wrighters.net

I got an interesting survey this week from ESPN.  The survey asked about ESPN360, ESPN’s online video site.  I first used it during the last world cup (2006?  it’s been that long?) to watch a few games at work.  ESPN has decided that instead of using a pure ad supported model, they would go to the ISPs just like they go to the cable companies and demand payment for carrying their ‘network’.  Since I use Comcast I am currently out of luck since Comcast and ESPN have not been able to agree on whatever this payment is, so ESPN360 is not available for me.  There have been hacks in the past that have worked, such as signing up for a free Verizon business account, but that doesn’t appear to work anymore.  ESPN wants you to do what all those new cable network  ads say – “To get the new Knitting channel, call your cable provider right away and ask for us by name”.  That seems a little ridiculous to me, they need to provide a better mechanism for this, maybe some kind of voting site or petition process.

This really stinks the few times a year when there is a game I really want to watch that is not available elsewhere.  Also, since I have the $9 cable from Comcast, I don’t even get ESPN.  ESPN360 would be perfect for the few games a year that I really want to watch.  I’d even pay per game if it was available.  I think if ESPN would jump on board with an ad supported model, they could do very well.  Just look at Hulu as an example, people will pay much more attention to ads in smaller doses online in exchange for good content.  I think ESPN360 could deliver the demographic that advertisers would pay premium dollars for.  Should be interesting to see what happens over the next year or two.