It’s easy to miss out on sports entertainment when you cut the cord and just rely on Apple TV, but ESPN president John Skipper tells The Wall Street Journal that may change in 2016. When asked about the potential streaming network Apple reportedly hopes to offer on its set-top box, the ESPN exec says that Apple has been “frustrated” with the process of building a service but that ESPN has been in past talks and continues to work with the company:
WSJ: Does Apple have a path to being a player in the TV industry?
Mr. Skipper: They are creating a significantly advantageous operating system and a great television experience and that television experience is fabulous for sports. We are big proponents of believing it would be a fabulous place to sell some subscriptions. We have ongoing conversations. They have been frustrated by their ability to construct something which works for them with programmers. We continue to try to work with them.
Skipper also discusses services like Sling TV which include ESPN service without a standalone cable subscription, adding that he believes announcements of similar packages to attract new subscribers will come out of 2016.
WSJ: In your view, will the people who sign up for streaming TV services from Sony, Sling TV, and possibly Apple make up for losses in traditional pay TV subscribers?
Mr. Skipper: We think that it can be a significant mover in helping us navigate the next few years. We see the Sling TV numbers, which are significant. We’ve had discussions with Apple. I believe in 2016 there will be further announcements on other kinds of packages….that will get younger subscribers into the market. We don’t think of it as an offset. It was simple before when we had subscription and television ad revenues. Now we’ve got more buckets. We have new direct-to-consumer, digital advertising [revenues].
ESPN currently has a presence on Apple TV, iOS, and the web with its watchESPN app, although it currently requires an active cable subscription to fully unlock. Dish’s Sling TV package includes live ESPN content for a standalone monthly subscription and is available on iPhones, iPads, and the web, but the app experience is subpar and there’s not an official Apple TV channel yet.
While it’s not entirely clear what Skipper is alluding to in his comments, an HBO NOW-like standalone subscription version of ESPN for a monthly rate or inclusion in Apple’s long-rumored web TV package would certainly expand access to sports content for cord cutters and a whole new generation of people who never bought into cable packages. We’ll have to wait and see on this one.
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I used ESPN with SlingTV and it has a few drawbacks. One it can’t be recorded, it’s only live. Secondly, at commercial breaks it just comes up with an annoying jingle and we’ll be right back. I would never think I would say this, but commercials at least give some kind of filler. People are too use to pausing and backing up for that service to be comfortable to use. Otherwise, you’re hostage to the signal.
Even if the pausing capability was only for 10 minutes, it would make the experience better.
So Sling is crippled, I can imagine that is not what Apple wants.
That may be true, but what do you expect Apple to do? You want someone to throw commercials into it? I get enough sports with my Antenna. Record using a TIVO Roamio and just let it do it’s thing for a hour or so and then start watching. Then I can skip all the commercials and save time that way. I can even speed up Playback 30% with audio corrected so the people don’t sound like chipmunks.
I didn’t cut the cord from Comcast so that I could just give Apple the money instead. These cable company’s are almost giving away channel packages in a bundle that’s almost as cheap is internet only, at least for a time. Generally with streaming live TV, there’s not a whole lot of options, and sports can be even worse as you want to normally watch LIVE so others don’t spoil it for you.
If ESPN is a required part of Apple’s lineup, I will not be signing up. That’s one of the main reasons I quit DirecTV, I don’t want to be forced to pay 10% of my bill for a station I never view.
Just let ESPN make a stand-alone option for those who want it.
There in lies the problem. ESPN is a station many would want included. Stand alone apps work, but are not ideal. I suspect most costumers would be happiest with some combination of the two approaches – network package and apps.
The problem is Disney wants Apple to take all their channels, abc, abc family, all Disney channels, all ESPN channels.Apple wants small bundles, the networks want larger bundles that include all their channels. ESPN drove up the cost of satellite and cable with at least $6.50 being paid just for ESPN.
Apple will have to have $5 to $10 add on packages like Sling TV has. If i was Apple Dish Network would be an attractable purchase, much more so the Time Warner entertainment. Dish has a large amount of wireless spectrum and all the deals for streaming TV, shell the satellite business and use wireless spectrum for a cost free wireless streaming service to compliment the Apple streaming service.
I’ve heard in the past that ESPN is watched by 4% of the cable subscribers but everyone is forced to subsidize it!!! The Sports channels are the most costly. It’s one reason I cut the cord. Tired of paying for crap I could care less about. The number of times I watch ESPN or ESPN2 or ESPMNEWS, etc in all the years I was paying for Comcast TV I can count on 1 hand with less then 1 pass of that 1 hand. My brother cut the cord a year ago.
