-By John Consoli

ESPN’s content guru John Skipper says he is going to make a concerted effort to add even more live sports coverage across all of the network’s media platforms while cutting back on scripted series, reality shows, original movies and other types of more general sports entertainment programming.

“We have found that what sports fans really care about, and why they come to ESPN properties is to watch live games,” said Skipper, the company’s vp of content. ESPN’s Sept. 16 Monday Night Football telecast drew 18.6 million viewers, the largest cable audience ever.

Skipper said he will continue to pursue deals for more major college games, and will look to get additional rights to major professional tennis and golf events when they become available. Reclaiming the National Hockey League is also on his to-do list. The NHL is slated to run on Versus through the 2010-2011 season.

Of course, Skipper’s biggest quarry is the Olympics; Skipper is working on a major pitch on behalf of ESPN and sister network ABC to wrest the Olympics’ rights away from NBC when the bidding for the ’14 and ’16 Games come up next year. As the incumbent, NBC will have some advantages. And after its success in Beijing, it’s not going to give up without a fight. Skipper, without offering specifics, said “we are pretty good at finding ways to acquire rights to major events if we want them.”

Skipper’s philosophy is a considerable departure from predecessor Mark Shapiro, who he succeeded in 2005. Shapiro started ESPN Original Entertainment in 2001, a unit that produced original series and movies for the network. “We are no longer in the movie business for television,” Skipper said. “We can make 10 documentaries for the same $5 million it would cost us to make one movie.”

Skipper said he wants to run more live sports on ESPN and ESPN2, and stream much of that via the Web and mobile. The network’s large number of SportsCenters, along with shows like College Game Day, will cover those live events and offer news and perspective, along with some investigative reporting.

A longtime soccer fan, Skipper plans offer more expansive coverage of the 2010 World Cup: “We doubled the ratings in 2006 from the 2002 Cup, and we are going to do everything we can to boost them up again in 2010.”

Just how is ESPN going to cover the cost of all the additional live sports rights fees? Skipper did not address it, but one ESPN insider said spreading the telecasts across multi-platforms will bring in additional ad revenue streams. And ESPN just added six more daily hours of SportsCenters in daytime, bringing in a new chunk of ad revenue. Subscriber fees, at least in the near term, are locked in.

Harry Keeshan, executive vp, national broadcast at PHD, who has several clients that advertise on ESPN, said he agrees with the Skipper philosophy of more live events. “The network may have gone a little too far to the EOE side,” said Keeshan adding, “When we buy ESPN, we are looking first at live sports.”

Jason Kanefsky, senior vp, national broadcast, at MPG North America, agreed. “EOE was nice, but it was not a relevant part of the ESPN business. It was not a must buy.” Kanefsky added that ESPN must focus on top-tier  events: “No one is going to want to advertise on just any live game.”