ESPN's woes: it spends too much on content and charges consumers too much

Washington

ESPN, which laid off 100 people last week, has a multitude of problems, but the basic one is this: it pays too much for content and costs too much for consumers.

That didn't used to matter because, thanks to the way the cable industry "bundled" channels, cable customers were forced to pay for it even if they never watched it. Now, as the cable bundle slowly disintegrates, it matters a lot.