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CHAD FINN | SPORTS MEDIA

A closer look at the ESPN layoffs

Andy Katz had been at ESPN for 18 years.PHELAN M. EBENHACK/AP

A few thoughts on the ESPN talent purge, the day after:

■   It’s tempting to conclude that the main reason ESPN gutted its hockey coverage — which included laying off well-regarded writers Pierre LeBrun, Scott Burnside, and Joe McDonald — is that the network is not a league partner with the NHL. And there probably is some truth in that.

As much as the generalist fan might want ESPN to cover all major sports thoroughly, it makes business sense for the network to invest its reduced personnel resources toward covering the sports it is invested in financially. Perhaps that’s journalistically dubious, but only a fraction of the content ESPN produces these days qualifies as journalism. Might as well be up front about it.

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What’s curious, on the surface at least, is that ESPN’s baseball coverage also took a significant hit. ESPN is in a rights partnership with Major League Baseball on a $700 million annual deal that runs through 2021.

ESPN has a far deeper and wider-ranging staff of baseball-dedicated talent and programming than it had (yes, past tense) for hockey. Yet the network slashed at least eight notable baseball personalities Wednesday, including the informative and engaging Jayson Stark, analysts Doug Glanville, Raul Ibanez, and Dallas Braden, and longtime writer Jim Caple. Karl Ravech, a Needham native and ESPN mainstay since 1993 who is best known as the host of “Baseball Tonight,” is taking on a reduced role.

A partial but telling answer regarding why there were so many baseball cutbacks came Thursday. It turns out ESPN is partnering with MLB in another way beyond the general parameters of the rights deal.

The network announced that come May 1, it will begin airing the MLB Network’s daily program “Intentional Talk” on ESPN2 in the 4-5 p.m. hour. The program, featuring Chris Rose and Kevin Millar, will not be a straight simulcast — it will air an hour earlier on ESPN2 than on the MLB Network.

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“Intentional Talk” is not a strong addition to ESPN’s overall baseball lineup; it’s probably the worst show on the MLB Network among those not hosted by Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. But the partnership with a league-owned network that was presumed to be a competitor does help fill the content void that comes from ESPN’s decision amid the layoffs to reduce “Baseball Tonight” to a Sunday-only program.

I’m sure that’s of little solace to those still covering baseball at ESPN; I’ve heard from a couple of staffers who are angered by the arrangement with a competitor. But it could be worse. They could be among those who lost their jobs to make room for it.

■  The reason for the mass layoff is as clear as the picture on your HD television. ESPN has billions — not millions, billions — invested in live rights deals at a time when cable television is hemorrhaging subscribers because of cord-cutting.

ESPN has lost more than 12 million subscribers over the past six years, and given that the network accounts for more than $9 of your monthly cable bill, well, no wonder corporate panic and downsizing are going hand-in-hand in Bristol.

But the clarity of the situation didn’t stop the usual social media speculation and schadenfreude that inevitably accompanies dramatic news nowadays. I heard from some reveling in the news because it’s payback for ESPN’s “liberal agenda” (liberal was spelled very creatively more than once).

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I also heard from many linking it to ESPN’s embarrassing early Deflategate coverage, suggesting that Patriots fans tuning out the network had led directly to this fallout. (I suspect many of those taking victory laps still consume and appreciate the work of Mike Reiss, Field Yates, and Michele Steele, among others.)

People apply their own wishful notions to the news these days, and I can’t stop that. But I can reiterate the facts: Savvy consumers are moving away from cable, which now is facing fundamental structural problems. ESPN overreached with its rights deals, particularly with the NBA. What is happening is the direct fallout from that, and has nothing to do with whether Scott Van Pelt liked a different presidential candidate than you did or whether ESPN was fair to the Patriots.

Names that were caught in the layoff continued to trickle out Thursday. Among them were college reporter Andy Katz, who had been at the network for 18 years; reporter Britt McHenry, whose final assignment is ongoing with the network’s NFL Draft coverage; and a few with Boston ties, including anchor Jade McCarthy (formerly of NESN) and Darren Haynes (formerly of Channel 7).

Hammering home the sadness of the situation, Haynes posted a clip on Twitter of his young daughter watching his final time hosting “SportsCenter.”

■  Let’s close with a little bit of good news, especially since it relates to NHL coverage. Dave Goucher, the superb voice of the Bruins on 98.5 The Sports Hub, will be calling Saturday’s Game 2 of the Penguins-Capitals series nationally on Westwood One Radio. He also will call one of the conference finals for the network next month.

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Chad Finn can be reached at finn@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeChadFinn.