ship to found the Ringer with Ryan and Rubin. And I think the people who never hooked up with The Ringer are still bitter about being left out. Also doesn't help that biggest congregation of former Grantland writers -- Mark Lisanti's MTV News relaunch -- got pivoted to video about a year later. Yeah, that was basically the reporting at the time quote:In retrospect, the editorial exodus looks to have been more or less the end. One Grantlander says that no one knew the four editors were leaving to join Simmons until the day they left. That’s because, another source says, Simmons has been warring with ESPN both by acting as a source for writer Jim Miller, and by more nefarious means.
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Jan 22, 2020 23:13
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morestuff posted:“He put his beef with [ESPN president John] Skipper above the jobs of dozens of people,” one Grantland staffer said.
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Jan 22, 2020 23:31
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It seems like there are other reasons for not warning ESPN that you're poaching their talent than spite.
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Jan 22, 2020 23:32
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Bip Roberts posted:It seems like there are other reasons for not warning ESPN that you're poaching their talent than spite. yeah but that doesn’t help the talent you’re not poaching, and even if you might not want to take them with you, you’re also loving them out of a job and keeping them from lining something else up
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Jan 22, 2020 23:42
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Bip Roberts posted:It seems like there are other reasons for not warning ESPN that you're poaching their talent than spite. You underestimate just how truly and deeply Bill Simmons and John Skipper completely and utterly despise one another.
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Jan 22, 2020 23:55
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Timby posted:You underestimate just how truly and deeply Bill Simmons and John Skipper completely and utterly despise one another. DAZN is a sponsor and he's been on Bill's podcast so must not be too bad. like ultimately Grantland blew up in large part because Bill was really mad about deflategate; I'd probably he a little annoyed with him too if I were someone who lost my job as a result
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Jan 23, 2020 02:52
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I think they patched things up when Skipper got clean. Even if Deflategate never happened, things between Simmons and ESPN were going to blow up eventually because espn is first and foremost a tv company that prioritizes tv personalities, and if there's one thing Simmons isn't, it's a tv personality. He was never going to be the most favored son like Stephen A and that was going always be a source of friction.
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Jan 23, 2020 03:09
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morestuff posted:For reference Spotify just spent around that on a podcast network I've never heard of:
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Jan 23, 2020 03:09
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