Disney's sports network ESPN has lost seven million subscribers in the past two years as more and more viewers are switching to newer coverage forms for sporting events.
The network has a total number of 92 million subscribers as of Oct. 3. This figure is lower from the 95 million it had in 2014 and the 99 million it had in 2013.
Bob Iger, chief executive of Disney, revealed in August that ESPN was experiencing "modest" declines in its subscribers as a growing number of viewers are moving to digital forms of sports coverage that are cheaper.
Iger, however, pointed out that they are confident the network will manage to navigate through the shifts.
According to hedge fund manager Eric Jackson, the significant drop in ESPN's subscribers over the past two years has cost the network as much as $900 million in its annual revenue. This was based on data collected from Security Exchange Commission filings made by Disney.
Jackson said that based on the average carriage fees per-subscriber for ESPN ($6.61), ESPN2 ($0.83), SEC Network ($0.63) and ESPNU ($0.22), the sports network is losing as much as $650 million every year in affiliate fees compared to earnings made two years ago.
ESPN is losing another $200 million to $300 million from its bottom line because of the loss in advertiser reach, Jackson added.
Some analysts believe the decline in the number of subscriptions to ESPN is a result of the Disney decision to reduce its guidance of the sports network during the second quarter earnings report.
The loss of subscribers for one of the most profitable networks and the loss of video customers for pay-TV operators have caused stocks to plummet across pay-TV and media sectors.
Despite this, Disney's media networks performed better during the third quarter earnings report. Networks such as ESPN, ABC and the Disney Channel experienced a 27 percent increase in their revenue, bringing it to $1.8 billion.
Jackson and other industry analysts, however, are still concerned that ESPN's subscriber losses could continue.
There is a notion among experts that the sports network's acquisition of $6-plus fees per subscriber from pay-TV operators during the final rounds of negotiations has left holes in the contracts that allowed operators to downgrade ESPN's networks in modest bundles.
Some analysts have even accused Disney and ESPN of giving more value to price inflation than providing minimum guarantees on carriage.
