It is truly a unique experience for someone in the Western World…you are walking down the aisle of your favorite store and a product appears on the shelf…it looks exciting and useful and may contain all of that quality you have been looking for. You get the wallet out to pay and discover it is available for NO price; that is, you CANNOT purchase this. It is not a matter of money…the product is simply not available to you. But there is a solution. The store will not sell it to you directly, but will sell it to someone else and allow you to access it. Bad dream? No you are fully awake, and being welcomed into the world of ESPN3.
The rare midweek premiere fixtures this week shine a harsh light on the ESPN3 situation, as roughly half of the fixtures are only available on the ESPN3 platform (including the Arsenal game of the big four), creating a demand among EPL viewers for ESPN3 formerly seen only by fans of US college football and basketball. This follows a pattern used by ESPN in their last few years of operation. Let’s start a new service, put some events on that hard core fans cannot get unless they add such service, and then have them complain to whoever is supposedly keeping them from viewing the event, putting pressure on the provider and forcing them to add the channel/service. Up to now, ESPN has used this with new cable channels (ESPN2, ESPNU, etc.). The difference here? In the past, you could switch to satellite or cable, and one or the other would have the “new” channel. Directv has been particularly aggressive about adding new services (see ESPN 3D).
With ESPN3, the picture is more complicated. They have tried to tie the service to a new technology, internet service providers (ISP). They extracted a programming fee per internet subscriber using the cable payment model understanding future traffic may be web placed. The problem is, if your ISP did not play ball, you were out of luck. Hence, the look but not buy problem. ESPN muddled along for a number of years with this service, formerly known as ESPN360. Then, things changed. Larger cable operators such as Comcast agreed to the internet model, and the service started gaining numbers. Then along came Time Warner.
The recent agreement with Time Warner has thrown a further wrench into this situation. Refusing to recognize the existence of the web customer as a programming subscriber, TW has linked ESPN3, an internet service, with TELEVISION subscription. So, if you get ESPN on TW cable, you can access ESPN3 no matter your ISP. If you get internet service from Time Warner, you are out of luck. They are not interested in mixing internet usage with programming fees. Seemingly desperate to draw more traffic to the site, ESPN agreed with the strategy. Confused yet?
Jon is a soccer enthusiast living in Columbus, Ohio. He gets his television from Directv, and is very satisfied with his offering there. He also gets his internet from Roadrunner, the Time Warner internet provider. He also gets SHUT OUT from ESPN3. He is not happy. ”I am the kind of guy who paid the extra for Setanta, foxsoccer, all of these services. And now this thing pops up and they tell me I can’t buy it. I don’t understand.”
The situation can undoubtedly be chalked up to the awful growing pains of technology. However, having a product be directly unavailable to a consumer is rare in our economy. In this case, EPL fans are taking the blow by not being able to view games they might be willing to pay for.
I have this problem and it sucks! What makes this worse now is that EPSN3 has provided all it’s content for Xbox 360 Gold members and you can now watch matches in HD on your television if you have an Xbox 360. The only problem is that my subscriber, Cablevision won’t play ball with ESPN so I can’t access the Wolves vs Arsenal game this week either.
What makes this even worse, is that Verizon doesn’t offer FIOS Internet in my area yet and I’m stuck with Cablevision ISP as they have the fastest service at the moment.
I have some ideas of how to get around the block but that’s not for posting on a public forum
@ ruffneckc, I have the same problem, can you email me if you have any real workarounds?
I just went to ESPN3.com for the first time, and attempted to view the Barcelona game from this past weekend. I got a pop-up window which includes the following:
Attention Time Warner Cable Customers
In order to watch ESPN3.com, you must receive ESPN as part of your television service. Please select Time Warner Cable from the list below and you’ll be taken to Time Warner Cable’s web site to verify your account. The ESPN3.com video player will open automatically when you’re done.
I am a Dish Network subscriber. Time Warner is my ISP. I am still able to view the video content on ESPN3.com even though I do not receive ESPN from TWC. I have not been shut out. Is this a mistake? Should I keep my trap shut?
Time Warner has been very specific in saying that ESPN3 access is available only with an ESPN subscription to their cable TV service. Therefore, if you have Dish as your video provider and TW as your ISP, you should not be receiving ESPN3 through the Time Warner ISP connection. Note that the logo of your provider appears in the upper right corner of your ESPN3 player.
Everything I stated above is accurate.
They really should have an option for those who’s internet provider doesn’t offer ESPN3.com where they can pay for it them selves. My cable provider started offering ESPN3 last year and it’s the best. The only things that I would like to see on ESPN3 that aren’t offered right now are more MLS games, and EPL games. I think right now they show two or maybe three EPL games a week and one MLS game a week. I know that the EPL has all of there weird contract issues so I guess two games are better than nothing, but if the MLS were smart they would let ESPN put 3-4 games a week on ESPN3 and let them play every playoff game on ESPN3. (Although if the MLS was smart in the first place they would have fixed the playoff system a long time ago and would have already signed an exclusive TV contract with Versus since they would really showcase the sport on their network.)
maybe i’m just always up on these things so i stay ahead of the game so i won’t be shutout, i switched ISP’s awhile back because i wanted at the time ESPN360 and did the research to see what providers in my area had it. my advice when choosing tv or internet providers think what must i have before just picking one because its cheaper…for me a must was GolTV as a Barca fan so I went with DirecTV because of that and the way they cover extra events like the champions league and all the sports packages they have. then as a sports junkie ESPN360 now ESPN3 was a must so i chose the provider who has it.
Speaking as another long-frustrated soccer enthusiast living in Columbus, Ohio, I offer my recommendation to Jon: Check out WOW!. WOW! (Wide Open West) is a regional alternative cable/internet service, and years ago I switched from Time Warner to WOW! because their internet service was cheaper at every speed tier. (I can’t guarantee that that’s still the case, but I wouldn’t be surprised.) WOW! has just added ESPN3, and I find this company to be infinitely more tolerable than Time Warner.
Anyway, good article. This kind of liaison-subscription nonsense is infuriating.
I’ve had ESPN3 for quite awhile now. My only isp is Charter.
thanks beatifl