An open letter to ESPN
Sports fans are a long-suffering crowd. We’ve endured rising ticket prices, wayward basketballs and players emerging from the fields of play, and even the ultimate ignominy of the $6 hot dog. But now we have to deal with being told we don’t matter.
Here’s what I’m talking about. ESPN, the sports channel and empire which proclaims itself to be a ‘leader’ in the sports world, recently debuted an online version of their TV service, called ESPN360.com. With ESPN 360.com, the lucky sports fans who subscribe to a limited list of cable providers (such as Adelphia) are automatically granted instant free access to this cornucopia of multimedia sports excitement. Everyone else gets a message suggesting they email their ISP to request that it add the ESPN360.com service to its list of offerings so that you, the sports fan, can get it for free.
Now, I understand that ESPN would not want just anyone to connect and start streaming video for free from a cable channel that normally requires a paid subscription. But I do have that subscription–I’ve been a loyal ESPN viewer through Comcast, DISH Network, and now Metrocast Cable of Belmont, NH. Hear that, ESPN? I pay just as much as the people 10 miles north of me who have Adelphia, but I simply can’t get access, because I need to petition my podunk provider to pay you guys.
And that’s what really gets me angry. The fact that I simply can’t get access to ESPN360.com, no matter what. There’s no option to create a subscription account for a standalone service, as in the case of Major League Baseball’s well-designed, well-executed, and fan-centric MLB.TV. Instead, I get a pithy request to petition my ISP. In other words, if ESPN can’t sell this service in huge contracts to large-scale ISPs, it’s not worth selling. ESPN, it appears, is above even selling a product to the fans themselves–they’re out for the big fish.
It wouldn’t be hard to correct this problem–many fans, I’m sure, would be willing to pay for the service on a monthly basis, so that they can watch it on the road in hotel rooms, at the workplace, and anywhere they might be that happens not to be on one of a few ISPs. If you let us buy it, we will come. MLB.TV proves that every day. But being forced to convince my cable provider to pay an extra cost to ESPN makes me feel about as unimportant as could be, and it sure doesn’t make me feel very good about what interests ESPN has at its corporate heart. I know money’s a huge part of sports, but so are fans, and you shouldn’t forget that.
NB:So please, if you agree with this standpoint, and you’re frustrated by ESPN’s attempt to use you as a marketing tool to cable providers and other ISPs, comment below or share this article with others. It seems pretty clear that ESPN will only respond to large groups with significant market shares, so let’s become a large group.
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Alcibiades Would Never Blog. » Blog Archive » Huge security flaw on ESPN360.com allows anyone to watch World Cup games online (Jun 20, 2006)
[...] Update: As of Monday night, ESPN updated their ESPN360.com page to run with Flash. I wrote an open letter to ESPN protesting the fact that I have to convince my ISP to buy something from ESPN. Read it and sign the petition here [...]
Liam Mingione (Jun 24, 2006)
Does have a lot of really good points. It wouldn't hurt, and I'd imagine they would have thought about it before you even… Funny. Adelphia lol. Yea I have comcast too and I have espn, trying to watch world cup! : (
/signed
Vasken (Jun 25, 2006)
If you want to watch the World Cup, try the original page about the espn360.com security flaw. It still works…here's the link.
Baker Urdan (Oct 09, 2006)
I agree…I missed the Wisconsin-Northwestern game last Saturday because Comcast does not provide ESPN360. I blame the Big 10 also for allowing this stupid situation and a slap in the face to loyal football fans everywhere.
Not everyone has a computer, either, and some computer users still use dial-up for whatever reason.
Thanks to XM Radio, I was at least able to hear the radio play-by-play of the game and could draw a mental picture of what was going on on the field.