![]() (The deal started in 2016.) It was a large reason behind the company buying the Sixers and Flyers back in 1996, in hopes of creating its own cash cow. It’s why Comcast paid the Phillies $2.5 billion for 25 years of programming back in 2014. Indeed, the live games are the big-tent draws for regional sports networks. Nationwide, the cable giant lost 104,000 cable customers from July to September, according to a USA TODAY report. Recently, Comcast announced a seven percent increase in its “Regional Sports Fee,” upping the price to more than $8 per subscriber monthly. With an increasing number of consumers choosing streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and others as entertainment options over traditional cable, guaranteed revenue streams of the past are not as prosperous as before. Nothing has driven the disruption more than cord-cutting. For most of its time, Comcast could charge cable companies - or in the case of most of the Philadelphia area, its direct customers - a certain amount per subscriber to air Comcast SportsNet. And so, I saw this coming for a couple of years. And you look at Ron Burke, Leslie Gudel, Neil Hartman, Dei Lynam and others being (let go), you know what (the station is) trying to do. “Those cable boxes aren’t coming back, and the automatic revenue they generated is gone. So I’m not surprised - I was prepared for it,” said Harris, who was recently hired as sports director at the CBS affiliate in Sacramento. ![]() “You can ask anyone who has been a part of it, but we all knew it was going to happen. This all leads to downsized staffs and familiar faces replaced with younger, and what many people believe to be less expensive, talent.Įven the players involved would admit that. With many choosing to spend their entertainment dollars in different ways, the revenues that once allowed for newsroom growth and seemingly endless amounts of original programming are no longer what they once were. But you have to evolve and change in order to keep up with what is going on within the industry.” And that’s the part that’s really hard because when you have a great family and great team, you want to try to push forward together. “And as we move into these new multi-platform opportunities, we’ve had to make some changes. “Anytime that you are forced into a situation where you are making change, not everything is going to remain the same,” said NBC Sports Philadelphia president Brian Monihan. Yet the changes in personnel - both in front of the camera and behind the scenes - are the headline-grabbing aspects of the story. They point to newer avenues to reach viewers - streaming platforms such as YouTube, Hulu and video game consoles , along with more streaming on the network’s own mobile app - as signs of how they’ve had to adjust to new models. ![]() ![]() NBC Sports Philadelphia executives view the changes as part of the business’ evolution. “You are going to see more because, quite frankly, it is governed by the bottom line.” “This is where it is trending,” said Ellis, who worked at the station for 17 years before his contract wasn’t renewed in August. ![]() But the two other positions remain unfilled.ĭuring a time when most of the attention surrounding the city sports media’s changing landscape has focused on print publications’ declining resources, 2018 was a reminder that the shifting sands of viewing and listening habits could affect even the most powerful business in Philadelphia - TV, considered nearly untouchable less than a decade ago. The station filled a couple of the roles: Serena Winters took over on Sixers broadcasts in place of Sullivan, while Taryn Hatcher replaced Harris in the news operation. He would eventually be one of four high-profile figures - along with Sixers courtside reporter Molly Sullivan, Sixers reporter Jessica Camerato and former “Breakfast on Broad” anchor Rob Ellis - to depart the NBC Sports affiliate in the past year. But I knew what the first step looked like for 20 years (in the business), and that was definitely what the first step looks like.”īy the time the Phillies’ season rolled around, Harris had left the network. “When they pulled me in and told me that I wasn’t going to be doing the Sixers or Phillies pre- and post-game shows anymore on Monday through Friday, and they told me that Michael (Barkann) was going to take over the duties during the week,” Harris said earlier this month, “they tried to say that they were going to try and use me in a different role. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |