News Round Up 2017

[FoxC63]

Just catching up on the boards and seeing this...

I really like the design on these bags, just wish the crossbody was a little larger. Can't wait to see it in the parks to make my final decision!

 

[rteetz]

News

One hour AK TV special coming to Animal Planet

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...ases-disneys-animal-kingdom-alive-with-magic/

 

[SaharanTea]

Good point, I wonder if we will see the increased number of hours continued at Animal Kingdom because of the rumors that Pandora is not drawing the crowds that they were hoping... yesterday afternoon I saw that Flight of Passage only had a 75 minute wait.

That's surprising. I didn't think we'd see an afternoon with a wait time below 100 until next year, frankly.

Has there been any discussion or chatter about the performance of Pandora, attendance wise?

FOP has gotten into a habit of having a mid-afternoon slump in wait times. It picks back up every day in the late afternoon. Overall, the average wait times are dropping, but they are still well north of 100 minutes for the day.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

News

One hour AK TV special coming to Animal Planet

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...ases-disneys-animal-kingdom-alive-with-magic/

Sounds neat. Thanks for letting us know I went ahead and DVR'd it

 

[Moliphino]

Some schools out west finally finished last week or early this week. I'm sure thats not all but not all schools got out in May.

Tomorrow is the last day of school for my town (in MA). There were a few snow days, or it would've been a little earlier.

 

[crazy4wdw]

A one-of-kind map of Disneyland, hand-drawn by Walt Disney himself, sold at auction for a record amount. The final price was $708,000.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/hand-drawn-disney-map-sets-auction-record-1016600

 

[rteetz]

Tomorrow is the last day of school for my town (in MA). There were a few snow days, or it would've been a little earlier.

Wow that's late.

 

[rteetz]

News

A breakdown of how much ESPN pays for sports rights.

https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/20...m&utm_medium=social&xid=socialflow_twitter_si

 

[luisov]

A one-of-kind map of Disneyland, hand-drawn by Walt Disney himself, sold at auction for a record amount. The final price was $708,000.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/hand-drawn-disney-map-sets-auction-record-1016600

No surprise there. That's pretty much the first glimpse at what Disneyland would become. It's a real piece of history... Right by someone's expensive coffee table.

 

[danikoski]

I agree. I just checked Orbit and it was $278/night for SSR for July 1.

SSR and OKW usually run cheaper than any other deluxe, except std rooms at WL and occasionally AK. It is rare anymore to see non std rooms at WL be below $300, even with like 30% discounts, especially in the summer, especially around the fourth. However, when Moderates are running at $250 plus too, it can make $300 a night look okay for a deluxe.

 

[Capang]

News

A breakdown of how much ESPN pays for sports rights.

https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/20...m&utm_medium=social&xid=socialflow_twitter_si

Forgive me, I'm not well versed in ESPN or how cable tv channels operate in general. That being said looking at those numbers does not seem to indicate that ESPN will be around for much longer. $25 mil per year for the WNBA? Do a lot of people even know WNBA is still around? $100 mil for big ten per year? How many subscribers does espn have? I think the writing is on the wall here.

 

[STLstone]

Forgive me, I'm not well versed in ESPN or how cable tv channels operate in general. That being said looking at those numbers does not seem to indicate that ESPN will be around for much longer. $25 mil per year for the WNBA? Do a lot of people even know WNBA is still around? $100 mil for big ten per year? How many subscribers does espn have? I think the writing is on the wall here.

I just quickly crunched all of those numbers. ESPN needs 65.6 million subscribers just to pay for all those contractually obligated rights fees.

Those rights fees are one expense. There are many others.

Some revenue is also collected from selling advertising. But it seems they will have to develop other revenue streams besides the cable/satellite subscribers (that are dwindling) to survive.

Selling ESPN directly to cord-cutters could work, but it's likely that's prohibited by their contracts with cable and satellite providers under a lot of circumstances.

 

[dlavender]

Forgive me, I'm not well versed in ESPN or how cable tv channels operate in general. That being said looking at those numbers does not seem to indicate that ESPN will be around for much longer. $25 mil per year for the WNBA? Do a lot of people even know WNBA is still around? $100 mil for big ten per year? How many subscribers does espn have? I think the writing is on the wall here.

