ESPN went woke and is seemingly paying for it.
Their subscriber count just dropped 10%.
ESPN, a longtime cornerstone of the Walt Disney Co., continues to lose lucrative pay-TV distribution, shrinking another 10% to end fiscal 2021 at 76 million U.S. households.
Citing Nielsen, Disney provided the number as part of its annual report, filed with the SEC this afternoon. The company operates on a fiscal year, so its 2021 officially ended on October 2.
The company said the Nielsen-based estimate includes traditional MVPDs and most digital OTT packages. The tally is well below ESPN’s peak of just north of 100 million homes nearly a decade ago. While all linear TV networks are shedding subscribers due to cord-cutting and growing tension with distributors over carriage fees, the ESPN number has become a bellwether.
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Other networks in the ESPN portfolio are seeing erosion. ESPNU, which features college sports, fell from 62 million homes in fiscal 2020 to 51 million this past year. ESPN News, also at 62 million a year ago, slipped to 59 million in fiscal 2021. Earlier this fall, ESPN said it would shut down ESPN Classic as of January 1, 2022. The network had been in a long period of decline, with its business model having been disrupted by the internet and social media.
The Palmieri Report is a Pro-America News Outlet founded by Jacob Palmieri. The Palmieri Report is dedicated to giving people the truth so that they can form their own informed political opinions. You can help us beat Big Tech by following us on GETTR , Telegram, and Rumble.
