ESPN Chief Says Traditional Cable Network Will Remain Despite Direct-to-Consumer Trend

variety.com:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorYour ESPN cable network isn’t going anywhere, even if its audience is.The top executive overseeing the Disney-backed sports giant said Thursday that ESPN’s flagship cable network was likely to remain intact, even as more of its audience gravitates to streaming video and direct-to-consumer outlets.

There has been a rising tide of speculation that Disney could work to monetize the millions of dollars it pays in sports-broadcast rights by making more of its sports content available via streaming properties like ESPN+ or Hulu, both of which are showing more games and matches.But Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN and Disney’s sports-content operations, said he believed the cable network remained a valuable property. “I don’t have a crystal ball.

What I will tell you is that as I sit here right now, that business is still incredible. We serve the sports fan anyway and at any time.

I know there are a lot of people that still want ESPN in that traditional ecosystem,” Pitaro said in a wide-ranging interview with Variety Co-Editor-in-Chief Cynthia Littleton during the Variety Sports & Entertainment Breakfast, presented by City National Bank. “So if and when the time comes that we make ESPN flagship available via direct to consumer, make it available a la carte, where you can just go out and buy only ESPN, when that time comes, we will continue to be present in the traditional ecosystem.