ESPN is (Unsurprisingly) The Most ‘Must-Have’ Cable Channel According to Beta Research

Live sports are the last bastion of hope for advertisers and broadcast companies alike — and as this Beta Research poll shows us, it’s for good reason.

According to the Beta Research poll, 40 percent of surveyed consumers said ESPN was a must-have in their cable package, the highest across all stations. This year, ESPN ranked first, followed by the Discovery Channel, Food Network, History, CNN, National Geographic, The Weather Channel, and Fox News. Last year, Food Network knocked ESPN from the mountaintop and was voted the most “must-have” station of the bunch.

ESPN also remains a “valuable” station for a service to have — but isn’t number one for the first time in a while. Disney Channel was revealed to have the most perceived value at $2.08 per month. ESPN was second at $2.05, followed by ID and Cartoon Network at $2.04, Nickelodeon at $2.02, ESPN2 at $2.01, INSP at $1.99, and [Hallmark Movies & Mysteries] at $1.98. ESPN’s value rose from $1.95 last year.

For cord-cutters, ESPN is available just about everywhere, as five of the six major live TV streaming services feature ESPN. The only one who doesn’t is Philo, but it advertises itself as a streaming service that doesn’t force you to pay for sports, which keeps costs low.

Discovery’s array of networks have proven themselves to be valuable during the pandemic, especially when live sports were temporarily halted, and cooking shows, reality TV, and nature documentaries were the only “games” in town. Luckily, most live TV streaming services will give you all the Discovery, inc. programming you can handle.

Lastly, we see the value in kid’s content, especially as families were stuck together inside during the pandemic. After all, the kids need to do something for the 2+ hours between the end of their school day and the end of their parent’s workday. Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon proved valuable enough for parents that they listed these networks as “must-haves” in the same breath as live sports and general entertainment stations, which bodes well for the future of these networks.

The report did not mention any effect that on-demand streaming services, like Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video have on cable networks.