Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
I don't think there is a cable sports bubble, but rather a cable TV bubble and sports are among the strongest things keeping it afloat. The demand for live sports viewership is not declining, and the NHL has been no worse (perhaps better in some ways) than any other league in moving into the new reality.
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The problem is that viewership has been irrelevant in all cable sports contracts for the last decade. Advertising revenue for NHL games is not a significant revenue stream. RSNs, ESPN.etc have been making billions of dollars from carriage fees paid by subscribers who don't watch their channel. The sports channels carriage fees are exponentially higher than the non-sports channels and are in line to fall dramatically. For evidence, look at what is happening to Disney's stock solely based on ESPN losing subscribers to cord cutting/cord trimming.