The basketball season started yesterday, and ESPN is rolling out its online efforts by offering live simulcasts on its website, EPSN360. It’s even going so far as to offer every game carried on ESPN, ESPN2, and the playoffs. ESPN is looking to create an online hub for live events, which will be free for users. Archives of games will also be available for viewing at later times.
So what’s this mean for cable companies? As many of them offer broadband services as well, you’d think some sort of deal could be worked out. But it’s been reported that some cable companies are having some issues with the free offering of ESPN content. So while ESPN does its part in appealing to the larger masses and follow current trends, some cable companies are bound to get mad in the meantime.
This particular situation is different from what we’ve seen with the broadcast channels, when they offered several shows for free online and through iTunes to jump start the season. In fact, ABC had one such deal with AOL.
Cable is a paid-service, and cable companies rely on subscription packages to earn revenue from consumers. So with premium content such as that found on the ESPN Network, there may be some due cause for worry. NBC is going a slightly similar route with the offering of free sports content in partnership with other networks, like MediaZone.
[via mediapost]
User comment: By: What\'s Up DocESPN360 is not free according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESPN360). ISPs actually pay for access to ESPN360. That is quite an interesting model: it seems to be the start of the tiered Internet! Booo!
[...] Source:Mashable! The basketball season started yesterday, and ESPN is rolling out its online efforts by offering live simulcasts on its website, EPSN360. It's even going so far as to offer every game carried on ESPN, ESPN2, and the playoffs. ESPN is looking to create an online hub for live events, which will […]Source:Mashable! Microsoft has announced its plans for a developer API for its Windows Live Messenger program yesterday at Georgia Institute of Technology. The API will allow developers o create their own versions of Windows Live Messenger. It will also enable developers to make applications that can be integrated into Windows Live messenger. Some […] Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
[...] Source:Mashable! The basketball season started yesterday, and ESPN is rolling out its online efforts by offering live simulcasts on its website, EPSN360. It's even going so far as to offer every game carried on ESPN, ESPN2, and the playoffs. ESPN is looking to create an online hub for live events, which will […] Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
Visit here to subscribe to these commentsUser comment: By: AarononthewebESPN offering free coverage of basketball games won't hurt the cable companies at all, given that there are like 4 families in the U.S. that still pay attention to the NBA.
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