they need something on the air to fill in the gaps between the progamming that people will watch.

They make their money by being on the cable subscribers cable box....or sat. dish. When the cable companies are forced to cut the cord and allow subscribers to choose what they pay for, espn will be forced to further re-design what they are, they will survive because there is demand.

The folks that are going to be massively affected, are the conference networks or the pro team networks that lose 90% of their income when the millions of people who never watch those channels, cut those cords.