Report: Live Sports No Longer TV’s Holy Grail

Bloomberg: Sports broadcasts — long viewed by the entertainment industry as a way to lure viewers and ad dollars — are losing some luster. American media companies including Disney, Time Warner and 21st Century Fox could see their profits shrink due to the surging cost of broadcasting professional sports at a time when subscriber numbers are falling and viewership is hitting a plateau. “Everyone thought sports rights were the Holy Grail,” said Brandon Ross, an analyst at BTIG Research. “But if your revenues are not as high as you expected and you’ve signed long-term, high-priced agreements, that makes things tough.”