Specifics Lacking on Disney’s Planned ESPN-Branded Streaming Service

many questions about recent layoffs of on-air talent at ESPN. The cuts were “not all that significant when you consider that ESPN has 8,000 employees,” he said. The company eliminated 100 positions. Disney will continue “to be aggressive at buying live sports rights, which have not gotten cheaper, we understand, but they have gotten more valuable,” Iger said. “New entrants into the marketplace like Amazon and the talk of others like Facebook only prove the point that we just made, that live sports is important to new digital platforms, and live sports is important to anyone who is trying to reach consumers in the media business.” Disney paid $1 billion for 33 percent of BAMTech (see 1608100024). While “it's possible” that the ESPN-branded service will feature an “omnibus sports, multiple sports package” offering, “it's more likely that consumers will have an opportunity to buy the sports they want when they want it as well,” the CEO said. The ESPN layoffs point to automation as the way of the future for sports TV content, said The Diffusion Group Senior Adviser Joel Espelien in a blog post Tuesday. Pointing to the automation of FM radio DJ work, TDG said sports leagues are ahead of ESPN in providing highlight clips and short-form video in near-real time. It said BAMTech provides nearly real-time highlights from clips lifted from the traditional TV feed, while NFL.com does similarly during regular season games: "Automation is here to stay in the sports TV business, and more humans will see their jobs replaced by code."