Dana Blankenhorn

Sell ESPN

For all you read about how great Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger may be, the stock has gone nowhere in 5 years. It was at $101/share at the start of May 1998. It’s $102 now.

Iger got thrown into the culture wars by Florida Republicans, and while many are applauding his strategy, he wants to get out soon and needs a big win.

Selling ESPN will be a big win.

What stock analysts will tell you is that cable is dying, and ESPN is more dependent on it than anyone. It now collects $9/month from everyone’s basic cable bill whether they watch its channels or not. That’s a big reason many are canceling cable.

But there are two bigger problems looming over the company.

The first is the cost of broadcasting rights. That’s rising fast, and ESPN is losing rights auctions. It now dominates only hockey and college football. It has one-fourth of the NFL, one-half of the NBA, one-third of baseball. It has lost cricket and soccer, two huge global games. Its ESPN+ streaming service is now the home of leftovers and depends on (often crappy) local broadcasters for its feeds.

This is going to get worse because of the second problem.

The Other Urban War

A lot of people want to say American cities are a war zone. They’re not. The whole country is.

But there is a form of warfare happening in our cities. It’s a development war, a transport war.

It’s happening for two reasons.

First, cars don’t scale. Each car takes up space, whether moving or parked.

Second, demographics and economics are creating urban density. A research university, and the businesses that spin off from it, cluster together. The people who work there don’t always make a lot of money.

The Missing Middle of the American EV Market

GM’s decision to axe the Chevy Bolt has me pissed.

It’s further evidence, as if any were needed, that the incumbent U.S. car companies are run by idiots and deserve to go under.

This comes just months after the Administration put forward its regulations under the Inflation Reduction Act.  They want cars assembled in the U.S., with U.S.-made batteries. They also want mid-market vehicles. That means sedans and coupes priced under $30,000.

Guess what Detroit isn’t going to produce?

We have too many electric Cadillacs in the U.S. market. Every damned start-up that followed the success of Tesla has an ultra-expensive car. Rivian, Lucid, Fisker. None will be able to get under the Administration’s price limits.

Cable News (1980-2023)

Broadcasting is dead.

Radio is dead. TV is dead.

Networks no longer invest in these channels at all. Click around some time when you have a chance.

What most people didn’t know, until today, is that cable is also dead.

Most of what you see on major (and minor) cable networks is the same dreck you see on broadcast, reality shows and game shows that cost very, very little to produce. Scripted shows are out. The surprise is that re-runs of this crap can get a rating. Networks don’t even have to produce much new.

What everyone wants is streaming. They want to justify that $10/month (then more) of your money, paid exclusively to them, the programmers. That’s where all their money goes. It’s going to Peacock, it’s going to Paramount Plus, it’s going to MAX. They need to be the “big three” networks because they aren’t. They’re fighting for 5^th, behind Google’s YouTube, Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Netflix.

Even Disney must cut corners to stay in the game. They have total domination over sports, and they’re cutting people at ESPN, which has its own problems I’ll explain later.

In that kind of world, where do you think Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC fit in?

They don’t.