The NBA deal is interesting. Over a billion per year for those rights. And it could be that large contract that ends up killing the sports popularity, while also killing ESPN's bottom line (hyperbole).

I'll quickly throw in my thoughts as I know we can't stay OT. ESPN gives the NBA all this money. The NBA player's union sees all this money, and wants a bigger piece. They get a bigger piece by increasing the cap space. The large cap space allows the rise of 2-4 "super" teams. The super teams dominate the league, making the regular season unwatchable by many. Viewership goes down, sponsors follow. ESPN hurts, as not only are they paying out over a billion a year, but now less people are watching their billion dollar investment, so it has to renegotiate the deal or lose it. Who knows where this leaves the league. It's a very interesting situation. Or maybe I'm wrong and the viewership goes up with the rise of a 2-4 team league.....

I think there's a quote out there about money being to root of problems or something like that

 

[jknezek]

I do think a lot of this is overblown. Yes, ESPN dramatically overpaid. And yes, they are losing subscribers. However, I just cut the cord myself. I went from my hated Uverse, which AT&T orphaned after buying DirectTV, to Playstation Vue's product. You know what is included? ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and probably the rerun network known as the SEC Network. ESPN in some form is included in all 3 tiers of Vue's service, as it is included in most tiers of cord cutting services like Hulu and DirectTV and even some of Sling's tiers. There are, no doubt, people who don't want to pay for ESPN and I do think their subscriber base drops by another 10-20MM, putting them around 75MM to 85MM subscribers or so. At that level they aren't the cash cow they have been for years, but they are absolutely a going concern, even with their current stupid contracts. Though I do expect to see continued belt tightening and a flattening, if not dropping, of rights fees going forward. I also see ESPN going back to its roots eventually. They won't be able to overpay for MNF, so I expect they will pay for cheaper sports like soccer, lacrosse, and maybe even the endless hours of bowling that used to dominate their off hours.

 

[rteetz]

A one-of-kind map of Disneyland, hand-drawn by Walt Disney himself, sold at auction for a record amount. The final price was $708,000.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/hand-drawn-disney-map-sets-auction-record-1016600

The headline is incorrect. Walt did not draw that, Herb Ryman did.

 

[Delano Fiedler]

I know Im just a single customer but last time I actually watched ESPN was about a year ago. Times change and ESPN is stuck in time

 

[rteetz]

Big time Micechat rumor update!

Disney wants to shift focus of Halloween to DCA in 2018. Carsland will have a big Halloween overlay, Guardians will have a lights out segment and the Halloween parties moving back to DCA. This will be for anticipation of SWL.

Chapek and co. are looking to upcharge early entry and such to Star Wars land.

http://micechat.com/165197-miceage-disneyland-rumor-update-max-pass/

 

[rteetz]

I know Im just a single customer but last time I actually watched ESPN was about a year ago. Times change and ESPN is stuck in time

I would rather ESPN go back to the old times. I don't think they are stuck in time but rather adapting to the times in the wrong way. I don't go to ESPN to hear about Rihanna complaining about the Cavs and how she doesn't like them, I simply don't care. I want highlights and sports. This talk show type crap they have is terrible.

 

[MommaBerd]

I think there's a quote out there about money being to root of problems or something like that

I know you were making a point with the above quote...and this takes us even further OT. But practically speaking, this is one of the most misquoted sayings (from The Bible)...it is actually the LOVE of money is the root of all problems.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I would rather ESPN go back to the old times. I don't think they are stuck in time but rather adapting to the times in the wrong way. I don't go to ESPN to hear about Rihanna complaining about the Cavs and how she doesn't like them, I simply don't care. I want highlights and sports. This talk show type crap they have is terrible.

They seem very focused/stuck on this idea of Athletes as celebrities and mixing with celebrities and then their personalities being (or wanting to be - looking at you Stephen A) celebrities by association.

I think the real challenge is ESPN became big because of Sport Center as people would go there for sports news and score updates, etc. - but now with twitter there is no need for a sportscenter ... so why would I go to ESPN? Or what could make me want to go there vs twitter? Talking heads? Live games?