So, ESPN hates its customers?

[tmoney35]

The apartment complex I'm at recently dropped cable. "No worries" I say to myself, "espn3 usually has most of the CFB games I want to see anyway."

So I fire up the 'ol laptop this morning, curious to see how Penn St. plays with everything that's happened, and what's this? WatchESPN? Must have a subscription to comcast? Well, geez if I had a subscription through comcast I wouldn't HAVE TO GO ONLINE TO WATCH SPORTS!

I can't imagine how much the cable companies paid to have ESPN restrict their access. So now what am I supposed to do?

[BroncoBot]

The apartment complex I'm at recently dropped cable. "No worries" I say to myself, "espn3 usually has most of the CFB games I want to see anyway."

So I fire up the 'ol laptop this morning, curious to see how Penn St. plays with everything that's happened, and what's this? WatchESPN? Must have a subscription to comcast? Well, geez if I had a subscription through comcast I wouldn't HAVE TO GO ONLINE TO WATCH SPORTS!

I can't imagine how much the cable companies paid to have ESPN restrict their access. So now what am I supposed to do?

This was devastating to me as well. Worked so well last year (via RCN). one solution is getting internet access (no TV) through Comcast which should give you access to the games.

This has got to be a direct result of so many people dropping their TV subscriptions in favor of watching shows online. ESPN is one of the few "must have" channels, so if you can't watch ESPN online, you'll be tempted to get another TV subscription.

I personally will continue to pirate TV via justintv/channelsurfing/others as I have no desire to buy a TV contract for only ESPN. I'll wait until I can just pay 10-15 dollars a month to have access to ESPN. Which I would gladly pay.

[Schmoe]

If by customers you mean people who pay to have TV service with ESPN, then no, I don't think they hate their customers. If you mean do they hate people who want to just jump on their site and watch all the games without having to give a nickel, I'd still say no, they don't hate those people, they just don't provide them with free football to watch.

[BroncoBot]

If by customers you mean people who pay to have TV service with ESPN, then no, I don't think they hate their customers. If you mean do they hate people who want to just jump on their site and watch all the games without having to give a nickel, I'd still say no, they don't hate those people, they just don't provide them with free football to watch.

I wasn't watching "free" football last year, as I was paying 29.99 a month for internet service that had an agreement with ESPN3/watchESPN. I just want to know what changed since then, and why.

[tmoney35]

If by customers you mean people who pay to have TV service with ESPN, then no, I don't think they hate their customers. If you mean do they hate people who want to just jump on their site and watch all the games without having to give a nickel, I'd still say no, they don't hate those people, they just don't provide them with free football to watch.

I just wish they would've decided to go with more ads during live streams instead of cutting their online viewer based in half

there is a gap between those who have access to ESPN3 (73m) and those who have access to WatchESPN (40m), we're anticipating some negative fan reaction beginning with the first weekend of college football (9/1)

http://deadspin.com/5938857/espn-preppi ... s-on-espn3

[NCPUMA]

The problem here in the southeast is these friggin blacked out games.. Trying to watch at work and my ISP even allows ESPN3 but every game worth watching has been blacked out. But to ESPN's credit, at least they're letting me watch the much-anticipated marquee matchup of fort valley state versus delta state..? This is worthless.

[BroncoBot]

The problem here in the southeast is these friggin blacked out games.. Trying to watch at work and my ISP even allows ESPN3 but every game worth watching has been blacked out. But to ESPN's credit, at least they're letting me watch the much-anticipated marquee matchup of fort valley state versus delta state..? This is worthless.

Same here in Philadelphia. I'm staying at a friends house for the month doing a rotation. He does get ESPN3 but the game was blacked out. I could get some nice DII action though.

[tmoney35]

The problem here in the southeast is these friggin blacked out games.. Trying to watch at work and my ISP even allows ESPN3 but every game worth watching has been blacked out. But to ESPN's credit, at least they're letting me watch the much-anticipated marquee matchup of fort valley state versus delta state..? This is worthless.

Same here in Philadelphia. I'm staying at a friends house for the month doing a rotation. He does get ESPN3 but the game was blacked out. I could get some nice DII action though.

What does ESPN gain from blacking out its games in certain areas? I'm genuinely curious

[BroncoBot]

The problem here in the southeast is these friggin blacked out games.. Trying to watch at work and my ISP even allows ESPN3 but every game worth watching has been blacked out. But to ESPN's credit, at least they're letting me watch the much-anticipated marquee matchup of fort valley state versus delta state..? This is worthless.

Same here in Philadelphia. I'm staying at a friends house for the month doing a rotation. He does get ESPN3 but the game was blacked out. I could get some nice DII action though.

What does ESPN gain from blacking out its games in certain areas? I'm genuinely curious

I really have no idea.

I've often wondered why ESPN3 doesn't play commercials during games. Wouldn't this be additional audience for advertising? I would think that ESPN could possibly make MORE money by allowing most internet providers access to ESPN3 and then advertising with ESPN3.

[snoscythe]

Commercials for online streams are problematic regardless of format. Unless the advertising contract explicitly calls for it, you can't stream it because it's a copyright violation, and marketing companies are having a hard time accommodating requests to make ads available for streaming because their contracts with the talent are industry standard forms that don't address compensation for streaming appearances, so if they use it even with the marketing company's permission, they get their butts sued by the Actors' Guild for using likenesses without permission. Even if they get separate contracts and separate ads for streaming, they still get sued by the people who are paying for TV ads for breach of the implied covenant of fair-dealing--they paid for advertising during the game, but ESPN is out there making money off the streaming instead of trying to maximize the advertiser's profit. Streaming has been an ugly mess for broadcasters and marketers.

Radio is just now starting to get SOME of their ads worked out, but the video stuff is far behind because of the Guild wanting the same compensation for streaming appearances as for broadcast appearances, so they haven't approved any changes to the industry standard contracts. What that means for ESPN is that if you watch on the TV, they get paid by advertisers, but if you watch on ESPN3, they aren't getting paid by advertisers. Some providers (Comcast etc.) pay an added premium to ESPN to let you watch ESPN3, but it's not much. So if ESPN wants to maximize their income, they need to drive your eyeballs away from the streaming and back to the TV set.

Blame the lefties in Hollywood.