Earlier this week, Verizon FiOS began offering customers a new way to choose which cable channels they pay for, by allowing them to pay for a small base package of core channels and then pay to add on niche-targeted bundles of 10-17 channels each. This didn’t sit well with ESPN, the most expensive channel on just about everyone’s pay-TV lineup, and ESPN’s corporate overlords at Disney are reportedly refusing to air ads for FiOS’s new offering. [More]
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Verizon’s ESPN-Not-Included FiOS Base Package Violates Contract, Says Sports Network
By 4.20.15
Last week, Verizon announced a new way to purchase its FiOS pay-TV service: Pay as little as $55/month for a core package of basic channels and then add on niche-targeted bundles of 10-17 channels each for an additional charge. One of the biggest differences between this model and the standard basic/premiumc cable offerings is that ESPN — the most expensive basic cable channel — was not included in the core package. The folks at the Disney-owned sports network say Verizon may be not be allowed. [More]
5 Things To Consider Before Spending $20/Month On Sling TV
By 2.9.15
This morning, Dish’s Sling TV streaming service ended its invite-only period and opened the floodgates to anyone who wants to sign up for $20/month access. We’ve been messing around with Sling for a few days and have come across some issues you should take into account before deciding to sign up. [More]
ESPN Selling U.S. Fans Live-Streaming Access To Cricket World Cup For $99.99
By 1.30.15
While cricket doesn’t enjoy the immense popularity it inspires in other countries, fans of the sport who’ve been going without their fixes here in the United States will have a way to watch the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup: In a first for ESPN, the network is selling live-streaming access to the cup’s 49 matches in February and March for $99.99. [More]
FCC Fines ESPN, Viacom $1.4M For Improper Use Of Emergency Alert Tones
By 1.21.15
Hearing the emergency alert warning tones blaring from your television typically makes you take immediate notice (and immediately hit the Mute button). So when a broadcaster allows a commercial or program to air similar sounds without an actual emergency occurring, they could be on the receiving end of a pretty big fine from federal regulators. [More]
Some ESPN Customers Missed First Hour Of Streaming Rose Bowl Coverage Because Of Server Problems
By 1.2.15
If you were one of the people left wondering what was going on during the first hour of the Rose Bowl while the WatchESPN app wasn’t working, you weren’t alone. ESPN is now blaming what it calls a “technical issue” with its servers for the streaming outage, which lasted at least an hour for some folks and persisted longer than that into the college playoff game for others. [More]
DirecTV Customers Will Finally Get Access To WatchESPN
By 12.24.14
More than four years after cable sports powerhouse ESPN launched its WatchESPN streaming service, DirecTV remains the only major pay-TV provider whose subscribers are unable to access it. But thanks to a new deal between the satellite company and ESPN’s parent company Disney, DirecTV customers will finally be able to get more value out of the most expensive channel on basic cable. [More]
Guy Shown Sleeping On ESPN Broadcast During Yankees-Red Sox Game Sues For Defamation
By 7.7.14
While yes, sporting events are the most important, serious endeavor and should be approached only with the utmost in respect and deepest reverence, sometimes things happen. Sometimes you need a nap, even during a game between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. But one fan says the Yankees, ESPN, its announcers and a Major League Baseball organization defamed him by broadcasting his snooze on-air, allegedly calling him “fatty, unintelligent” and “stupid.” [More]
Dish & Disney Jump Into Bed Together With Deal That Limits DVR Ad Skipping On ABC Shows
By 3.4.14
While broadcasters have been grumbling over and fighting against Dish Network’s ad-skipping DVR in court, at least one company is getting awfully cozy with Dish. Walt Disney Co. signed a long-term deal with Dish to curtail the use of Hopper for ABC shows, the two companies confirmed last night. [More]
FCC To TV Companies: You Can’t Broadcast Emergency Alert Tones If It’s Not An Emergency
By 3.3.14
The thing about the Emergency Alert System is that it’s only supposed to be used to alert people when there’s an actual emergency. So anyone viewing the trailer for 2013’s Olympus Has Fallen might’ve been alarmed to hear those telltale tones along with “This is not a test” — at least until Gerard Butler’s face hits the screen. [More]
NFL Wants More Thursday Night Games
By 10.16.13
Now that the NFL has expanded Thursday Night Football on its NFL Network to 13 weeks of the season, establishing the weeknight as an accepted (grudgingly, by some) part of the weekly pro football schedule, the league is reportedly looking to find another broadcaster to carry additional games on Thursdays. [More]
Dish Customers, Prepare For Potential ESPN (And ABC, Disney) Blackout
By 9.30.13 — Updated: 10.1.13
UPDATE: As expected, the two parties reached an 11th hour agreement to extend the talks past the Monday deadline. No details were provided about when an actual deal would need to be reached in order to avoid the blackout. [More]
3 Reasons Why ESPN 3D Is Going Off The Air
By 6.12.13
In what will come as sad news to about 26 of you out there, ESPN has decided to close up shop on its comin’-at-ya! sports channel ESPN 3D, citing low viewer demand. [More]
Why We’re Praying That ESPN Does Not Begin Subsidizing Wireless Plans
By 5.10.13
For the last couple years, some in the wireless industry have been pushing for providers of data-heavy content to subsidize users’ wireless plans in order to guarantee that subscribers don’t hit their monthly usage caps. Apparently, ESPN is mulling over whether it wants to go that route, but we really hope they don’t. [More]
Why Is It Taking So *&%# Long To Get Good 3D Content On TV?
By 1.10.12
Anyone who owns a 3D TV probably knows that there is not exactly an overwhelming amount of 3D programming available to merit putting on the glasses. The media and manufacturers keep saying that 3D is the next big thing to be coming-at-ya, but will there ever be content that justifies buying a 3D TV? [More]
Photos: Behind The Scenes At CES 2012
By 1.10.12
In a few hours, the folks at the Consumer Electronics Show will fling open the doors to the Las Vegas Convention Center and a crowd the size of a small city will begin gawking and toying with the latest in doodads and whatsthats. But for the second year in a row, me and my trusty camera phone were able to convince someone I had a reason to be on the show floor so I could snap a handful of last-minute preparation pics before anyone caught on to my antics.
[More]
TV Commercials Getting Shorter, But Are They Getting Any Less Crappy?
By 10.27.10
In case you hadn’t noticed as you fast-forwarded through the ad breaks while watching Biggest Loser, a growing number of those ads you’re not watching are now half the length of the ads you used to have to sit through in the days before DVRs. [More]
Time Warner Cable Customers To Finally Get ESPN3 Access Next Monday
By 10.18.10
It’s been more than a month since Time Warner Cable and Disney ironed out their differences and announced that customers of the cable company would be getting access to ESPN’s online portal ESPN3. Now we finally have a date — Oct. 25. [More]
