Don’t look for ESPN to launch a stand-alone streaming service soon.
Speaking at the ReCode Code/Media conference on Wednesday night, ESPN president John Skipper stated several times that he wasn’t ready to go down that road yet.
“We will look at direct to consumer and decide to be more aggressive when we think it will help us grow our business,” Skipper said.
Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger has previously said that ESPN would eventually follow in HBO’s footsteps to sell the channel direct to consumers.
HBO, which has 30 million paying customers, launched HBO Now in 2015, bypassing the cable operator to offers its programming to smartphones, tablets and smart TV customers. It picked up just under 1 million subscribers for HBO Now. ESPN is the most carried cable TV channel, in nearly 100 million homes, but it’s offered as part of basic cable packages.
“With the numbers of people who have pay TV, our best business right now is to stay in that bundle,” said Skipper.
ESPN had a dip in subscriber homes for basic cable, which affected ESPN, last year, but numbers started to rise again at the end of 2015, Skipper said.
The losses weren’t due to folks cutting the cord and ditching cable, Skipper said, but instead people downgrading to smaller cable packages.
ESPN has joined the potential future of TV by offering the channel as part of Sling TV’s so-called “skinny” bundle of a smaller selection of channels, starting at $20 monthly, that can be viewed on new media devices.
Skipper said he’s open to having ESPN on more alternative carriers.
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Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
