If ESPN doesn't exist in 20 years, we will look back at what's happening right now between the "Worldwide Leader" and YouTube TV as the first major step in the network's ultimate destruction.
What ESPN is doing, in my assessment, is a naked attempt to drive consumers to its direct-to-consumer app that launched in August and costs $30 per month. Or if viewers don't ditch YouTube TV for the ESPN app, they may instead subscribe to Hulu to get ESPN content, and Hulu is owned by ESPN's parent company, the Walt Disney Company.
But in ESPN's short-sighted strategy to drive consumers to their new, expensive app, they have made a potentially fatal mistake: ESPN picked a fight with an 800-pound gorilla in YouTube TV, and in coming years King Kong will be looking to smash things, starting with the one-time Worldwide Leader in Sports.