ESPN’s business plan is a modern media version of the old innovator’s dilemma: Chairman Jimmy Pitaro needs to build up his streaming business while simultaneously defending his cable revenue as much as possible, and as long as possible, in order to facilitate the transformation. Naturally, this sort of choreography—placating cable and satellite distributors while also occasionally screwing them over—ensures that eggs are cracked along the way. Earlier this year, for instance, distributors complained en masse about ESPN’s plan to launch the Venu sports streaming service alongside Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, thereby creating a sort of cable-cannibalizing skinny sports bundle that would weaken cable system operators that rely on live sports to entice customers.