To Save A Dying Industry And Itself, ESPN Invests In Journalism 38032

For the past few months, ESPN has been gobbling up the best sports journalists in this country with the kind of money that would make most writers blush.

But their strategy is not to save journalism, but to save themselves. With the Internet and all that Web 2.0 stuff going on, keeping ratings growing is next to impossible for cable news. So ESPN is gambling on quality reporting to keep themselves relevant:

Sports fans can go elsewhere to catch up on the day’s games ??? and especially to indulge their local-team loyalties. TV ratings have flattened out, and Internet upstarts are luring away young sports fans who grew up with ESPN as part of the sports establishment. Meanwhile, the high rates ESPN has commanded with cable operators for their channels ??? the highest in TV ??? can’t sustain their earlier rate of growth.

So to remain the self-proclaimed “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” the network is bulking up on content that is harder to duplicate.

ESPN first tried to create unique content by copying everyone else and airing dumb reality TV and bad original programming, like the drama Playmakers.

But now they???ve changed tactics, and decided quality is the way to stand out amidst all the quantity out there.

This week it was announced ESPN acquired SchoolSports Inc., a high school sports and lifestyle company that owns four magazines and – get this – a website. Because if better journalists don’t work, getting kids addicted to the brand when they’re still young is a surefire business model. Just ask Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, or crack.