“It is becoming increasingly clear that the wheels are falling off of satellite TV.”

An alert reader passed this Bloomberg article on to me.  There’s some ominous news if you’re a content delivery service.  Your business model is showing some severe cracks.

Barring a major fourth-quarter comeback, 2017 is on course to be the worst year for conventional pay-TV subscriber losses in history, surpassing last year’s 1.7 million, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. That figure doesn’t include online services like DirecTV Now. Even including those digital plans, the five biggest TV providers are projected to have lost 469,000 customers in the third quarter.

AT&T sank 6.1 percent, the biggest one-day loss since November 2008. Dish, which also provides satellite service, declined 5.1 percent. Viacom dropped 2.5 percent while AMC Networks Inc. fell 6.8 percent after Guggenheim Securities LLC downgraded the two stocks to neutral from buy.

Before you get all doomsday on college football’s and ESPN’s respective futures, though, don’t miss the key paragraph in that article:

Dallas-based AT&T is pushing headlong into TV programming by acquiring HBO and CNN owner Time Warner Inc. in an $85.4 billion deal. Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson has argued that the acquisition will let AT&T create compelling video packages for mobile subscribers and provide valuable targeting information for advertisers.

Content is still king and as long as ESPN keeps paying for live college football, it’s going to continue to be the 800-pound gorilla we all know and love.  It’s not overpaying for broadcast rights if that’s the one way to ensure it remains relevant from a marketing standpoint.

We still crave our college football and we’re still willing to pay to satisfy our craving.  Sure, there may be questions about how we’ll see Lee Corso don the mascot’s helmet in the future, but as long as it keeps shelling out the big bucks, Mickey ain’t going anywhere soon.

SEC Power Poll, Week 7

And then there were two.

Really, is there any more that needs to be said about this week’s SEC than that?

1. Alabama.  Is there any more of a lock than betting on a Nick Saban team to crush a conference opponent the week after a somewhat close game?
2. Georgia.  “The offense definitely picked up our slack,” said inside linebacker Roquan Smith…  now there’s something I didn’t expect to read.
3. Auburn.  Gus’ nonchalance aside, with the loss to LSU, the Tigers pretty much have to run the table to make it to the conference title game.
4. Texas A&M.  You can’t spell winning ugly without winning.
5. LSU.  Ed Orgeron stared into the abyss and won for the second straight week.
6. Florida.  Nice uniforms, Gators.
7. Kentucky.  Still America’s ugliest 5-1 team.
8. South Carolina.  Tennessee football, a wholly owned subsidiary of Boom Enterprises, Inc.
9. Mississippi State.  Finally emerged with a win.  Then again, who doesn’t beat BYU these days?
10. Ole Miss.  The Landsharks, formerly the Black Bear Rebels, have a conference win to their name, which is more than you can say for the last four schools.
11. Tennessee.  It could be worse, Booch.  At least your team isn’t playing Alabama this week… oh, wait.
12. Arkansas.  This is a putrid team with a marginally better defense than the ones at Missouri and Vandy, which is why I had to place the Hogs twelfth.
13. Missouri.  The best thing the Tigers have going for them at this point is that they get to play Vanderbilt.
14. Vanderbilt.  The Commodores’ defense is one slim point shy of yielding fifty points a game in conference play.

Musical palate cleanser, you were the best I’d ever had edition

There still ain't a damn thing wrong with 'Hey Jealousy'

— Jason IsBOO (@JasonIsbell) October 14, 2017

He has a point.

Fabris Pool results, Week Seven

Well, this is something.  We had an eight-way tie for first this week.

STANDINGS for WEEK 7

Rank	Selection Name	Standings Adjustment	W-L	Pts	Tie Breaker Game 24-29
1	ARSJeep	Adj	8-2	8	21-31**
1	PlanterDawg	Adj	8-2	8	17-27
1	CMO	Adj	8-2	8	21-24
1	Meat686	Adj	8-2	8	31-34
1	DawgGoneDawg	Adj	8-2	8	31-34
1	rmj4uga	Adj	8-2	8	31-42
1	siskey	Adj	8-2	8	34-31
1	remlapmit	Adj	8-2	8	37-35

Congrats to ARSJeep.  You earned it.

On the season, we’ve got a tight one as well, with a three-way tie at the top.

SEASON STANDINGS through Week 7

Rank	You	Selection Name	W-L	Pts
1		Meat686	47-23	47
1		DvilleDawg	47-23	47
1		CParker	47-23	47