On the last day of the NFL pre-season, football fans are rejoicing — or at least the ones who subscribe to Time Warner Cable. The company has finally reached an agreement with Walt Disney Co. that will keep Disney-owned channels like ESPN from being blacked out during the first week of the the NCAA and NFL seasons. And TWC customers will now have access to ESPN’s online video portal ESPN3.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement without any interruption in service,” said Time Warner Cable Chief Executive Glenn Britt.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Disney negotiated a carriage fee increase of around $.40-.50 per subscriber just for the right to carry ABC. In return, TWC won the rights to sell some ABC shows on its video-on-demand platform, much like the deal ABC made with Apple for the new AppleTV.
The deal also gives TWC cable customers — regardless of whether or not they use TWC to access the internet — free access to ESPN3.com. The cable company had been a holdout in offering this service because Disney charges cable providers, rather than end users, for its use.
Time Warner Cable, Disney Reach a Deal [WSJ]
Time Warner Cable customers get ESPN3 in new deal [AP]
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As long as I have Access to ESPN 8, The OCHO, I am a happy camper.
I came here looking for a comment about The OCHO. Kudos, good sir.
I did as well. sonneillon’s comment made my day.
Yet one more looking for The OCHO, leaving happy.
As a TWC customer I constantly see the “Roll over or get tough” ads TWC parades around during commercial breaks. So I got curious and went to the website and found it was mere propaganda as to why they refused to give in, rather than a serious logical debate (yeah, shame on me, I know) For those of you that don’t know what I mean here is a decent article written last year, when TWC first rolled out the ‘ROoGT’ campaign –
http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story/Time-Warner-launches-Roll-Over-Or-Get-Tough/rj1dfTnc60G9DAzkc39Z5w.cspx
But the TWC angle was selling their customers is this – Disney is the bad guys that want to charge you more money. We are the good guys and simply don’t want them to do that so we are threatening to allow them to blackout channels if they won’t deal.
And as it turns out TWC DID deal – only to allow Disney to charge the customer more AND have the right to sell ABC material on-demand. So customers went from having a champion of the people to getting screwed TWICE. On top of all that it looks like the REAL holdout was over TWC not wanting to get get charged for allowing customers free access to ESPN3.com! Ugh.
Both sides are fat and happy. In the entertainment business, it’s called a “Hollywood ending”.
I enjoy that you linked an article from a Syracuse newschannel.
“According to the Wall Street Journal, Disney negotiated a carriage fee increase of around $.40-.50 per subscriber just for the right to carry ABC. “
That means you can count on your bills going up $4-5 to pay for it
I wish I could eliminate this channel from my lineup, and all of fox news as well.
“… that will keep Disney-owned channels like ESPN being blacked out during the first week of the the NCAA and NFL seasons.”
I think you’re missing an important “from” in that sentence.
We have no access to Espn3 as of yet. I tried last night and this morning, but its still not listed as a ISP providing services. Any ideas as to when that will change?
Strange. I was able to watch college football games on ESPN3 last night.
When I go to the site, it lists the available ISP and Time Warner is not which is listed. How were you able to watch it?
I just went to ESPN3.com, clicked an event and the pop-up window loaded and started playing it.
Just tried again with the Andorra vs. Russia Euro Qualifier and it worked again.
I’m not logged in to ESPN or anything either, if that makes a difference.
Do you have TWC only for cable TV and another company for your ISP?
I’ve got a TWC TV + Internet bundle with Roadrunner Turbo with Powerboost.
same problem here, with the pop-up.
“How to Get Access to ESPN3.com
ESPN3.com is available at no charge to fans who receive their high-speed internet connection from an ESPN3.com affiliated internet service provider. ESPN3.com is also available to fans that access the internet from U.S. college campuses and U.S. military bases.
Your current computer network falls outside of these categories. Here’s how you can get access to ESPN3.com.
Please select your internet service provider from the list. If you can’t find yours, select “Not Found” at the bottom.”
and Time Warner is not an option
Will Brighthouse Cable customers qualify? We have scarce channels and they don’t offer any real programming like major cities do.
Why hasn’t it take effect, I’m still seeing
How to Get Access to ESPN3.com
ESPN3.com is available at no charge to fans who receive their high-speed internet connection from an ESPN3.com affiliated internet service provider. ESPN3.com is also available to fans that access the internet from U.S. college campuses and U.S. military bases.
Your current computer network falls outside of these categories. Here’s how you can get access to ESPN3.com.
Please select your internet service provider from the list. If you can’t find yours, select “Not Found” at the bottom.
and Time Warner is not an option
I got an answer from ESPN regarding why its not available yet, and for the persons who were asking about Brighthouse.
“Hello,
Thank you for contacting us.
I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. A deal is in place for Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks video subscribers to receive ESPN3.com. We are currently working out the details and plan to launch as soon as possible during the College Football Season.
Please keep an eye out for messaging from Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks as to when this new service will be made available in your area.
Thank you for taking the time to contact us. We hope you continue to enjoy the wide variety of programming offered by our networks.
For live assistance with any other issue, please call Customer Care at 1-888-549-3776 (ESPN) between 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. EST.
Regards,
Brandon
ESPN.com Customer Care”
I just hope its fixed by 3:30pm tomorrow so I can catch some of the game while “working”.