Media's gotten very content specific in the past decade and a half. With the emergence of channels like the NFL, mlb, nba and nhl networks (along with the SEC, BTN, YES, FS1, Twitter and all the team specific web content available these days) it's no wonder ESPN is struggling. I don't feel they've evolved much during that time either and all the subscription fees they're charging they're customers are rubbing them in the wrong way as well, imo.
They are bleeding money for sure, question is, are all the recent layoffs a sign that they are a dying network or are they just rebranding? If it's the latter, it may already be too late. JMO....