Cox-ESPN: Who Won? Who Cares!

We asked CableFAX Daily readers to tell us whether Jim Robbins’ public negotiating stance helped Cox get better terms from its ESPN carriage deal. Our response was, in a word, underwhelming. By our deadline, our poll respondents could be broken down into two identifiable groups: 250 Cox employees (each of whom stuck with the talking point that cable customers were the big winners) and five ESPN employees and their spouses (each of whom said Robbins’ public campaign was not effective). Responses from e-mail addresses not identified with either network numbered just four: three declaring ESPN the winner and one calling Cox the winner. Our takeaway: A long-term deal is in place, and nobody outside the two companies really cares who came out on top.