ESPN360
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| Country |  United States |
|---|---|
| Availability | National |
| Founded | by George Bodenheimer |
| Owner | The 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.
[edit] Current U.S. Programming
- College Football
- College Basketball
- NBA
- NASCAR
- IndyCar
- NHRA
- The Masters
- U.S. Open (golf)
- Kraft Nabisco Championship
- U.S. Women's Open (golf)
- U.S. Open (tennis) (starts in 2009)
- Wimbledon
- French Open (tennis)
- Australian Open
- Major League Soccer
- UEFA Champions League
- Serie A
- Euro 2008
- Coppa Italia
- Russian Premier League
- Chinese Super League
- X Games
- WNBA
- Major League Lacrosse (starting on May 17th)
- Stanford 20/20
- Super League (Europe) Rugby
- World Series of Poker
[edit] 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.
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[2].
[edit] 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
- Telcel 3G
- Telmex
- RCN
- Shen-Heights
- SMU
- Spencer
- StarStream
- US Cable
- Verizon
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