Now a girl at work is talking bout about it after her MOM died. Her Comcast bill is over $200 a month. She nor her bothers have no idea how to go about installing a Antenna and that type of thing. I may be suckered into that one. They don’t make a lot of money. I’m paying $50 a month for 105Mbps service currently. Internet ONLY, That’s it!!! This isn’t the days like when I was growing up with Analog TV and my TV channels were pretty Limited. Now with Digital Cable, it’s in HD and 5.1 surround for most of them. So get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, PBS, along with MeTV, AntennaTV and others. All 100% Legally FREE. I record it all on my 4 tuner Tivo Roamio and can watch on that or my Tivo Mini’s in the Bedrooms. None of it has DRM on it so it could be copied if I wanted. There’s some upfront costs (TIVO in my case) that are paid off in savings in a short period of time.
I get more then enough sports this way. No Monday night Football on ESPN, DARN!!!! MLB you can subscribe and stream that. Before I cut the cord around 4 years ago, I was paying Comcast $170 a month. I’m glad that money is staying in my pocket. That means if that $170 price didn’t go up, and we call know it would have and be in the $200 range, but if it stayed at $170, I’m saving $120 a month. In 12 months, that’s $1,440. In 10 years that’s $14,400 more I would have paid for TV service in just 10 years. I paid for CableTV longer then that myself. I’m sure my Grandma has been paying far longer. Think about that. It’s just crazy!!! People wonder why they’re always broke! It’s crap like this. That $10 a month for this, and $20 a month for that, add all these fee’s up!!! Ouch!!!
I can’t watch enough TV to justify it these days. Kids growing up now don’t care. Most seem to just watch Youtube!!! My brothers young Kids pretty much only watch Kids Netflix. They have a lot of kids content and a ton of new Original Animation coming in 2016 alone. They didn’t what commercials were for quite some time. My Dad moved into my house and he had Satellite TV. He thought he would miss it, but give my Antenna/Internet a chance. he has way to much content to watch as it is. He’s said as much. He’s retired so he see’s a lot of TV!!!
Unless I can pick the exact channel(s) I want and they’re priced right, like 50 cent to $1 each, not the crazy high CBS all access for $6 a month price, OK, After all they’re getting paid with commercials already. Otherwise Apple shouldn’t even bother. The same old, same old, who cares!!!!
Looks like an ESPN subscription is on the horizon. Unfortunately, this looks like more of a reaction to poor revenue and ratings, instead of actually providing the consumer with what he/she wants. ESPN is really a luxury since an antenna will get you most high profile sporting events. With that said, Fox has a sports subscription for around $100/year that gives you access to Fox Sports 1 and 2. I imagine ESPN would charge more because the programming it offers would appeal to more people than that of FS1 and FS2. I am actually the target audience for Fox’s App (FA Cup Soccer and Big 12 Football), but still don’t subscribe. Hopefully, the ESPN App on the Apple TV would provide an enhanced experience like that of the MLB App.
FWIW, my wife is a big sports fan. She follows the Minnesota Twins, Gopher Basketball and Vikings. Gophers and Vikings are available online if you know where. Sometimes they’re even televised. Twins are through the MLB.com App. We never turn on ESPN.
ESPN should have a monthly deal like HBO. I’m not going to sign up for cable TV for the few games that are exclusive.
I don’t want cable TV. It’s junk.
If I need to watch a game bad enough, I go to a bar.
Ya, I think there’s enough sports o FOX and ABC, etc that there’s no need for CABLE. Maybe if there’s a game you want to see really bad on Monday Night Football. There’s lots of Sports Bars you can go to. maybe a friends or family houses also. That’s what my Dad and brother sometimes do!!! My brother can go t the Inlaws house right down the block!
I wish we could get UK content here a la carte. I just want SkySports and BT Sports for Formula1 and MotoGP respectively, and only want to pay for it while in season. American broadcasters suck when it comes to these sports. The commentators suck, you mostly only get the races broadcasted. They are littered with commercials every few minutes. A lot of the practice sessions, qualifying, pre-race & post-race shows take a backseat to NASCRAP.
I don’t want yet another ‘package’ of programming consisting of 90% things of no interest to me.
The only sport I watch is golf. Paying for all the others that I won’t watch is exactly where we are today.