(Rant) While we're slagging NFL for the NFL Network..

[SirFozzie]

(warning, this is a Foz-Go-Ranty-Ravey one. Please allow a bit of leeway :D)



Everyone has an opinion about the big NFL vs Cable Companies bitchfight that's happened over the last year. NFL Network wants to be carried as basic cable (so they can charge more for advertising, and get more money from cable companies). Cable Companies say "No, you're a niche network." and the NFL cries to fans to write to Congress to make the mean ol'Cable Companies carry their shit.

We might as well flip a double bird at ESPN for their ESPN360 service while we're at it. It is the same fucking thing, just applied to the internet instead of cable. Listen you utter bags of fungal debris, if my Internet Provider doesn't subscribe to your service and I can't purchase it on my own, GO THE FUCK AWAY. "You could be watching this on ESPN360 right now"... No I fucking can't, I'd go to your website, but all I get is "Sorry, your Internet Service Provider doesn't carry ESPN360! Please use this pre-filled out form to prove you're a real sports fan and demand that your ISP add ESPN360"

Celebrate my fanhood? At this point, its so fucking annoying having to deal with the ads all over ESPN and your website that I'm not sure being fisted by an orangutan with anger management issues would be worse then dealing with your utter bullshit. I'm not going to do your fucking donkey work in getting you carried.

Sell it to my ISP. Sell it to me.. if you can't do either, then Shut the Fuck Up and Go The Fuck away.

[Icy]

(warning, this is a Foz-Go-Ranty-Ravey one. Please allow a bit of leeway :D)



Everyone has an opinion about the big NFL vs Cable Companies bitchfight that's happened over the last year. NFL Network wants to be carried as basic cable (so they can charge more for advertising, and get more money from cable companies). Cable Companies say "No, you're a niche network." and the NFL cries to fans to write to Congress to make the mean ol'Cable Companies carry their shit.

We might as well flip a double bird at ESPN for their ESPN360 service while we're at it. It is the same fucking thing, just applied to the internet instead of cable. Listen you utter bags of fungal debris, if my Internet Provider doesn't subscribe to your service and I can't purchase it on my own, GO THE FUCK AWAY. "You could be watching this on ESPN360 right now"... No I fucking can't, I'd go to your website, but all I get is "Sorry, your Internet Service Provider doesn't carry ESPN360! Please use this pre-filled out form to prove you're a real sports fan and demand that your ISP add ESPN360"

Celebrate my fanhood? At this point, its so fucking annoying having to deal with the ads all over ESPN and your website that I'm not sure being fisted by an orangutan with anger management issues would be worse then dealing with your utter bullshit. I'm not going to do your fucking donkey work in getting you carried.

Sell it to my ISP. Sell it to me.. if you can't do either, then Shut the Fuck Up and Go The Fuck away.

Weird, i signed up yesterday and had no problems, i guess because i'm in Europe?

[SirFozzie]

Weird, i signed up yesterday and had no problems, i guess because i'm in Europe?

Your ISP may support it, I don't know.. here in the US it's *Check to see if you have access*.. "Bug your ISP to carry us, and go away until you do!"

[cuervo72]

Wait...there's internet content that is only provided to certain ISPs?

edit: I guess it makes sense now that I think about it, but with the nature of the internet and how much content is out there...

[SirFozzie]

Here was a list of 360 ISP's as of June 07

* AT&T (And former Bellsouth customers)
* BELD
* Cavalier
* Charter (currently Los Angeles and St. Louis area systems only)
* Conway
* Frontier
* Grande
* Iowa Network Services
* Liberty PR
* Mediacom
* MidHudson
* MTC
* NTELOS
* Phonoscope
* RCN
* Shen-Heights
* SMU
* StarStream
* US Cable
* Verizon

It's alleged that they play hardball in trying to get ISP's to sign up, for example, in October 2006, they bought the rights to air a Wisconsin-Northwestern game, and then farmed it off to 360, which meant no one from either set of fans could see it (here's a copy from WP)

For instance, an October 2006 Big Ten matchup between the Wisconsin Badgers and Northwestern Wildcats was only aired live on ESPN360, and most viewers in the state of Wisconsin could not view it, due to ESPN360 not having agreements to be carried by the dominant cable companies in the area, Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable. Wildcat fans in the Comcast-dominated Chicago area also faced the same difficulties, as Comcast also had no ESPN360 deal. The University of Wisconsin-Madison had to receive special permission from ESPN to allow the game to be streamed over their university's computer network for students and faculty. The only way to view the game on television was a late-night tape delay over the state's public television network.[/b]

[jeff061]

I'm thinking about it and it still doesn't make sense to me. I can only see it being legitimately blocked if it's a technical limitation and I don't see how that could be. I mean who is blocking it? The ISP or ESPN? What's the deal? I've never heard of something like this.

[JonInMiddleGA]

{wonders why I've never seen an ad for 360 and didn't even realize that I could use it to watch college football games that weren't on my TV until very late in the season}

[Ryan S]

Weird, i signed up yesterday and had no problems, i guess because i'm in Europe?

There is a separate ESPN360 site for Europe, however users from "UK, Ireland, Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan" are all blocked from using the site. I have no idea how they came up with that list. Half of those countries are not even in Europe!

[Ryan S]

I mean who is blocking it? The ISP or ESPN? What's the deal? I've never heard of something like this.

I assume the ISP is paying ESPN to allow their users to access the 360 media.

[jeff061]

Never heard of a deal like that on the net. I have no interest in 360, but this still bothers me. All ISPs should just boycott it.

[SirFozzie]

I assume the ISP is paying ESPN to allow their users to access the 360 media.


Bingo. ESPN wants ISP's to pay for it. (and they won't sell it solo, because A) they can get more by selling it to a whole ISP, especially if only 10% of the users use it, and B) they're afraid the ISP will charge THEM for the bandwidth (or use bandwidth shaping tools to make it functionally useless, like they do with some P2P services))

[Buccaneer]

People still go to ESPN?!?!?

[Raiders Army]

No Time-Warner there, right?

[Suburban Rhythm]

I'm thinking NOT having some ESPN gimmick probably means you actually do like sports, and are somewhat knowledgeable about sports.

[lynchjm24]

There are ways around in the US if you don't have one of the ISPs.

I found very simple instructions on statefansnation.com they were posted sometime in August or September. I have comcast, but was able to get on with this system of logging in through another website (Verizon).

http://www.statefansnation.com/index.php/archives/2007/09/01/how-to-watch-the-game-on-espn-360/

[stevew]

Wow, i had no idea this even existed. Since I have Verizion i can actually get it. Thanks Foz.

[RendeR]

I rarely visit ESPN.com anyway due to the rediculously huge and resource sucking ads and bullshit videos they cram into every page.

If I want to view a video or hear a sound file I WILL CLICK THE LINKS MYSELF.

The web designer does not have the right to force me to do so. Or he does, ubt at the peril of never having me return to his website.

[SirFozzie]

The trick above doesn't work anymore :(

[Cringer]

{wonders why I've never seen an ad for 360 and didn't even realize that I could use it to watch college football games that weren't on my TV until very late in the season}

This is the first time I have even heard about ESPN 360. I don't know what the hell it is so I guess I am not missing out on anything.

People still go to ESPN?!?!?

My first thought exactly.

[lynchjm24]

The trick above doesn't work anymore :(

Sorry I hadn't used it since early in the college football season.

[SirFozzie]

Damnit, they added Coppa Italia and Serie A games to the service.. now I really do wish I could watch it, would be a nice thing to watch while I'm stuck at work :)