Problem Solving Activities - Essay Example

work no. ESPN (entertainment and Sports Programming Network) ESPN is an American based global television sports channel that makes coverage of sports events and broadcasts them via cable TV to all parts of the world. It is co-owned by Walt Disney and Hearst which is a minor shareholder. According to its website, the company has operational centers in Boston, Dallas, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The company capitalizes on both live and recorded sports events since all cannot be on screen at the same time.

To show as many live sporting events as possible, the company has established different studios as well as online streaming service for its different channels. ESPN is the largest source of money for Disney and is believed to be the worlds most valuable media asset. According to www.forbes.com , the company is worth more than $40 billion as of 2012. Therefore one may beg to ask where all this money for ESPN comes from. According to bloomberg.com, the companys revenue hit a $9 billion in 2012 above any other cable network in the world and was projected to hit $11 billion as of the end of 2013 due to increased subscriber charges.

Apart from being a sports channel, the company also broadcasts news relating to sporting events and its websites gives fixtures for the next sporting events. This ensures that its customers do not miss scheduled sporting events.Customer subscriptionsOne of the major sources for ESPNs money is the customer subscriptions. This is executed worldwide where the moment cable TV customers access the channel, the provider gets revenue which is paid by the customer. For example, many DSTV subscribers are able to watch ESPN at different channels through customer subscriptions, the company gets substantial revenue which enables it manage its day to day operations.

Monthly subscriptions make up the largest source of revenue for ESPN standing at almost 60% of the total revenue for the company. In 2012, the company charged the cable TVs the largest amount of money per subscriber regardless of whether the subscriber watched the channel or not. At 4.6 dollars per subscriber, it was the highest in US and the charges continued to increase by up to 17.9% in 2013 meaning that the money generated will continue to increase for 2013.AdvertisingThe other source of money for ESPN comes from advertising.

In advertising, the company has up to three avenues for making advertising money. These are digital advertising, magazine advertising and television advertising. Of these, television advertising is expected to net up to $4 billion in 2013 the largest share, followed by digital adverts at 700 million dollars then magazine advertising at 0.3 million dollars. The high end coverage of media events attracts great numbers of pay TV advertisers helping push the revenues for the company upwards. The organization is in partnership with major games leagues which include National Football League, National Basketball League, and Wimbledon Championships among others.

With the rights to broadcast such events, the company obviously attracts major channels all over the world who buy the rights to broadcast live from ESPN and thereby generating revenue for the company.In total, the company has four different sources of revenue digital advertising, magazine advertising, television advertising and finally customer subscriptions. These combined, generated close to 11 billion dollars for the company.