re: DirecTV / AT&T customers - might lose ESPN this weekend

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Heres what pisses me off about the whole thing. AT&T blames ESPN. ESPN blames AT&T. Of course neither side will tell you who is asking for what and who is offering what so you have no clue who is really to blame

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I absolutely loathe AT&T, but it's actually easy to know who to blame in this situation and it isn't AT&T. Cable/Dish providers don't want to have to increase costs on their subscribers. They know it makes them angry and causes them to accelerate the possibility they might cut the cord.

Disney/ESPN knows this, but they also know if they pull their channels that AT&T will take 90% of the blame because consumers don't understand that Disney/ESPN is the one asking for more money.

AT&T is left with two options:

1. Piss off customers right now by losing the ability to carry Disney/ESPN channels.

2. Piss off customers in the future when they have to raise rates to cover increased content costs.

Disney/ESPN laugh all the way to the bank because they know AT&T, or any subscription TV provider for that matter, will eventually cave because of customer anger and cancellations.

Customers are lemmings and who do they blame when they can't receive a certain channel or content? They blame the person they are openly paying money to every month. They don't realize that X amount of dollars of their monthly bill goes straight to Disney/ESPN once they make their payment.

If you call AT&T and bitch because they lose Disney/ESPN channels then you have zero right to bitch once your bill rises. AT&T will absorb the cost for a little while, but eventually they have to pass it on.

I'd say I'm surprised hardcore sports fans don't already know all of this, but the average consumer is rarely patient enough to pay attention to any article or argument past its headline or first paragraph.