OK…I wonder if any of you folks can answer, or try to answer, this one:
If ESPN has ESPNews running 24 hours a day, why do they repeat the SportsCenter loop during the morning hours? Why don’t they simply simulcast? Theoretically, ESPNews stuff is the most recent, right?
A friend and I have considered this, and tossed out many, many ideas, and the only one I can’t shake is the ad revenue angle – ie, they get more money from SportsCenter.
Any thoughts?
“Enter any 11-digit prime number to continue…” Anon.
I was under the impression that the SportsCenter crew had a sort of cultish following. Maybe you’d watch ESPNews if you didn’t like them or something. (I’ve only watched SportsCenter…it’s not the same crew, is it? That would blow that theory!)
"Now there’s nothing unexpected about the water giving out; “Land”'s not a word we have to shout.
Well, see, that’s a thought we had too, that the cult following had something to do with it.
It’s not the same crew.
But still…why pay that guy to sit in front of the terminal and push play on the SC tape when you have a full crew on the other side of the stage? I mean, you’re paying these people to say the same thing you have on tape, only live.
I don’t know…like I said, I’ve kicked a lot of this around – my main theory was tradition – but am unsure.
“Enter any 11-digit prime number to continue…” Anon.
Well, who knows if its the biggest motivation or not, but the fact is ESPNews isn’t that widespread. I personally don’t get ESPNews as one of my 75 channels, and if I didn’t have Sportscenter I’d be sorely out of the loop.
The most clear cut reason why is money. They simply make more money the way they do it, as long as thats the fact they’ll keep things as is. Why they make more money this way is the better question.
I expect that the ideal goal for the stations is a scenario similar to CNN/Headline News. CNN runs the big stories that require much elaboration and commentary, as well as the cursory run down of the previous days major events. Headline News runs the up to the minute, brutally concise coverage of every detail no matter how minor. Ideally Sportscenter would maintain its current format, and ESPNews would have so much current worldwide sports that it didn’t have time to rehash the previous days results. Thats my theory.
Another simple answer, they maintain a higher overall veiwership, and therefore the advertisers pay more per commercial slot.
Ergo, they make more money, and considering that all the ESPN channels cater to the very lucrative young male consumer it is extremely advantageous for them to have more channels. More channels simply means more commercial time. They likely have done many valuation studies to quantify the effect of multiple stations, and have found that as long as they remain below the saturation level they can count on more shows equaling more revenue. If it were feasible I have no doubt they would run identical broadcasts on multiple channels.
I do however believe that there is a unquantifiable factor that also plays into it. Sportscenter is the centerpiece of their line up, the first show aired ever, and the gold standard in the genre, and will likely be a staple on ESPN as long as the station exists. Also I think the program directors have a slight bit of nostalgia, and a desire to not cater (or admit ot catering to) to the almightly dollar and the lowest common denomonator. As such, they want to maximize the revenue while not simply replaying the same material so they go through great pains to repackage the limited content available for broadcast. This is why it is practical to pay second and third broadcast staffs to basicaly replay the same material. Image is, in fact, everything.
ESPNews doesn’t have a lot of subscribers because most systems either don’t have the capacity or want to pay the fees for them.
Sports Center is ESPN’s signature show, so they want it to be on their most popular channel. It used to be that ESPN would run all sorts of odd shows in the morning, but they finally wised up to the fact that they got their best ratings with Sports Center, instead of lacrosse or equestrian shows or God knows what.
I think ESPN is also likely to be just left on the TV all day long in bars. I would think ESPN news would get a bit tiring after a while. I know I watch CNN Headline News to put me to sleep.
-They make more money.
-Tradition dictates SportsCenter is there.
-The different channels make more money, albeit a small amount because nobody gets ESPNews anyway.
All of which I understood, and understand, but didn’t completely put together. And really, is it that hard to change the channel in the bar?
Ah well. Another mystery of the Universe solved. Thanks all!
“Enter any 11-digit prime number to continue…” Anon.
My guess is that SportsCenter and ESPNews each have its own anchors and since the two shows are on different networks, SC anchors can’t go on ESPNews.
By the way, ESPN does use ESPNews in several cases. One is when games are blacked out because they are being shown on local channels. Another is during halftime or during a hockey intermissionm, so that they can show the scores of games in progress. And ESPNews is seen on Saturday mornings on ESPN; why, I don’t know.
I absolutely love SportsCenter. I can watch the rebroadcasts over and over. Its not so much for the sports scores, ya know who won by the 3rd time through, I watch it for the anchors. With lines ranging from “All this and is mine!” “I am king of the diamond! there should be a grand club house fee! Bring me the finest meats and cheeses from across the land!” “Enfugeo!” it is the most entertaining sports show on televison. Coupled with the great sportscenter commercials (which were recently removed from the ESPN website, much to my dismay) It is great watching over and over.
as to the orgional question – usually the midnight show (MST)
