ESPN+ is not the same as ESPN, really?

[ocean view]

This is mostly a rant…sorry

We’re not a sports family, except for a little college football, so forgive me if I should have known better. A month ago when my Hulu promo expired I decided to sign up for the Disney bundle since most of the college bowl games would be aired on ESPN (plus we wanted the Disney content). I assumed that ESPN+ meant you got ESPN games along some extra content. It’s for those folks who want to watch sports but don’t have cable, right? Wrong.

Today I learned that ESPN, the cable provider, content is not aired or viewable to ESPN+ subscribers. They have separate contracts. So for those of you who are sports people, what is the point of ESPN+?

Fortunately for today’s Peach Bowl, ESPN did unlock the “command center” view, so we can watch the game. I hope they do the same for tomorrow’s Cotton & Orange bowls.

End of rant.

 

[tulak]

Yep. It’s really not great. I looked at this to watch an NHL game, but found it was easier to get a VPN and watch it from another location.

 

[fisherman]

You are not alone. Found that out today also. Sling has a $10 for first month option that includes ESPN. I think you can cancel within seven days at no cost or before the end of the month to not pay the next month at full price.

 

[statsman]

Sounds similar to the disconnect between the Discovery channels and Discovery+ (Discovery Plus). At one point early this year, you could only see new shows on Discovery+. Then they added some new shows back to the regular Discovery channels, but those weren't available on Discovery+ on their initial broadcast dates.

 

[Montecfo]

ESPN- was what the business people wanted to call it. But marketing had other ideas.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

Yep. VERY glad I read the fine print on ESPN+ before signing up for it. What they do with the packaging for it is borderline deceptive.

 

[JoeWras]

I was tempted to switch my $0.99 Hulu subscription to the bundle which includes Disney+ and ESPN+, but decided to wait. I guess this discussion confirms it.

ESPN+ is a good deal if you like to watch out of market NHL games.

Someone mentioned Discovery+ and there are similarities. I was on Philo so I noticed the "exclusivity" games being played between cable Discovery and D+.

However, it seems after an exclusive time, everything shows up on D+. So I dropped Philo and went to D+. One problem is sometimes shows are released in bunches, so you can't have water cooler talk. But who cares about that for D+ shows?

Sporting events are different. They are water cooler talk, so time is of the essence.

 

[Z3Dreamer]

The Holy Grail of streaming would be a stand-alone ESPN. It doesn't exist but many search in vain.

 

[Masquernom]

Seems to be the new model. ESPN finally launched the ACC network. I thought, great, can finally watch all the ACC basketball games. Nope. Now there is ACC network Extra channel. It's a separate cost, online only channel.

 

[Montecfo]

Seems to be the new model. ESPN finally launched the ACC network. I thought, great, can finally watch all the ACC basketball games. Nope. Now there is ACC network Extra channel. It's a separate cost, online only channel.

Well, it's a lot of games.

I do like ESPN+ for watching SEC and Big 12 Men's and Women's basketball. It's an excellent tool but it is not ESPN.