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ESPN3

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ESPN360.com
AvailabilityNational
OwnerThe Walt Disney Company (80%)
Hearst Corporation (20%)
Launch date
2005

ESPN360.com is a broadband network for live sports programming in the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Europe. In the U.S. the network can only be accessed through Internet service providers who have signed up and paid ESPN for the programming. The entire service is free to the individual (the ISP pays for the cost) with few advertisements. There are occasions where ESPN360.com is "all access" and permits all individuals to access the site. These periods are advertised on the ESPN family of networks. (In that way, ESPN360.com is similar to the ESPN cable networks, in which distributors sign carriage deals.) Outside the US the service is available via both subscribing and non-subscribing ISP's with some of the content offered on a subscription basis only.

Beginning in 2008, ESPN360.com is also offered free to all high-speed college (.edu) and U.S. military (.mil) IP addresses.

As of September 1, 2007 ESPN360.com relaunched with an "emphasis on live events" [1] including NCAA College Football, NCAA College Basketball, NASCAR, NBA basketball, the Masters, Wimbledon and UEFA Champions League. Many of the games are simulcast from ESPN and ESPN2, while others (such as Serie A and Stanford 20/20) are exclusive U.S. broadcasts. ESPN360.com broadcasts often feature exclusive special features, such as additional courts at the Australian Open and Spanish streaming of UEFA Champions League matches.

ESPN360.com allows users to chose from up to 10 live games or events at once. The games and events can be watched on 6 different screens at once. The service allows users to pause, re-wind and fast-forward games and events.

Starting February 20, 2008, ESPN360.com began live streaming select games in HD-quality, beginning that day with the NBA game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns that saw Shaquille O'Neal debut for the Suns. Since then, ESPN360.com has shown numerous events in HD, including additional basketball games and other special events, like the Masters.

ESPN360.com uses Move Media Player technology.

Current U.S. Programming

Controversy

Because ESPN360.com is only available to ISPs that have paid for the service (usually cable companies and services such as Verizon's FiOS and DSL services), it has been alleged that ESPN is streaming college sports games only on the service in order to force cable companies and other ISPs to carry it.

For instance, an October 2006 Big Ten matchup between the Wisconsin Badgers and Northwestern Wildcats was only aired live on ESPN360.com, and most viewers in the state of Wisconsin could not view it, due to ESPN360.com not having agreements to be carried by the dominant cable companies in the area, Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable [2]. Wildcat fans in the Comcast-dominated Chicago area also faced the same difficulties, as Comcast also had no ESPN360.com deal. The University of Wisconsin-Madison had to receive special permission from ESPN to allow the game to be streamed over their university's computer network for students and faculty [3]. The only way to view the game on television was a late-night tape delay over the state's public television network.

The service is unavailable through dial-up providers like AOL or NetZero because of the requirement of a high-speed connection.

To add to the controversy ESPN has rolled over its online ESPN GamePlan package to ESPN360.com as of September 1, 2007. On-line viewers that do not have an ESPN360.com affiliated ISP will be unable to receive the Gameplan content online. However, individuals who do have an ESPN360.com affiliated ISP will get the ESPN GamePlan content online for free[4].

Current List of Service Providers

The following is a list of the Internet Service Providers subscribing to ESPN360.com:

  • Alameda
  • AT&T (And former Bellsouth customers)
  • Braintree Elec.
  • Cavalier
  • Charter
  • Conway
  • Frontier
  • Grande
  • Insight
  • Iowa Network Services
  • Kraus
  • Liberty PR
  • Mediacom
  • Mid-Hudson
  • MTC
  • NTELOS
  • Phonoscope
  • RCN
  • Shen-Heights
  • SMU
  • Spencer
  • StarStream
  • US Cable
  • Verizon


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