Yes, it's not ESPN3, but ESPNU and ESPNews are not exactly the "same rank."
ESPNews viewership was so embarrassingly low that ESPN dropped ESPNews from the Nielsen ratings survey. Because of that we don't even know how many households even carry ESPNews today, but before they dropped it, ESPNU was in about 2K more homes than ESPNews because each cable/satellite provider is different.
But the difference between ESPNU and ESPNews is primarily about exposure. The built-in viewership as you go down the ESPN family hierarchy declines significantly. The difference between viewership of our game on ESPNU vs. ESPNews is probably 2-fold.
I'd understand if you were talking about a losing a few hundred thousand viewers, but you are talking about losing a few thousand viewers. If football fans want to watch it they will have easy access (as long as they have a sports package ). I actually watch ESPNews more than the rest of ESPN Family, but I'm just a below average Joe.
So now that ESPN has relegated us to the internetworks, how much longer will they keep us hanging as to the EXACT kickoff time? After all, since I will be there, barring some unforeseen disaster, the network it will be broadcast on is if little consequence to me, but where and WHEN to meet up with my crew us of utmost importance.
If it's on Deuce it'll receive plenty of promo on GameDay to lead-in.
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